EIGHT-YEAR-OLD CODY BEVELHIMER ’24 felt like a rockstar when he unwrapped his first instrument.
“I don’t remember why I wanted a guitar so badly for Christmas, but I did,” Bevelhimer recalls with a big smile, more than a decade later. “My parents got me the classical little crappy, plywood guitar that was painted and laminated to make it look super shiny. I was so excited.”
He took lessons for five years until 2014, when he was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. The treatments and medications that eventually beat the cancer caused extreme tightness in the young teen’s hands.
“Every time I tried the guitar, my hand would cramp up and I just couldn’t play,” he says.
So Bevelhimer switched his focus onto a new instrument—the double bass.
“For some reason, that never happened with the double bass,” he says. “It just felt natural.”
After playing in jazz band and orchestra in high school, Bevelhimer was determined to find a college where he could combine his love for music and performance with his interest in audio and theater production.
Following the guidance of his dad, Joseph ’86, and after an engaging meeting with Theater Professor Michael Abbott ’85, the Zionsville High School graduate was sold on Wabash.
“Abbott answered all my questions about the music department and explained that even though Wabash doesn’t have a dedicated audio program like I wanted, there were ways to supplement that,” Bevelhimer says. “I felt like Wabash was the place where I would have the best holistic college experience, where I could pave the path I wanted doing what I love.”
Bevelhimer has shined onstage as a member of Wabash’s Chamber Orchestra and pep band. The music major and film and digital media minor reflects on the past four years and what he hopes to accomplish next.
WM: What do you love about playing the double bass?
CB: Every instrument has its own intricacies. A violin, for example, is small and requires precise movements. The large bass requires a whole different range of motions, using a lot more of your body to play. The low resonating sound of the bass vibrates your whole body.
I’ve always liked taking on a supportive role. When I played lacrosse, I was on defense. When I play video games, I like to do stuff in the background that often goes unnoticed. The bass serves everyone else in a lot of music. It lays the foundation. If you remove that sound, you wonder what’s missing. It’s also a fascinating instrument when you get into solo literature. You can hear clearly how expressive it can be when played really low, and when played really high, it sounds like a cello or violin. The double bass has a lot of versatility.
What’s it like being a part of the orchestra?
I had never been part of a big multigenerational orchestra before coming to Wabash. It feels like family. I remember the first practice, the conductor asked all the new members to introduce themselves. Afterward, so many people said, “It’s so nice to meet you,” and “We’re so happy to have you here.”
When I first arrived to campus, Wabash didn’t have a double bass teacher and all music majors are required to take lessons. I wanted to take lessons on my instrument, so Barb Wilson (one of the orchestra’s three bassists) offered to teach me. She’s been incredible. She is a veteran musician who was already teaching lessons for other instruments. For her to volunteer her time to help me get better as a musician—I don’t think that happens everywhere.
What does it feel like to perform live—whether you’re on the Salter Hall stage or among the crowd in Chadwick Court?
I always feel more at ease once I play the first note. A lot of the anxiety goes away, and I fall into a routine. When it’s something I really enjoy playing, I have learned to channel that stress or nervousness into the music in an expressive way that brings out more of what I’m trying to convey. When you play that very last note and then hear the clapping of the crowd, it feels like a breath of fresh air.
You are also involved in various leadership roles with Phi Gamma Delta, Sphinx Club, and Sons of Wabash. How do you balance your busy schedule?
It can be tough, especially at a place like Wabash, where it is easy to fill your time. Semester after semester, I’ve had to be very diligent in organizing my schedule—figuring out where I have gaps in my day to play. It used to take me an hour to get a really good practice session in, consisting of 15 minutes’ worth of warm-ups. Now I try to get there and dial in immediately. If I only have half an hour, I tell myself to make the most of it. Every beat counts.
What growth have you seen in yourself as a musician at Wabash?
I’ve grown in my appreciation and understanding of different genres. I played classical bass for eight years before coming to Wabash, and I had messed around with different genres of music before—rock, pop, country—but never really taken each as it was. Being asked to join the pep band was definitely a change. I never thought pep band was the place for a double bass. We play music meant for fun, for people to enjoy. I realized I don’t need to take music so seriously all the time. I can just have fun when I’m playing.
What’s next?
My goal is to get into audio engineering. Anytime you go to a concert or large event in a venue, there’s a guy behind the soundboard. I want to be that guy. That’s what I did last summer interning for the STAR Bank Performing Arts Center at my high school. I was primarily the audio guy, but I also worked as a stagehand, event manager, and liaison between the facility and visiting companies.
I would love to get involved in production work, whether it be in theater, music, or the corprate world.
What I love doing the most is being a musician and performing onstage. I hope to find a local orchestra to join. But until then, I plan to keep playing my electric bass for fun in a small band that I’m in with some friends.