Tabor College Music

Honored as one of the top collegiate pianists in Central Kansas, Tabor College senior piano major Meghann Eblen (Leavenworth, Kan.) placed second in the College Division of the Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition, held Nov. 22, in Newton, Kan.The competition was open to students from schools affiliated with the Associated Colleges of Central Kansas (ACCK), which includes Bethany College, Bethel College, Kansas Wesleyan University, McPherson College, Sterling College, and Tabor College.

“This award is a reflection of Meghann’s hard work,” Dr. Sheila Litke, Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy, and Eblen’s studio instructor at Tabor.

“She is a wonderful example of what we want our students to work for, and she is certainly very deserving of this award.”

In the competition, Eblen played the first movement of the Mozart Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 414—a demanding piece of music, which she performed to near perfection, according to Litke, who herself is an accomplished concert pianist.

“Mozart needs to be played very cleanly, beautifully and elegantly, and I think that’s what Meghann did,” Litke said. “It was very clean, very musical, and that’s what captured the judges’ attention.”

Eblen’s performance lasted only 10 minutes, but was only made possible by four years of devoted piano study, including hundreds of hours of practice on the one piece of music.

“She worked that piece all summer, putting in somewhere between 200 or 300 hours of rehearsal time,” Litke said. “That’s the difference between someone who plays, and a real musician. To make music takes effort. You can play all of the right notes, but that doesn’t mean you’re musical.

“This was the culmination of four years of study for Meghann,” Litke added. “It has taken hard work, stamina, and dedication, and now the payoffs are starting to come.”

In recognition of her fine work, in the spring of 2008, Eblen was awarded the Tabor music department’s highest honor’s scholarship, the Jake and Selma Friesen Music Scholarship.

The winner of the contest will perform at the Winter Classics Orchestra Concert, on Feb. 8 at Bethel College. As the alternate, Eblen will perform is the winner is unable to do so.

Eblen, daughter of James (Buddy) and Kathy Eblen, is scheduled to perform the Mozart piece and others at her senior recital, at 4 p.m., Sunday, March 8, in the chapel auditorium at Tabor College.

Tabor College is a four-year Christian liberal arts college located in Hillsboro, Kan., with a second location, the School of Adult and Graduate Studies, in Wichita, Kan. Learn more about the Tabor College Music Program.