| Atwood Cochran | |
| Fictional Character | |
| 1632 series POD: May, 1631 | |
| Appearance(s): | Ring of Fire III 1636: The Devil's Opera |
| Type of Appearance: | Direct |
| Nationality: | United States of Europe (formerly United States of America) |
| Date of Birth: | 1951 |
| Occupation: | Music teacher |
| Spouse: | Lucille Cochran |
| Children: | Ginny Cochran, Sarah Beth Cochran (daughters) |
| Relatives: | Thad Cochran (brother) |
Atwood Cochran was a music teacher in Grantville. He taught at the junior high school and had a studio where he gave lessons in guitar and banjo. He also had a weekly program on the Voice of America called Adventures in Great Music. It was this program which led Giouan Battista Veraldi, who he called "John", to seek him out and become his student.
In later years, he would actually have a school, as Veraldi would periodically return and bring other students with him.
He had a high-quality portable cassette-tape recording rig that could run on batteries, and a number of blank chromium dioxide cassettes. It was known to be working as late as January 1636, when he used his last unopened cassette to record Marla Linder's performance of Das Lied des Volke, Friedrich von Logau's translation of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from the musical Les Misérables.
Note[]
The "Coda" to "The Sound of Sweet Strings" is written as excerpts from a 1979 book on the effects Grantville's arrival had on the music of Europe. It mentions that Cochran was active "in his eighties", but the story does not indicate when that was, as it does not hint at his age. However, the birth year of 1951 given in the Grid would make him 51 or 52 in early 1634, depending on when in the year his birthday was.