Not many people can say they have shared the bill with the likes of classical music composers, but Rockdale piano teacher Dixie Whitmore can.
She reached that lofty spot when she was but a neophyte in the world of music.
Bach and Beethoven weren’t performing that night back in the 1940s; no, they were both long gone. But their music was played as was a piece by Whitmore called “Stars” in a recital.
“It wasn’t very original,” she recalled of the debut of the song she wrote when she was halfway past 12 and at the start of her career in music.
But songwriting wasn’t in her stars, teaching was.
Friday, students, present and past, will be featured in Whitmore’s 50th piano recital.
Whitmore has taught 441 students how to play the piano and 13 of them will be there to perform that evening in First Baptist Church at 7 p.m.
Even though Whitmore is celebrating a golden milestone, she wants the spotlight on the performers.
“The students are the stars,” she said. “They have worked all year. They need to be heard with the music they have prepared. I want the focus to be on my current students, even though I am celebrating a landmark year with former students coming to perform.”
But the former students, who Whitmore had plenty of praise for, will get some of the attention, too.
“This is going to be monumental. I am just so thrilled that these former students wanted to come back and participate in this,” she said.
One of her returning students is Geritt Davenport, who took lessons from Whitmore for 10 years and now lives in Denton.
Chad Chesney, who now lives and works for a firm headquartered in Austin, is scheduled to return to perform.
Whitmore started teaching in the fall of 1971. She and her late husband Earl had moved to Rockdale in 1970 after he got a job at Alcoa. He was also a volunteer firefighter.
She had 10 students in her first class and by May she had added another five students but she said, “I never dreamed I would make a 50-year career out of it.”
She did though, and she kept up with all things music by taking classes at UT and Baylor.
“That would add some excitement to the new season and I just never found a reason to quit,” she said.
Whitmore did not just teach students how to play the piano, she gave them an education in music, she said.
“They have to have some comprehension of music if they are going to understand what they are playing,” she said.
Her formula for successful teaching is simple.
“Let the students feel their way to find what they like,” she said. “I look at them as individuals, you have to meet their needs where they are. Make sure your relationship with each student is genuine. Be yourself and be really interested in what they are doing.”
She said parents can help too.
“Listen to the kids play. Go in and be the proud parent. Make them feel good about what they are doing,” she said.
Golden recital is Friday
Dixie Whitmore’s 50th recital will be at 7 p.m. Friday in First Baptist Church and will feature current students Ciley Good, Elizabeth O’Keefe, Amelia Schuch, Emma Schuch, Olivia Schuch, and Peyton Shuffield. Former students who will perform are Brian Blanchard, Chad Chesney, Geritt Davenport, Melissa Shipley and Christopher Tenner.
Earlier this spring those current students participated in the annual Junior Festival playing pieces for a judge. Shuffield received her third gold cup in piano and hymn playing.
Matinee Musical Club of Rockdale sponsors the Junior Club students for the National Federation of Music Clubs Junior Festival. As a 30-year-plus member of MMC, Whitmore’s students present a music program each year for the club.
In April, students played in a Sacred Music Festival at Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton. Participants were Elizabeth O’Keefe, the Schuch sisters and Amelia Schuch and Shuffield. The event is sponsored by the Central Texas Music Teachers Association of which Whitmore is a member.
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