Why I do what I do.

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Big Magic Creative Living Beyond Fear, Classical Musician, Create Yourself, Elgar Enigma Variations, Elizabeth Gilbert, Festival Mozaic, Flute, Greg Bishop, James Paul, Jeff Perry, John Mayer, Mahler Symphony 4, Oregon Coast Music Festival, Prokofiev Classical Symphony, Rachmaninov Symphony 2, Santo Urso, Steppenwolf Theater, The Nutcracker, The Steppenwolf Theater of Chicago In Their Own Words

I’m reading two inspiring books right now:
Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, and my friend and colleague John Mayer’s new book The Steppenwolf Theater Company of Chicago: In Their Own Words. Although on the surface it would seem neither has anything to do with music – one is about a writer, her passion for writing, and how to discover the magic and creativity we all have inside us. The other, a historical look at and tribute to Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theater. Turns out both are absolutely about music, 100% applicable to anyone in the arts, and fortunately for me, very relevant to my life as classical orchestral flutist.

Elizabeth speaks of the sacred vow she made to always write no matter what, and her commitment to her art. She writes about digging deep, finding out who you are and always being true to yourself. Realizing that you’re not required to save the world with your creativity – your own reasons to create are reason enough. Also, to stop complaining because it kills our creativity.

John and the members of the Steppenwolf Theater share their stories from the very beginning as high school students, the struggles of creating something from square one, juggling a full time dedication to their craft and the blood, sweat, and tears of trying to keep their heads above water financially – as young artists and as a theater company, always working as a team never as an individual, the uncertainty of whether or not what you’re doing will be a grand slam, trusting your art is damn good, and “attacking it ferociously” no matter what. There are so many quotable moments in this book. Yesterday, I read one (about a dozen times) by Jeff Perry which especially resonated with me: “…if you’re not working together, you’re working alone. If you’re not in the moment, where the hell are you? You’re in some plan, and that plan can’t be as good as what can happen spontaneously.”
I could go on, but suffice to say the irony of these two books both being on my nightstand after just coming off of two soul feeding, inspiring,  magical weeks of music making with some of the finest musicians in the field, is pretty cool.

Last Saturday night, we closed the 2016 Oregon Coast Music Festival season with a concert I won’t soon forget.  One week later, and I’m still basking in the glow of a truly remarkable Prokofiev Classical Symphony and Rachmaninov 2. Since 1998, Coos Bay and the OCMF have been my summertime musical happy place. There’s something really special that happens there, and I try to hold on to it for as long as possible upon reentry to life back home. Don’t get me wrong, I love Long Beach for about 1000 reasons. I also love getting away and spending a week at a music festival with people I only get to collaborate with once a year.
In many ways, OCMF became my grown up CSU Summer Arts. At Summer Arts, students from all over the world gather and surround themselves with other brilliantly talented, wildly creative students, as well as guest artists and teachers who collaborate, inspire and help these students create something extraordinary. At OCMF, outstanding musicians from all over the country coming together in a beautiful place, perform time honored war horses of the orchestral repertoire with a great conductor who helps us to create something special.  We’re housed by the most generous and hospitable host families in the community, who open up their homes to us and welcome us with open arms, like old friends and even family. It’s awesome in every possible way.
Last Saturday night, right before the concert began, I sat on stage looking around at my friends and colleagues, and couldn’t help but take a trip down memory lane, thinking about our shared history, the many concerts we’ve performed together over the years, the BBQ’s, the late nights at the local pub, the road trips to and from Oregon year after year, the movie nights, the beach bonfires… Some of these musicians and I go back long before Coast, some have been a part of the festival much longer than me, and for some, it was their first year experiencing the magic of “Coast.”

