From Where I Sit – A Memoir (2014)

Description

Freedom and discipline: Typically, the two concepts are mutually exclusive. However, in this musically crafted memoir, Bennettsville, South Carolina native Victoria Covington proves that mastering the rules is a fundamental step in the process of transcending them. Vickie was born with many malformed joints including a rigid right wrist and a right hip with no socket. She has been confined to a wheelchair since the age of twelve. No one could have predicted that she would become a brilliant concernt pianist and eventually chairperson of the piano department at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio–but that is precisely what she did. Vickie’s autobigoraphy could end there . . . a triumphant tale with a happy ending, but that wouldn’t be the whole story. At the peak of her career, she developed rheumatoid arthritis. Instead of succumbing to fear and disappointment, Vickie relied on the fundamentals that had served her well throughout her life and extended her teaching career for fifteen years after becoming arthritic. This is a story of creativity, beginning with Vickie’s early years, as she developed her own unique, highly unorthodox piano technique–even pedaling with her left foot! It is a story of support, from wise and musically astute teachers, and especially her mother, who first encouraged her to play the piano. Most of all, it is the story of a life well lived in the face of physical constraints, illness, and adversity heaped atop challenges that were already present. Vickie invites all readers to see the world from where she sits.