To Liebenow, music and writing are perfect
forms of communication, if done well. “I abso-
lutely consider myself a communicator on the
stage. I think I’m a good communicator. I know
that sounds egotistical but it is important to me
to communicate with my music. It doesn’t mat-
ter how phenomenal your technique is if you
can’t communicate. I’ve heard musicians with
incredible technique but they are not good com-
municators. I was left feeling cold and empty,”
she said.
She plays to communicate, she added, “be-
cause it allows people to feel the music. If my
music is touching you, then it is touching me. It
is important for the public to be able to experi-
ence a performance that moves them. That’s
what I try to do every time I go on stage.”
That is why she believes it is essential the arts
remain a big part of our culture, that one way or
another it must continue to be in the schools. It
is a way, Liebenow said, for students to learn to
express themselves. “It is essential for a well-
rounded society; it’s part of the core values
society needs. Yes, we are a technology driven
world, but we will always need art in our lives.
I am hopeful and optimistic about the future
because more and more people are beginning to
recognize the importance of arts,” she said.
Liebenow said she has no idea where she
would be if not for the teachers she had from
childhood on who helped her develop her skills
as a musician and a communicator.
“
My parents encouraged my siblings and
I but they were never pushy or overbearing.
They wanted us to have a well-rounded educa-
tion and decide what was best for us,” said
Liebenow, who also can play the viola, piano
and French horn. “It was a pretty normal life, I
think.”
She was good enough, however, to continue
playing through college at Ohio University,
where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s
degrees while learning from Howard Beebe,
who taught privately as well and was her first
instructor. “He laid a great foundation for me
that helped me grow. I had some fantastic teach-
ers,” she said.
Among them was James Buswell, under
whom she studied at the New England Conser-
vatory of Music in Boston. In Boston, she played
professionally, mostly as a freelance artist, and
later was a member of the symphony orchestra
in Portland, Maine.
She has played abroad, as well, including
performing a concerto in Russia in 1994. She
went there with Bill Wilsen, former conductor
of the Peoria Symphony, to work with a Russian
orchestra and help them learn classic American
symphony music. “They were literally hearing
music from American composers for the first
time,” she said.
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