Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine October 2016 | Page 17

Lennox Vanterpool | Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine

Lennox Vanterpool
ANGUILLA’S MUSICIAN EXTRAORDINAIRE

Lennox Morrison Vanterpool was born in August of 1969 on the tiny
British Overseas territory of Anguilla in the Caribbean Sea. The last of
five children born to a schoolmaster and stay-at- home mother, he and
his siblings all exhibited a keen interest in music from quite a young age. The
piano, however, was the instrument that captivated Lennox’s attention as it
was very visible, standing upright in one corner of their living room. Music
was everywhere in the home since his father was a choir director and a keen
player of the fife. His mother also loved music and still sings the hymns of
the Christian faith with unabashed zeal.
Playing by ‘ear’ was an activity in which Lennox engaged from very early and
with relative ease. His parents and siblings were often amused at his ability
to reproduce the melody line of songs that he listened to on the radio with
his own arrangement as accompaniment in the left hand. From the onset,
he knew he wanted to be involved in music as a career. He was thrilled to be
able to play songs and make music.
Armed with a working knowledge of and an informal exposure to the piano,
formal lessons began for him at around the age of seven. At that time, music
education in Anguilla was limited to piano and music theory and there were
only three or four teachers available. Joycelynne Ashby, an outstanding
pedagogue and pianist who, along with her husband, migrated to the island
from Barbados to start Christian missions in Anguilla, was his coach during
these formative years. He learnt a lot from her about music, and life in
general. The virtues of patience and commitment, coupled with humble
confidence and a positive outlook on life were hallmarks of the extra-musical
impression Joycelynne had on Lennox. For the next several years, along
with some of her other students, Lennox became a regular candidate for
piano and music theory exams offered by the Associated Board of the Royal
Schools of Music (ABRSM).

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