When “The Voice” host Carson Daly interviewed Lafayette native Travis Ewing about his background Monday night, one person in particular got a lot of credit.

“My love of music really started in seventh grade when my teacher, Ms. Vidrine, would give me, like, solo songs that I would have to sing, and I was so not about it in the beginning, but she kept encouraging me and I started really enjoying it,” Ewing said.

That teacher is Jane Vidrine, who was just a few years into her education career when she taught Ewing at Paul Breaux Middle School in Lafayette.

Vidrine is now a member of The Magnolia Sisters and teaches at L.J. Alleman Middle School’s arts academy. She made her own appearance when Daly showed Ewing a video message from Vidrine, wishing her former student well during his audition.

Vidrine said producers contacted her several months ago and asked her to record the message after Ewing told them about her influence.

“It was really surprising, and also, I was just so honored that that had happened,” she said. “I think he (Ewing) hadn’t seen it until relatively recently. What you saw on the video yesterday from him was quite authentic. I thought his reaction was very sweet.”

Vidrine remembers Ewing as one of a particularly gifted group of students who responded well to her curriculum that combined classical techniques, folk techniques and lessons from local artists.

“He was pretty lively. He was always very quick with his wit, and he would always keep me on my guard, but in a really good way,” Vidrine recalled. “He was always really, really engaged in what we were doing. He was really creative. That whole group was really creative. If I asked them to find a new song to learn, they found a song. It wasn’t like they were waiting around for me to spoon-feed them. That is really a privilege as an educator.”

Ewing wowed the judges and audience with his rendition of the pop hit “Say My Name,” which was first released in 1999 by Destiny’s Child. Watching his performance, Vidrine remembered the song was one of radio’s biggest hits when Ewing was in middle school.

“It made me think that the songs that you grow up with, those are the ones that really stay with you throughout your life,” she said. “I thought it was really an interesting choice that he made to do that song and then to re-arrange it in his own way. I thought that was a really good choice on his part. Vocally, he nailed it.”

As Ewing, who is now on Team Pharrell, moves forward in the competition, Vidrine said she wouldn’t be surprised if his Louisiana roots start showing.

“There is so much music from here that is inside of him, and there is such a strong music culture that comes from here,” she said. “I really think that is going to propel him to a very high level.”

When the segment aired Monday night, Vidrine started receiving calls, texts, emails and messages from everyone from college friends to fellow musicians and other teachers.

“It was so heartwarming and so cool to see,” she said. “I know we all feel that we work so hard every day, just teaching and teaching, and those kids go off and live their lives. It’s very hard for us to see the results of what we do. For that to happen to me spoke to a lot of educators who are in our community.”

During the interview, Ewing said he hadn’t talked to Vidrine directly in several years. She’s keeping her fingers crossed that could change soon.

“I really want to talk to him, because I have some ideas for him!” she said with a laugh.