The Prokofiev is a huge piece in the flute repertoire. It’s on virtually every flute audition, and if you ask any flute player, they’ll tell you, it’s … a handful. That said, it’s also a super fun piece to play. Apparently, it’s also a fun piece to conduct because our Music Director, James Paul, sure enjoyed rehearsing it!  The day of the concert, we ran it twice. As a matter of fact, I think we ran it twice at each of our three rehearsals, because, as James said, “it’s short, let’s run the whole thing again…” The night of the concert, we even repeated the last movement as an encore, before intermission! Our principal flutist, Greg Bishop, and I were sure he was trying to kill us, and were frankly pretty surprised (and a little horrified) by James’ decision, but we buckled our seat belts and enjoyed the short ride in the fast machine, so to speak. The benefits of playing this enormously challenging piece a zillion times in three days is not lost on me. I was grateful for the opportunity and had a blast – thank you, James.
The Rachmaninov was, in a word; exquisite. Unfortunately, this piece sometimes gets a bad rep from musicians who have performed it many times – not unlike The Nutcracker. But, like The Nutcracker, I love it. I don’t understand the notion of getting tired of playing great works. They get played a lot because, well, they’re great. For many, it’s all about the 3rd movement, which I’ll agree, is gorgeous. But, I really love the 1st movement. I could play that piece for a week every season and never tire of it.
Back to Saturday – we truly outdid ourselves. Seriously, this concert will arguably go down in history as one of our very best. Everyone was feeling the love. Everyone’s sincere dedication to the performance was written all over their faces. You could feel it. The magic on stage was undeniable. And, if there was an empty seat in the hall, I didn’t see it. The place was packed! Our first rehearsal three nights earlier was a little rough, but then something magical happened, and it all just came together when it needed to, at the perfect moment. Every single musician on that stage was all in.

Exactly one week prior I was in San Luis Obispo at Festival Mozaic playing another gem; Mahler 4. What a piece! What an orchestra! So incredibly good. Like Coast, outstanding musicians come to this festival from all over the country. We’re only together for a short time and what we achieve is pretty fantastic. Although the entire symphony is lovely, for me it’s all about the heartfelt, take you on an emotional roller coaster, tear your heart out and make you weep 3rd movement.

 
After Festival Mozaic and before our Prokofiev/Rachmaninov concert at Coast, we played another all time favorite on our Tuesday night concert; Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Here, it’s the Nimrod variation that takes me out. Every. Time. I can’t say how many times I’ve played the Elgar or Rachmaninov but I can say it has been many, and nearly every time I’m moved to tears.

So, in one week’s time I performed Mahler 4, Enigma, Prokofiev Classical, and Rach 2, with two phenomenal orchestras. Not a bad week, I’d say. In fact, probably one of the very best.
Summer music festivals, how I love thee.

We don’t choose this life as a classical musician to achieve fame and fortune. I can’t think of one single classical musician who has said “I want to devote my life to orchestral playing so I can make piles of money and retire early!” We choose this path because we cannot imagine ourselves doing anything else that will feed our soul and fulfill us the way that music does. We choose this life because we simply cannot live without it. It’s not always an easy road. In fact, is often the opposite of an easy road, and one that requires big sacrifices. But, that’s all part of it. You have to love it. All of it. Not just the glamorous parts. Elizabeth also addresses this exact point in her book, by the way.

I have devoted many years to the art of being a classical flutist and orchestral musician. Fortunately, I knew from a very young age that I wanted a life like my father Santo Urso; as an orchestral musician. Years later, I’m still here and still just as enthusiastic about all of it. I am thankful for the opportunity play with many remarkable musicians, in many fine orchestras, often in great halls, with (sometimes) great conductors, performing (mostly) great music. Being an orchestral musician fulfills me in a way that I can’t articulate with words. There’s something about being the middle of it all, totally immersed in the sound of the whole orchestra, playing your part no matter how big or small, that fits like a puzzle piece with someone else’s puzzle piece on the other side of the stage, all the while remaining focused and flexible for whatever twist or turn the music may take in a slightly different direction, going with it, playing off one another, stretching yourself to create something just a little more special than what you did yesterday with your seemingly unimportant (but obviously very important) 3 note second flute solo. Then all of the sudden, it happens, that favorite place in your favorite movement comes up and totally takes you out.
That’s when you’re reminded, yep, this is why I do what I do.
With fearless and unapologetic creativity and enthusiasm.
Working together with an extraordinary team to make something truly remarkable, in that moment, on that stage. Just like our Rachmaninov last Saturday.

