David Shaw can still remember going to his big sister's piano lessons.
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He was four years old at the time and something immediately clicked in him that this was something he also wanted to do.
So the very next year, he started piano lessons and has been involved with music ever since.
"There's so much music that it can't ever possibly get stale," the Orange Regional Conservatorium's head of keyboard said.
"Every time I think I've done plenty of the classics, I'll turn around and there's this whole new chunk of music that I've never come across."
A perfect example of this came towards the end of 2022 when the conservatorium did a series of four concerts, all based on music based on the Silk Road.
- READ MORE: The Orange, NSW region in December 2003
"Every concert was full of music I'd never heard of and it was brilliant to come across and research that," Mr Shaw added.
Having grown up in Orange, the 32-year-old moved to Melbourne to study at the Australian National Academy of Music.
![The Orange Regional Conservatorium's head of keyboard, David Shaw, has been honoured with the Lady Callaway Award in recognition of outstanding service as an accompanist in the field of music education. Picture by Jude Keogh The Orange Regional Conservatorium's head of keyboard, David Shaw, has been honoured with the Lady Callaway Award in recognition of outstanding service as an accompanist in the field of music education. Picture by Jude Keogh](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/YN4FA67iw2pXwXjwm2vmnJ/b514771d-6fe0-43ad-9d70-03cf7c837da3.JPG/r0_385_8256_5045_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But in 2017, just after he had finished studying, an opportunity arose which gave him the perfect reason to return to the Central West.
He was offered a position at both the Bathurst and Orange conservatoriums.
"By the end of that year I was head of keyboard in Orange and doing so many other things that I never thought I would," Mr Shaw said.
One of those things has been helping teach the next generation of great artists.
Be it through his involvement at the Chamber Music Academy, or helping those with upcoming eisteddfods, HSC exams or school assessments, Mr Shaw loves nothing more than seeing "everything click".
"Just seeing them have lightbulb moments is one of the most wonderful things you can experience as a teacher," he said.
"They get into the music, they understand things, suddenly their technique clicks and they can play something they couldn't before."
With all of this in mind, it should come as no surprise that Mr Shaw was recently awarded the Lady Callaway Award in recognition of outstanding service as an accompanist in the field of music education.
This is the first time the national honour has been awarded in NSW, with the Orange recipient delighted just to have been nominated.
"It's a wonderful feeling to know I've got the support of colleagues and friends around town," he said.
With a busy exam period on the schedule, Mr Shaw now plans to "keep his head down" and focus on the many, many tasks at hand.
"I learn so much from my students and love every minute of it," he added.
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