Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, October 3, 1994                   TAG: 9411120004
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: NANCY BELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SINGER HAS COME A LONG WAY SINCE 'DOGGIE IN THE WINDOW'

Two years later, dressed in her Sunday best, she won her first voice competition at the Giles County Fair singing "I See the Moon." The prize was a box of chocolate-covered cherries - not a treat she enjoys, but Ahner treasurers the experience because it inspired her to seek a career in the performing arts.

The accomplished singer, pianist and voice professor at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music returns to her roots this week to perform concerts at Ferrum and Roanoke colleges. She will sing a program called "A Century of Song," a collection of works from the Romantic period and the 20th century.

Ahner defines her style as classical concert and recital repertoire. "The particular literature I am interested in is called Art Song, a genre in which the words existed before the music was written. Mostly, this is poetry that a composer later sets to music."

Her range is as diverse as the works of William Shakespeare and Dorothy Parker, set to music.

"This is literature that is not very well known to the general public. It exists mostly in a university setting," she said. "I enjoy bringing it to the public."

While Ahner's career has evolved into a mixture of performance and instruction, she admits she relies heavily on teaching. "I enjoy teaching as much as I enjoy performing. The students are like sponges, so enthusiastic and eager to learn. I have learned a lot about my own singing by teaching others."

Ahner got a late start as a vocalist. On piano, she accompanied other performers for years before taking the first voice lesson.

"I was in my 30s by the time I started singing, but all those years accompanying others served as training, none of which was lost. It takes a while to put a good technique together."

Ahner said she is surprised at the number of students she sees at Vanderbilt who are convinced they cannot sing.

"Most children have an aptitude for singing if it is not taken away from them. With a little encouragement anyone can sing. That's what I like about teaching - restoring the voices of my students. It's sort of like healing."

Her mother, Frances Rhodes of Southwest Roanoke, said Ahner's strength as a performer directly relates to her effectiveness as a teacher. "She is a caring, outgoing person, and I think this comes out in her music."

Rhodes said she is surprised at the number of people in the Roanoke area who have followed her daughter's career, which began as a piano teacher and participant in church choir.

"It's nice for people to know how she got where she is in the time she has. It is, I think, pretty good," Rhodes said.

Ahner will perform at Ferrum College at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and Roanoke College on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Both events are free. Her performances center around a set of four songs by Claude Debussy, "Prose Lyriques." She closes the concerts with a set of witty poems by Dorothy Parker called "Songs of Perfect Privity," composed by Seymour Barab.

Memo: ***CORRECTION***