Capitola Dickerson
Capitola Dickerson | |
|---|---|
| File:Capitola Dickerson Summit NJ.JPG | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Capitola Dickerson |
| Born | September 21, 1913[1][2] Urbana, Ohio, United States |
| Died | June 15, 2012 (aged 98)[2] |
| Occupation(s) | Teacher, Music educator, Performer, TWIN award 2009[3] |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 78 |
Capitola Leodra Dickerson (September 21, 1913 – June 15, 2012) was an American piano instructor in Summit, New Jersey and graduate of the Juilliard School in Manhattan who taught several generations of students. She was honored by local authorities for her volunteer service and civil rights contributions and community leadership.[1][3] Her pupils included Tom Varner and Lawton C. Johnson, and she was friends with jazz singer Bill Robinson. In 2011, she was presented with a Key to the City by Summit mayor Jordan Glatt.[1][2]
Early life[edit]
Dickerson was born in Urbana, Ohio to Amanda and Lee Dickerson, but she made Summit, New Jersey her home where she lived for more than 78 years.[1][4] Her mother died when she was a teenager, and she lived with her father until she graduated from high school in 1930. She lived with relatives including her grandfather, Benjamin, an ex-slave, who had witnessed a Civil War battle at the age of ten in the state of Virginia.[citation needed] She was denied entrance to the Diller-Quaile School because of racial discrimination but studied piano with Helen Chrystal Bender of the Summit School of Music. She worked as a domestic, and at one point, she worked at Bell Labs before becoming a music teacher. She attended Columbia University[2] and New York University and graduated from the Juilliard School in New York City.[1][2] She was a member of the Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church for 80 years and served as the church's historian.[2]
Career[edit]
Dickerson taught piano to thousands of students[2] over a period of seventy-eight years. She emphasized precision, sticking strictly to piano compositions as written, and practice; in 2004, she was quoted in the Los Angeles Times for stressing the benefits of practice.[5] She taught New Jersey preschoolers in Cranford[6] and Millburn and she taught music to the hearing impaired.[2] According to one estimate, her students live in all fifty states in the United States.[2]
Dickerson taught music to hearing impaired children at the Summit Speech School for thirty years.[7] She taught preschoolers at the Westfield Day Care Center from 1978 to 2000, teaching rhythm, movement, songs and music appreciation to thousands of children.[8][9]
Notable students[edit]
Dickerson local resident Lawton C. Johnson of Summit who became a church organist as well as a locally recognized educational administrator.[4] She taught Graeme Cowen and composer Carolyn Schmidt, who became director of the musical group named the Hickory Tree Singers.[2] She taught piano to New Jersey's French hornist Tom Varner[10] who formed the Tom Varner Quartet.[11]
Honors and recognition[edit]
Dickerson played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2008.[12] She played piano and sang along with the protégé performers in honor of one of the Tuskegee airmen George Watson, in a program of remembrance, sponsored by Summit Supports Our Troops.[13] She received a Keeper of the Dream Award from the city of Summit, New Jersey.[2][14] In 2011, she was honored by the City of Summit; in a speech before the Common Council, Mayor Glatt described how Dickerson, who was in a shelter during a power outage, made a phone call from the shelter to ask if her neighbors needed help.[1]
Dickerson's contributions have been honored by various organizations including The Connection, the Summit Area YMCA, the United Way, the Tri-City Branch of the NAACP, the Summit Chamber of Commerce, Church Women United, Soroptimist International, Links, The Boy Scouts, The A.M.E. Zion Church, and the Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church.[2]
Civil rights and community service[edit]
Dickerson was described as a strong leader in efforts to promote affordable housing in Summit in cooperation with the first Sponsors Committee.[2] She led by example[2] and attended many committee meetings and active demonstrations.[15] In mid-century, she was one of the first African-American women employed at Bell Laboratories.[2] She encouraged women to "develop and use their gifts and talents in every aspect of society", according to a report in the Star-Ledger.[2]
References[edit]
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Barbara Rybolt (December 7, 2011). "Capitola Dickerson given 'Key to the City' of Summit". Independent Press. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
... Capitola Dickerson receive the “Key to the City” from Mayor Jordan Glatt. ...
