Shannon McMannus

Shannon is influenced by a variety of musicians, varying from Carole King, Dolly Parton, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, Pink and Alicia Keys. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 6, and started taking her vocals seriously at the age of 10.

 

In 2007, Shannon was accepted into Cawthra Park Secondary School as a Voice Major, where she broadened her horizons into choral, classical, jazz and broadway. In 2009, she began teaching piano and voice at Lowe’s School of Music, which introduced her to the joy and pleasure that comes with teaching.

 

Upon graduating Cawthra, she was accepted into Western University for her Bachelor of Music with Honours in Performance. Throughout her degree, she learned the study of theory and history, different teaching styles, how the voice works and how to keep it healthy, and focused all of her knowledge into being able to deliver the best performance from her students, as well as herself.

 

Currently, apart from teaching at Lowe’s, Shannon is a part of Resonance, a community youth choir under the direction of Bob Anderson through the Mississauga Festival Choir, and has performed multiple times with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Mississauga Symphony Orchestra and The Elmer Iseler Singers. Furthermore, Shannon is the performance administrator and organizer of 10 different music groups that travel to 4 different Loblaws locations in Toronto on the weekends. She began this journey in March of 2016, and has had a blast ever since. Different groups perform a range of genres, such as rock, jazz, and RnB. Her group, Pretty Yonge Things, performs their own arrangements of pop, rock, RnB and country songs at these stores.

 

Needless to say, Shannon encourages any musical style in her lessons. She believes it is the love and appreciation of music, especially performance, that is most important, and the goal is to instil those ideas into her students.