{"id":1719,"date":"2012-12-06T09:44:51","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T14:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/fyi\/?p=1719"},"modified":"2025-12-09T13:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T18:47:07","slug":"woods-teaches-the-calling-of-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2012\/12\/06\/woods-teaches-the-calling-of-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Woods Teaches the Calling of Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Charles<\/em>\u2014I was photographing the Wabash Chamber Orchestra<\/a>\u2019s final rehearsal of Dvorak\u2019s \u201cNew World\u201d Symphony for its fall concert<\/a> last Sunday night when a familiar string of notes played with unfamiliar beauty stopped me in my tracks.<\/p>\n

\"Deborah<\/a>
Deborah Woods plays the second movement of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” during rehearsal for last Sunday night’s Wabash Chamber Orchestra Fall Concert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019d forgotten that the solo in the symphony\u2019s second movement, one of the most compelling and recognizable tunes in music (think \u201cGoing Home\u201d), is played on \u00a0English horn. I\u2019d forgotten how powerfully that instrument conveys both yearning and hope. And I\u2019d forgotten what a gifted and accomplished musician that soloist\u2014former senior administrative assistant to President White and now Wabash grants coordinator Deborah Woods\u2014is.<\/p>\n

Even in the flurry of a rushed final rehearsal, Deb played Dvorak\u2019s melody with such precision and power that I felt as though I could have been in any professional symphony hall in the country.<\/p>\n

And she has played in a few. She completed her undergrad work at a music conservatory, earned her master\u2019s in music performance at Northwestern. She taught oboe for 17 years at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania. Before she wrote grants for Wabash, she was associate director of development for grants for the Columbus Symphony in Ohio.<\/p>\n

Having such a dedicated professional in the orchestra bolsters Director Alfred Abel\u2019s confidence in the ensemble. \u201cNo doubt Alfred Abel programmed this piece, in part, because Deb could showcase what is among its finest moments so beautifully and capably,\u201d Wabash music department chair Professor Peter Hulen told me following the concert. \u201cShe exemplifies how music can be an enrichment to one’s own life and the life of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who have worked with Deb in the president\u2019s office or in advancement may not have realized she is a professional musician, that she teaches oboe and English horn here, or that she could hold an audience spellbound Sunday night with her playing. The vocation of a musician and teacher in our culture has many facets, but it\u2019s all one gem. Showing how they all fit together in a way that enriches her life and our community is another way Deb Woods teaches students, and all of us, about the power of music. Somehow it\u2019s all connected.<\/p>\n

And there are several such folks, a story behind every instrument, in this orchestra, which Peter calls one of the College\u2019s best-kept secrets (though the nearly full house at Sunday night\u2019s concert suggests the secret is getting out.) You can start with the director.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so fortunate to have Alfred Abel,\u201d Peter says. \u201cHe is a perfect match<\/a> for Wabash. He is patient, dedicated, and skilled at eliciting the very best out of our players.\u201d<\/p>\n

And those players include a new freshman concertmaster, his brother on viola, and three new student double bass players. With the support of new and continuing excellent players from the Crawfordsville community (this orchestra has long been a remarkable partnership), the group just keeps getting better. Take a look at the photos from that Sunday afternoon rehearsal in this album<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Better yet, mark your calendar now for April 21st<\/sup> and the Orchestra\u2019s spring concert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Charles\u2014I was photographing the Wabash Chamber Orchestra\u2019s final rehearsal of Dvorak\u2019s \u201cNew World\u201d Symphony for its fall concert last Sunday night when a familiar string of notes played with unfamiliar beauty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-events","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2012\/12\/02-deb-woodslores.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3751,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions\/3751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}