{"id":141155,"date":"2023-09-05T11:10:26","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T15:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=141155"},"modified":"2024-01-08T14:10:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T19:10:09","slug":"whether-its-cars-or-cello-its-music-to-his-ears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2023\/09\/05\/whether-its-cars-or-cello-its-music-to-his-ears\/","title":{"rendered":"Whether it\u2019s cars or cello, it\u2019s music to his ears"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Nick Dunbar, a cello performance major at Wright State, balances a love of music with a passion for automobiles. (Photo by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

To motorsports enthusiasts, the warbling of a high-performance engine\u2019s exhaust is music to the ears. That\u2019s true for Nick Dunbar, but his ear is also attuned to another sort of music \u2014 the vibrating of cello strings.<\/p>\n

Such is Dunbar\u2019s world, with one hand in the automotive industry and the other in music, as he enters his junior year as a cello performance major<\/a> at Wright State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole life I\u2019ve been about cars and music,\u201d said the Fairborn native.<\/p>\n

As he wrapped up his high school career, he decided to study mechanics, which he thought was practical.<\/p>\n

\u201cI figured it would be easier to make a career in the automotive industry than as a musician,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After graduation, he enrolled at the University of Northwest Ohio in Lima, known for its programs in motorsports and diesel and automotive technology. But he did so reluctantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t super excited about it \u2014 I wanted to do music the whole time,\u201d Dunbar said. \u201cBut I knew it would be easy for me to find a job afterward \u2014 cars break, and there\u2019s always a need for someone to fix them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he relishes always being a car guy, his background in music goes back far, to the age of 3, when he started playing the piano.<\/p>\n

He quit that after a year or so but returned to it, quit and returned again.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time I was 11 my school had auditions for string instruments,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to play the upright bass.\u201d<\/p>\n

A friend also wanted to play bass, but his family could not afford one, so they got the friend a cello.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also went out for cello so that he wouldn\u2019t feel left out,\u201d Dunbar said.<\/p>\n

A cellist he became. \u201cThe cello came to me much easier than it did to other kids,\u201d Dunbar said. \u201cMy orchestra teacher at Fairborn realized I was getting ahead of other kids, and suggested I get a private teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started getting serious about the cello after beginning those private lessons and in 2013 joined his first out-of-school orchestra.<\/p>\n

He continued with music and mechanics for a time. While he was at Northwest Ohio, he worked for a Dayton machine shop and then out of the blue, got a call from Honda research and development in Marysville. Word had gotten to a recruiter that Dunbar was proficient in modifying Hondas for racing and they wanted to hire him.<\/p>\n

While he was at Honda, he continued with cello lessons, from Franklin Cox, Ph.D., who he had studied with since ninth grade. Cox is an associate professor of theory, composition and cello at Wright State. But to focus on his automotive studies and the Honda job, Dunbar took two years off from cello.<\/p>\n

Cox then invited Dunbar to audition for Wright State\u2019s cello performance program. He did and enrolled not only for cello but also for business administration<\/a>, which is his minor. Dunbar said the skill set added by that minor will benefit him in an automotive future.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick is very bright and has a deep love of music,\u201d Cox said. \u201cHe is also a fine chamber music performer. Nick is a supportive colleague, performing with multiple ensembles and student groups. We’re very happy to have him in the music program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunbar has a busy fall semester. In addition to business and cello classes, Honda is hiring him full-time to work on a research and development project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be helping build a prototype car from a bare metal skeleton into a drivable vehicle,\u201d Dunbar said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge project.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he does not know the nature of the project, and if he did, he could not reveal it. What he can reveal, though, is why he is passionate about music and mechanics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the feeling. There\u2019s nothing like taking a car out on the track, and there\u2019s nothing like playing the cello,\u201d he said. \u201cFeeling the strings vibrate at the proper frequencies, working on learning a piece of music and performing it and seeing people\u2019s reaction. What turned this into a passion is the feeling of playing music and observing the effects of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he originally chose mechanics over music because of job possibilities, Dunbar now looks at things differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want to do is have a career in the automotive field in the day and music at night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He credits his Wright State experience for turning that opportunity into a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Cox and the string faculty have helped me focus and seek out my potential. I never would\u2019ve been able to do this by myself. There\u2019s not been a single professor who hasn\u2019t helped me in music in some way,\u201d Dunbar said. \u201cWhat Wright State has given me is the space to improve as a musician and learn from incredibly qualified professors to seek my full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Dunbar, a cello performance major at Wright State, balances a love of music with a passion for automobiles. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":141159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,748,2034,4859,747,715,4298],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-business","category-career-services","category-fine-and-performing-arts","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-student-profile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141165,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141155\/revisions\/141165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}