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 "Capitola "Cappie" Dickerson -- obituary". The Star-Ledger. June 18, 2012. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
Miss Dickerson was born on Sept. 21, 1913, in Urbana, Ohio. ...
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Trinitas Chief Development Officer lauded for fundraising accomplishments". Suburban News. January 19, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
... TWIN award are honored as outstanding women who serve as exemplary role models for the youth of our area ... Tribute to Women in Industry (TWIN) Awards .... Other 2009 TWIN honorees include: Capitola Dickerson, music educator and community leader....
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Summit Middle School renamed in honor of Lawton C. Johnson". Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School. September 15, 2004. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
Lawton Johnson ... He received piano lessons from Capitola Dickerson of Summit.
Unknown parameter|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Liz Cox Barrett (March 30, 2004). "The L.A. Times Discovers Mrs. Dickerson". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
Mrs. Dickerson might want to consider leaving the piano lessons business to sign on as a $1,000-a-day campaign consultant.
- ↑ "Children's Music Workshop Here This Evening". Cranford (N.J.) Citizen and Chronicle. February 4, 1971. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
workshop directors will include ... Capitola Dickerson of Summit, 'Singing and Rhythm'
- ↑ "Capitola "Cappie" Dickerson". Star-Ledger. June 18, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
- ↑ "Day Care Center Passes Half-Way Mark in Fund Drive". The Westfield Leader. February 1, 1979. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
...newly introduced music program under the direction of Mrs. Capitola Dickerson.
- ↑ "Archives". The Westfield Leader Newspaper. July 13, 2000. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
- ↑ Allen Huotari (June 1999). "Interview with Tom Varner". all about jazz. Archived from the original on January 16, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
I saw Duke Ellington with my Mom and my piano teacher, Ms. Capitola Dickerson, in 1970... Later, at my Mom's funeral, Ms. Dickerson sang "There Is A Balm In Gilead."
Unknown parameter|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Santosuosso, Luigi (2002). "Tom Varner interview". Frank Tafuri. Archived from the original on March 23, 2002. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
We all (I have two older sisters and one younger brother) took piano lessons also, starting around 8 years old. I loved my teacher Ms. Capitola Dickerson (she would play 78s of Art Tatum for me), but I was a terrible pianist!
- ↑ "Keeper of the Dream Award Recipients–2009". Shaping Summit Together. January 18, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
Olivia McDougal and Capitola Dickerson present The Program of Remembrance.
- ↑ "Keeper of the Dream–Award Recipients 2009". Shaping Summit Together. January 10, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
Music and song performed by Ms. Capitola Dickerson and protege performers.
- ↑ "Warp and Weft–Keeper of the Dream Award". interweave.org. November 7, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
Mayor Jordan Glatt was among the award recipients this year. Past honorees include ... Capitola Dickerson, long-time piano teacher..
[permanent dead link] - ↑ September 25, 2015, TAPInto Summit, A Lifetime of Service, Retrieved September 24, 2015, ".... 78-year Summit resident Capitola Dickerson, Juilliard graduate, piano teacher, devoted volunteer, and civil rights contributor...."
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- Musical artist
- Musicians from Summit, New Jersey
- Voice teachers
- American music educators
- African-American classical pianists
- American classical pianists
- American women classical pianists
- Columbia University alumni
- Juilliard School alumni
- 1913 births
- 2012 deaths
- People from Urbana, Ohio
- New York University alumni
- African-American classical musicians
- 20th-century classical pianists
- 20th-century American pianists
- 20th-century American women pianists
- Educators from Ohio
- Educators from New Jersey
- American women educators
- Classical musicians from New Jersey
- Women music educators
- African-American women musicians
- 20th-century African-American women
- 21st-century African-American people
- 21st-century African-American women
