Phyllis Williams Vineyard
1921
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Phyllis Vineyard,
now retired and living in Riverside, California, taught music in the Orange
County school system for over thirty years. A soprano who began singing while
still a child, she has been active as a soloist and participant in choirs
throughout her life.
A third generation Adventist
whose paternal grandparents had attended Battle Creek College, Phyllis attended
Cedar Lake Academy, where she studied piano with H. R. Davies and sang in the a
cappella choir. Following her graduation in 1939, she studied voice for a year
at Michigan State University with Fred Patton, a former Metropolitan Opera
singer, who believed there were many right and wrong approaches to singing with
none being a perfect fit for all; ultimately, he believed the technique used in
singing was a personal matter, unique to each person.
At the end of that year, she
enrolled at Emmanuel Missionary College, now Andrews University, where she
began studies in music and religion and completed a diploma in Bible in 1944.
That fall she became a Bible worker in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she also
sang in evangelistic efforts. In 1947 she accepted a position at the White
Memorial Hospital in California as their Bible Worker, primarily to teach the
nurses how to present the Adventist message in a logical and sophisticated way.
In that year, on a return
trip to Hinsdale to sing at a double wedding for her brothers, She met Clyde Vineyard. They married in 1948, and both
enrolled at La Sierra College, now University, that fall, where she resumed her
music study.
She studied theory with
Harold Hannum, who one day in class went to the piano
and played a dominant 13th chord, and remarked to the class,
"This is a Phyllis chord. Isn't that beautiful?" He had heard her
playing a hymn using chords she thought were better and was gently guiding her
to an awareness of the power of simple straightforward harmony. It was an
edifying experience that she would recall in later years with a laugh.
Vineyard studied voice with
John T. Hamilton and sang in his choirs, an experience she thoroughly enjoyed.
In later years, she would be a member of his choral groups when they traveled
extensively in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and China. She admired him and
appreciated his influence on her life.
Following graduation from LSC
in 1950, the Vineyards traveled to Washington, D.C., where he continued his
study at the church's seminary. They returned to California after he had
completed a graduate degree there. He completed another master's degree and eventually
a Ph.D. in history and political science at the University of Southern
California.
During this time, in 1953, Phyllis
accepted an invitation to teach music in the early grades in the Orange County
school system. She taught music in Orange County schools until 1987, when she
retired.
ds/2007
Source:
Information provided by Phyllis Vineyard, 2007.