Now in his eighth year at Lipscomb University, Director of Vocal and Choral Activities Dr. Gary Wilson hasn’t always been an educator in the Volunteer State.
Originally from Texas, Wilson started his teaching career in Little Rock, Ark., where he stayed for 13 years. He left to pursue teaching at the collegiate level.
“[I] thoroughly loved my job there, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with it,” Wilson said. “There’s some music that I knew I was capable of teaching and conducting that my high school students were not capable of learning and performing, and so I really wanted to get to the collegiate level, but I didn’t have a doctoral degree.”
He explained that, in the choral profession, there are many people with doctorates, and there is typically only one choral director at a small university. Thus, there is plenty of competition for the title of choral director.
To earn his doctoral degree, Wilson traveled to York College in York, Neb., a Church of Christ university. Wilson taught full time and studied there during his tenure.
Wilson said that he learned valuable lessons during his time at York.
“For one thing, I had to learn how to drive on the snow. I grew up in Texas, [so after] a half inch, we pretty much shut things down,” Wilson said with a laugh.
Along with driving in snowy weather, Wilson learned organization and focusing skills.
“I probably learned how to be more organized than I have ever in my entire life, and how to be very, very focused on what has be done today, and what can be put off until tomorrow,” Wilson said.
Wilson was not the head of the vocal and choral program at York, and he says that was his least favorite part about being at the school.
“I knew I was not going to like that, but it was a means to an end,” Wilson said. “Taking that job got me close enough to a graduate program with a doctoral degree.”
Wilson said the best part about York College was the colleagues and students that he worked with.
Now that Wilson is in charge of the vocal and choral program at Lipscomb, he admits that he was “a bit hard-headed” before coming to campus. As a vocal and choral director, he now is more understanding of the decisions that were made when he was “second-fiddle” at York. He also hopes that the understanding he has now will aid him in making decisions.
“I’ve got these three adjunct voice teachers that I directly supervise, and I think, the eight years at York, I hope it makes me a better supervisor for them,” Wilson said.
Wilson explained that one of his favorite things at Lipscomb is seeing his students, former and current, have success.
“One of my graduates called me to tell me about his first concert at his first teaching job. He was so excited about it,” Wilson said.
“I got probably just as much joy and pleasure from hearing about that as I did from conducting my own concert last spring.”
He also said that he enjoys seeing students grow in their collegiate careers and become friends and colleagues.
“I’m very blessed with students who have a real Christ-like attitude, watching how they grow and develop from the time they start as freshmen and seeing what they become by the time they’re seniors.
“By the time they’re juniors and seniors, I’m not thinking about them primarily as students. They still are, but I’m thinking about them more as friends and colleagues as they get close to graduation. I love that about my job.”