Shannon Kane was working toward her Masters degree in wind conducting at the University of Florida. Originally from the small town of Saylorsburg, PA, she spent the last four years earning a Bachelor of Music in Music Education with Performance Honors from Syracuse University. Most recently, she student taught at Westhill High School, where she conducted the Wind Ensemble and assisted with the Percussion Ensemble, Brass Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, and Jazz Lab, and Soule Road Middle School, where she conducted the seventh and eighth grade concert and jazz bands and worked with the marching band. Shannon spent much of her time at Syracuse performing in several ensembles on flute, including the orchestra, wind ensemble, symphonic band, flute ensemble, marching band, Brazilian ensemble, and SU Woodwind Quintet. She also served as Vice President of her college chapter of Music Educators National Conference, was the accompanist for Lutheran Campus Ministry, student ambassador in University 100 to help with admissions recruitment, and was a member of Sigma Alpha Iota and Pi Kappa Lambda.

A member of the Renee Crown Honors Program at Syracuse University, in May of 2008 Shannon completed a senior thesis project entitled "Tradition and Innovation: The Lives and Music of Women Composers," which won an Honorable Mention in the category of Humanities. She also received the award of 2007-2008 College of Visual and Performing Arts Scholar, the Academic Music Award for outstanding work in research, and the Helen Falk-Julius Kahn Award to further music education.