Steven Wooddell
Musician, Teacher, and Father in Rome, Georgia
Steven Wooddell is a collaborative, adaptive and professional musician working in the Atlanta area. He enjoys playing for weddings, receptions, anniversary events, classical concerts, jazz combos, church services, and anything else that gives him a chance to make music with other people.
He grew up in Roanoke, Virginia and started taking piano just before his 9th birthday. He also learned to play pipe organ, clarinet and saxophone and he started playing for church services when he was 13. He was particularly drawn to the organ with its rich history and repertoire and wound up focusing primarily on organ throughout high school and college.
He went to the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston Salem and studied organ with Dr. John Mueller. He was given not only excellent teaching but was the recipient of generous amounts of it as there were so few people studying organ at the time. His time at the North Carolina School of the Arts allowed him to be prepared for the Cleveland Institute of Music- a top 10 music school in Cleveland, Ohio. Being able to study with Todd Wilson and be exposed to so much great playing by the Cleveland Orchestra and the other students there is an experience he is still deeply grateful for.
Before continuing with graduate school at Southern Methodist University with Dr. Larry Palmer he took a break and worked in Sewanee at the University of the South. Steven played for daily services at the Episcopal seminary there as well as for their excellent university choir. This gave him an opportunity to be exposed to lots of wonderful music as well some great tours- including a trip to England that let him play some of the beautiful organs that still shape how he thinks organs should sound. The best thing to come out of Sewanee was being able to meet his wife- who it turns out had been assigned to a piano duet part for an orchestra concert. They were married a few years later in Georgia.
Steven now lives in Rome, Georgia with his wife and three children.
Visit Steven:
https://stevenwooddell.wordpress.com/
https://stevenwooddell.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/wedding-music-options/
https://obfuscation22.wixsite.com/stevenwooddell
https://500px.com/stevenwooddell
https://peachtreechurch.org/about/StaffBio.aspx?sID=254