Carolyn Sue Howard
Pianist
About Sue
Besides accompanying choir groups and playing with dance bands in high school, at the age of 13, Sue had her own half-hour radio show every Saturday in Clarksdale. She received a scholarship to attend Delta State University in Cleveland, MS in the Fall of 1955 where she majored in piano and received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance in 1959. There she played piano with the official Delta State dance band, "The Delta Statesmen", as well as with an "unofficial" dance band composed of college students called "the Moonglows”. She accompanied the two choral groups at Delta State, and also sang with a Girls' Ensemble called the "Deltones” and played clarinet with the Delta State Concert and Marching Band.
Also, while attending Delta State, she became the organist at Trinity Methodist Church in Greenville, MS her last two years of college.
After graduation from college, Sue taught piano at McComb High School, McComb, MS for one year. After about a year of working in music stores and for the Baldwin Piano Company in Greenwood, MS, she moved to Jackson MS, and started playing at several different clubs, lounges and restaurants in and around Jackson, also appearing on TV playing piano for a March of Dimes telethon. She moved to San Antonio, Texas in the summer of ’64 where she started playing with her brother’s band, playing at various clubs and functions, as well as entertaining the service men at NCO and Officers clubs at several different Air Force bases and at Ft. Sam Houston.
Upon moving to Pelham, NH in the Fall of 1977 she began a nearly 40 year stint as church pianist/organist for the First Congregational Church of Pelham where she continues to play every Sunday.
Sue has become the go-to accompanist for Central High School of Manchester, NH and First Congregational Church of Pelham’s choral and music director, Tom Seniow. Sue plays for three choral groups for their concerts, their music festivals, competitions and their end-of-the-year cabaret. She is also the substitute accompanist for the New Greeley Singers and the Souhegan Valley Singers of New Hampshire from time to time.
For many years now, she has played piano with the American Legion small dance band - The Legionnaires - playing for occasional dances and at several different nursing homes. At the church, Sue has played for many weddings, funerals, and talent shows. Outside of church, she plays for private parties, style shows, charity events, and weddings.
In the early 2000's, she was invited to go down to the Acton Jazz Café, where she discovered her love for jazz and began her quest to learn to play jazz piano. In the summers of 2014 and 2015, she attended the Vermont Jazz Center, and learned to love jazz even more. She has had several gigs at The Java Room in Chelmsford, MA.
Sue has been playing since the age of 5 when she began taking piano lessons in her hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi - the Home of the Blues in the Heart of the Mississippi Delta. Her first gig was in the 5th grade accompanying gym classes when they were teaching dancing for boys and girls. She has been playing piano with dance bands, choir groups, and playing for weddings, funerals and churches in Mississippi, Texas, and New England ever since.
