For Caroline Chaney, music may have come naturally, but it also took determination and commitment to become an award-winning musician.
Chaney began piano lessons at the age of 7 while living in Illinois. Two years later, after her family relocated to Springfield, Missouri, she added harp lessons. In fifth grade, she joined the school orchestra and took up the violin.
“Lessons took three to four hours a week, not including the time I put in on my own,” Chaney said.
The 18-year-old senior at Pillow Academy excelled at all three instruments.
From 2018 to 2021, her mastery of the harp and piano earned her some of the highest honors bestowed by the Missouri Music Teachers Association and the Guild College of Musicians. She also was first chair violin and harp in the Glendale High School orchestra and played violin in the Springfield, Missouri Youth Symphony.
Music “just became a part of me,” Chaney said.
During quarantine for COVID-19, she decided to take up another instrument.
“I learned to play guitar in like 10 minutes,” she said. “I learned all the chords and I could play any song.”
She explained that because she started with the piano and learned basic music theory, transitioning to other instruments such as guitar, ukulele and mandolin was easy. Although she did practice honing her skill, she didn’t practice as much as one would believe.
“It came so naturally,” she said.
And because she knew music theory and chord progression, she has even tried her hand at composing.
“I’ve written two or three piano songs,” she said. “I haven’t shared them with anyone except for those in my family.”
During her freshman year in high school, Chaney moved with her family to Greenwood after her father, Dr. Andrew Chaney, accepted the position as pastor at First Presbyterian Church. Other members of the family include her mother, Christine, and two brothers, Luke and Anderson.
The relocation also necessitated a change in musical focus for Caroline.
“I had taken lessons in Missouri every week, and I was in two symphonies,” she said. “It was hard to find a teacher here. So I focused on performing and using what I learned in Missouri.”
She began playing piano, harp and violin at First Presbyterian and soon received invitations to play at North Greenwood Baptist Church and Indywood Glen Personal Care Home in Greenwood. She has played the national anthem on violin for the American Legion, at a state basketball tournament held at Pillow Academy and at the annual meeting in 2023 of Delta Council at Delta State University’s Bologna Performing Arts Center. Among the 1,000 people attending was Gov. Tate Reeves.
Caroline Chaney performs in 2023 at the annual meeting of Delta Council for an audience of 1,000, which included Gov. Tate Reeves, posing with Chaney in bottom photo.
“I’m really proud of playing at Delta Council and for the governor,” Chaney said. “That was my first non-competition honor.”
However, she said playing for church members and those in her community is better than winning any award.
“What trumps all of the awards is how my music makes people feel,” she explained. “Playing for church members or those who are sick, they don’t get to hear live music, and music is like medicine for them. It makes them happy. Music can change people, and that is how God has used me.”
Chaney has also been hired to play at weddings, including four or five last summer.
“I was at a wedding almost every weekend in June and July,” she said.
Not only does Chaney excel on the stage, but she shines in the classroom, on the Pillow campus and on the volleyball court. She holds a 4.8 GPA and was selected for the High School Heisman award at Pillow and the ACT award, among others. She is a member of Mu Alpha Theta math honor society, the Pillow Thespian Society, Quiz Bowl, and the U.N. Model Security Council and Mississippi Model Security Council at Mississippi State University.
As a leader on campus, she is the treasurer for her senior class and for the school’s National Honor Society. She was captain of the volleyball team and is a member of the Pillow Academy Sports Leadership Board.
She said when she began at Pillow in the ninth grade, she never imagined being a leader to her peers until becoming part of the Young Emerging Leaders of Leflore, a youth leadership program conducted by the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce.
“I thought these leaders think I’m a leader. So I decided to run for some things at school,” she said.
In volleyball, Chaney was named to the All-Division team, received the Best Offensive and Most Improved awards, and was nominated for Greenwood’s Miss Volleyball Future Champions. Currently, she is a coach for a 12-and-under team in Greenwood organized by Pillow Academy volleyball coach Joy Holland.
“I really like to teach,” Chaney said. “I’d like to start giving piano lessons, too.”
With plans to attend the University of Mississippi next fall and major in business, Chaney said her life is busy, but she manages to balance school, music, sports and the extracurricular activities in her life.
“It’s a little tough,” she said. “Especially since I just got the lead in the school play, and I’m working at Viking right now” in the Cooking School’s gift shop. “I like being busy. I like to be occupied. It makes me feel accomplished.”
She also has been chosen as Greenwood's Miss Hospitality and will compete in the state pageant this summer. She selected Ainsley Ellis, the daughter of Alan and Audra Ellis, to accompany her as a Little Miss Hospitality representative.
When she does have free time, Chaney enjoys working out. She also loves spending time with her friends and her dog, Figgy Pudding.
- This article first appeared in Leflore Illustrated, a quarterly magazine published by The Greenwood Commonwealth.
