Music Alum Thomason Receives National Honor

By Elizabeth Clarke

Teresa Layssard Thomason, a 1991 graduate of Louisiana Christian University (formerly Louisiana College), has been named Music Teachers National Association Foundation Fellow.

Thomason, of Alexandria, has been well-known in the Central Louisiana music community for decades and has earned local and state accolades for her piano skills. Now, she has earned national recognition for her amazing and long-standing work in the music teaching field.

The MTNA Foundation Fellow is given to people who have been important to the organization and have made outstanding contributions for their years of service.

Thomason has been teaching piano at Country Day School in Alexandria since 1992 and at Calvary Baptist Conservatory of Music since 1995. Her students have ranged in age from Pre-K4 through high school—with a few adults over the years, as well.

She’s been teaching piano since she herself was a teenager and served as church pianist at Central Baptist Church in Spring Hill throughout high school. In fact, it was this that led her to LCU.

Thomason began college in the fall of 1971 and met beloved LC piano instructor Mary Ann Crump.

She also met Tim Thomason through her third cousin, Rita Welch. The two were married in 1973, and Thomason left school to go to work teaching piano and to start a family.

“Twenty years after I started, I graduated from Louisiana College in 1991,” she said. “I tell everyone I was a slow learner. And Mary Ann Crump-she said she wasn’t going to retire until I finished my degree.”

Thomason has taught many doctors’ children—and has taught children who have gone on to become doctors themselves. Two of her former pupils were Louisiana Junior Misses.

Alexandria orthodontist Dr. Heather Badeaux Moylan said Thomason made a major impact on her life.

“Mrs. Teresa taught me piano for 10 years,” Moylan said. “She was an incredibly patient, kind and encouraging teacher. She taught me persistence and discipline in pursuit of a goal, and those traits have made a huge difference in my life. I am forever grateful for her mentorship.”

She worked for the Louisiana Baptist Convention for 37 years as keyboard consultant and started the State Hymn-Playing Festival in 1979 and the State Piano Festival to provide scholarships for students in 1985. The LBC started the Teresa Thomason Keyboard Scholarship in 2007 to honor the longtime music educator.

Thomason has been involved at every level of music education and has served in numerous volunteer capacities, as well, serving as the State Rally piano chair for 20 years and on the executive board of the Louisiana Music Teachers Association for eight years.