An Article About Our New Second Horn Player

I know that all I seem to be interested in is wine, but I am also a proud board member and supporter of Oregon Mozart Players. Here is a little insite in to why I am out there gathering wine for our auction to help support our players.

Down the street on this October night, some of his University of Oregon classmates tip back a few at Taylor’s Bar & Grille. A skateboarder zips down Alder Street. A guy and girl giggle their way through the Pioneer Cemetery.

Meanwhile, in Room 211 of UO’s MarAbel Frohnmayer Music Building, John Dodge is lost in practicing a Mozart horn concerto on his French horn.

He has just come from teaching a lesson, part of the way he pays down the $40,000 student loan he’s incurred to earn his master’s degree in musical arts.

Dodge, 26, sandwiches practice around a full day of music classes. In the morning, he spent two hours warming up. Now, he’ll spend another two hours polishing material for his master’s recital at Beall Hall on Thursday.

The polishing complete, he’ll walk a few blocks to his apartment, scarf down some chili-covered pasta — to save time and money, he fixes enough to last him a week — then return to experiment with new material until about 1 a.m.

Grow up like Dodge did, bumping from place to place, at times homeless, and you learn to survive. Even thrive.

“John’s not one of those musicians who started playing at 3 and was composing at 6,” says Rachel Pearson of Florence, a parent volunteer when John taught band at Siuslaw Middle School.

He lived in 13 apartments or houses by the time he was 18. But now is surprisingly focused.

“My lifetime goal,” he says with no bravado, “is to play in the New York Philharmonic.”

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