“AN AFTERNOON WITH GERSHWIN, BERLIN AND PORTER” SLATED FOR SEPT. 9
The
Angelina College Fine Arts Division will present “An Afternoon with
Gershwin, Berlin and Porter” at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9 at Temple
Theater.
Guest artist Rob Landes will bring to life the music and stories of
three of America’s premier composers. Along with the musical selections,
Landes will relate stories about both the music and the composers,
giving the audience an even deeper perspective into the artists and
their legacies of music.
While there is no admission fee, donations will be accepted at
intermission and will go toward the Eunice Vickery Voice Scholarship
Fund.
Vickery,
who overcame personal adversity to become one of the area’s most beloved
vocal instructors, was said to have possessed a voice so beautiful, so
mesmerizing, it caused people within range to stop what they were doing
just to listen.
But those who knew her would say that Vickery’s lasting contributions to
song linger far beyond the reverberations of her voice.
“Eunice had a very powerful, magnificent soprano,” Howard Daniel says.
“But most of the time we didn’t get to hear her sing; she was always
teaching us.”
One student remembered Vickery as willing to meet students anywhere, at
any time, in order to teach voice lessons.
“She’d pick us up in her own car, an old Lincoln Continental,” Michele
Hill recalled. “I think she taught about 99 percent of all the young
singers in Lufkin.
“Back in the early 90s, my church choir realized she had taught almost
all of us. She was multi-generational, teaching most of the singers in
Lufkin at some point.”
One of Vickery’s hallmarks was her numerous visits to Schroon Lake Music
Encampment in the Adirondacks, where her students were exposed to some
of the finest music instructors in the nation. Some students made
repeated visits there long after their sessions with Vickery were over.
Following a career as a local voice teacher, Vickery began teaching
Voice at Angelina College in the late ‘70s. Jimmy Tinkle, then the AC
Fine Arts Division Director, said Vickery’s hiring proved beneficial to
all involved.
“I was in on the faculty who persuaded Eunice to come to the college,”
Tinkle said. “It was one of the best things I ever did. Eunice Vickery
wasn’t just a teacher; she was a great counselor. She was responsible
for so many musical careers.”
Eventually, her reputation spread, and Vickery became an even more
valued commodity.
“She was known as the top voice teacher in the county, so students came
from all over the area to take voice lessons from her,” Libby Stapleton,
a former student and current AC instructor, said. “She always pushed her
students to sing a harder song or to sing a higher note.
“Most of all, she made every student feel as if he or she were the best
student (Vickery) had ever taught.”
Friends recall Vickery’s passion for song, especially when it came to
spiritual music. Nelda Morrison was the organist for the First
Presbyterian Church when Vickery arrived; Morrison said Vickery soon
made her mark with her dedication and scope of musical knowledge.
“She introduced us to some amazing church music,” Morrison said. “Our
books had been in the church for years and maybe weren’t used that much.
For example, we didn’t know all the numbers in “The Messiah”, but we did
some of the solos. She was the director, and she brought in new anthems
from time to time.
“She knew so much about music, we learned just from being around her.”
Don McManus remembered Vickery as a complete professional, demanding
when necessary and always with high expectations for her students.
“Good technique, good repertoire, and preparedness were never
location-specific or location-limited to her,” McManus said. “One's best
was one's best whatever the task, wherever the setting, whoever the
audience.”
Still, as much as Eunice Vickery offered in the way of professional
instruction, it was her compassion and desire to see her students
succeed that left an indelible impression on her students.
Hill recalled a recital during her junior year of high school, when
Vickery had given her young protégé two songs to sing in “high voice.”
“I cried, I complained, I carried on,” Hill said. “I always sang alto,
and I didn’t want to sing high. Plus, one of the songs was in French,
and I was just taking beginning French. The song had three high Gs in
the verses, and I was freaking out over the whole thing.”
When it came time to perform, Hill said she was okay – until she forgot
the words to the song. Using her limited French vocabulary, she managed
to hit every high note – and when her vocabulary ran dry, she improvised
with what she called “French sounds.”
“My mother was cracking up, but I could see Eunice out of the corner of
my eye,” Hill said. “She was actually wringing her hands and muttering.
I still don’t know if she was cursing me or praying for me.
“I was so afraid I’d let her down, but she came up later and said, ‘At
least you didn’t quit.’
“That was Eunice. She was always there with the right words, and she
made sure you never cried alone. She was a wonderful, wonderful woman.”
