Photograph by George Sakkestad

When Shelley Ferro rediscovered the piano, she quickly realized composing was her true calling.

Local musician celebrates the art of women

By Shari Kaplan

If Los Gatan Shelley Ferro's mind were a radio, it would lack an "off" switch and would probably have trouble with the volume control. A gifted musician, Ferro's inner music is so vivid that once she begins to hear its strains, it keeps playing until she releases it through her fingertips to dance on the keys of a piano.

A melange of these melodies, which Ferro somehow separated into 15 unique instrumental tracks, appears on her debut CD, The Art of Woman. Keeping the project local, Ferro commissioned Los Gatos artist Dolly Cahill Johnson to create the CD's colorful cover art.

Subtitled "Music for a Woman's Soul," the 1999 recording is, in Ferro's words, "a tribute to the power and beauty that lies within each of us." Each song takes a virtue she admires in other women (or within herself) and gives it a voice through melody and instrumentation.

"The Art of Caring," for example, is dedicated to a friend who is winning a battle with cancer, while "The Art of Wisdom," is about confiding in older friends and learning from their experiences. Ferro's inspiration for "The Art of Nurturing," came from watching mothers with their children, while "The Art of Contentment" sprang from those rare people whom Ferro says possess a true inner peace. Other tracks include "The Art of Spirituality," "The Art of Passion" and "The Art of Empowerment." Discovering her own sense of empowerment was the real key to Ferro's success.

A native of Louisiana, Ferro began taking music lessons at age 5, after falling in love with The Sound of Music. "If I played a song well, my teacher gave me either a dime or a chocolate bar. I always tried for that chocolate bar," Ferro says with a grin.

She was quick to memorize selections and had a good ability to play by ear, but says she was not--and still isn't--very keen on reading music. As she grew older, her piano teacher kept her playing strictly classical selections, rather than the pop songs of her teenage years.

Turned off, Ferro quit the lessons and didn't play for more than a decade. Instead, she obtained a degree in finance from Loyola University in New Orleans and began a career in banking. A few years later, Ferro married and moved to northern California.

Soon after she received a used piano as a gift, Ferro rediscovered her inborn talent. "I was in environments that were very rigid," she says, referring to both her career and personal life. "I needed ways to express myself, and I realized there was all this creativity locked up inside me all these years."

The real epiphany came in the early 1990s, when Ferro bought a book of songs by the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel. "I was struggling through one of his pieces and suddenly I had this thought that I wanted to compose! Since then, I've never played another person's song," Ferro says. "Just like a visual artist communicates with painting, I feel my way of communicating is through music and melody. I feel really good to be able to connect with people in this way."

She began making those connections by composing pieces, taping them and giving them as gifts. After enough recipients suggested she do this professionally, Ferro set up her own recording studio--Vision Productions in downtown Los Gatos--and became a professional composer and recording artist. Several years after that leap of faith, her first CD was born.

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For information on where to obtain "The Art of Woman," call 354-2113.

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