Becky Melear has been a parent-participant in Music Together classes with MFMT in our Oak Hill classes for several years with her son Chance. Since 2010, she has also been teaching Music Together teacher at MFMT, and all the fun and learning that she and her family have shared since the birth of their son is now shared in our classes! Becky's enthusiasm is contagious and her classes are fun fun fun! Becky also answers the phone and the e mails at MFMT, so you'll get to know her no matter where you take classes!

Rachael Stavchansky is excited to teach and share the value of Music Together to families in the Austin area. A graduate of Brown University, where she sang in the Brown University Chorus, Brown Madrigal Singers, and numerous musical theater productions, Rachael’s love of making music with children and families is infectious. A proud and busy mom of a boy and twin girls, she uses tools from Music Together to keep her crew of kiddos musically engaged throughout everyday activities. Rachael also earned an MFA in Drama and Theater for Youth and Communities from the University of Texas at Austin. She has over ten years of experience in the classroom working with students to access their creativity and apply it to solve artistic challenges. Rachael has a special interest in facilitating intergenerational programs and is excited to work with both families and preschoolers. Her earliest and fondest memories are of singing silly songs in the car with her family. With every class, she looks forward to spreading music making in the Austin area.

A native of Austin, Texas, with a B.A. in Music from Prescott College, Music Forever MT founder/director Michael Shay grew up in a musical household. The son of a piano teacher and brother to two musical sisters, Michael attributes his musical abilities to growing up in a music-filled environment. As a newborn baby, toddler, and pre-schooler, he played on the living-room floor as his mother taught piano lessons, soaking up the music he heard day after day. As a young person,he learned cello, piano, guitar, and bass, played in orchestras, and was a student of the Austin Chamber Music Center, where he later became a teacher.

Michael has worked in countless genres of music, including classical, folk, blues, rock, jazz, reggae, tango, Americana, Latin, funk, and more- most recently with his world music band The Just Desserts. Previously, he has played with Will Taylor and Strings Attached and Zoe Lewis among many others. He has released five CD's and produced many more for other artists.

After years of working with students of all ages in many styles of music and on many different instruments, Michael believes that our primary role as a music educators is to help each other access our innate musical instincts and unlock our natural creativity. Understanding the immeasurable impact that the first years of life have on musical development led him to the desire to offer music classes for early childhood. Michael believes in investing in a more musical world for future generations, and enjoys doing this himself by sharing music around the world, and by helping Becky and Rachael offer the Music Together curriculum in Austin.