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CSU Summer Arts 2016: Tell the Story

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Acting, Actor, Akira Tana, Alex Billings, Ali Ryerson, Andover Educators, Art, Barry Underwood, Bernstein, Body Mapping, Bryan Pezzone, Bryan Wagorn, California State University Long Beach, Carol Wincenc, Composer, Create Yourself, CSU Summer Arts, CSU Summer Arts 2016, CSULB, Dave Goetsch, Extended Techniques, Flute, Flutist, Ian Clarke, Jazz Flute, Jazz Flute Big Band, John Barcellona, John Wiitala, Kim Rubinstein, Mozart Flute Concerto, Music, Musician, Robert Dick, Stage Combat, Steppenwolf West, Steve Trapani, Viewpoints, Wendy Caldwell, West Side Story

I just returned home from two magical weeks at CSU Summer Arts. This Summer Arts experience was particularly special as it was my first year as a course coordinator. Having attended Summer Arts back in 1993 and 1995 as a student and then returning in 2013 as a guest artist, I knew what I was in for. In 2013, I, in my usual dramatic way, did the whole “my life has come full circle” thing. It had, in a way. Until this year when I was offered a turn at running my own course. I was told that although Summer Arts has had students become guest artists over the years, I am the first student to become a course coordinator. Now my Summer Arts life had officially come full circle.
(I blogged about the 2013 course – which you can read here, as well as a preview blog for this years course – which you can read here).

So, what is it about Summer Arts that makes it so magical?
The people.
The place.
The golden opportunity to tuck yourself away in a place filled with other like minded young artists and master teachers, focus exclusively on your art for two weeks, and create yourself.
The gift of time to allow yourself to really process everything you’re taking in, in that moment.
The chance to learn from the some of the very best artists out there.

When tasked with creating my “dream flute course” I didn’t have to think too terribly long before coming up with the artists I wanted on board. I’m pleased to say The Complete 21st Century Flutist was a huge success! Many thanks to my friends  Rachel Nardo and Joanne Sharp at Summer Arts who must’ve also had a feeling this course would be something special. I’m grateful to you and honored to be a part of the Summer Arts family.

We had a delightful time working with and getting to know 20 bright and talented flutists from around the US and Canada. Our team of artists was off the charts:  flutists John Barcellona, Ian Clarke, Robert Dick, Ali Ryerson, Carol Wincenc, pianists Wendy Caldwell and Bryan Pezzone, bassist John Wiitala and drummer Akira Tana.

Day One

 

“It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s about the art, the music, telling the story, the creative process, remaining open to taking in as much as you can, stepping outside your comfort zone, thinking outside the box, learning new and different ways to approach your art …”
This was expressed from day one, and again and again throughout our time together.
My colleagues and I discovered that we were often saying similar things to the students without necessarily meaning to, simply because we were on the same page. We weren’t sitting down for our daily afternoon planning session over tea and cookies saying “OK, I’m going to say this, and then you say the same thing at your class later on! Deal?”  Although some of us had worked with each other, this full team had never worked together and yet, here we were, all speaking the same language. Amazing.

Honestly, I haven’t worked so hard, slept so little, and was so energized and inspired as I was these past weeks. I’m certain I said this in my 2013 blog about Summer Arts, but it’s true. It has to be a Summer Arts thing. I mean seriously, I was getting on the average 5 hours a night, sometimes far less, and yet I’d still leap out of bed at 5:35 am to ready myself for the early morning beach hike with my students and colleagues. Let me just say, I rarely leap out of bed for anything, and by rarely I mean never. Summer Arts.

 

Many late night pedagogical discussions turned into early morning pedagogical discussions. Just when we’d think it was time to call it a night, one of us would interject with “… and then when I was 12 …”  We’d respond by easing back in our chairs, maybe turning the kettle on for another cup of tea, and settle in for the next chapter of one of our lives to share.

Some of our night classes would invariably go way overtime because everyone was digging the process and didn’t want to stop. One night, Carol Wincenc was leading a fabulous workshop on the Mozart Flute Concerti that she and her colleague Bryan Wagorn arranged for two flutes. The students broke into pairs at first, playing through each movement of each concerto, nearly every part of the orchestra represented as well as the solo flute part. We hadn’t yet finished the D Major concerto and were way out of time. Before I could finish my sentence asking for a show of hands of who wanted to keep going or call it a night, every student enthusiastically raised their hands to keep going to finish it. We went pretty late that night, but it was a huge shot in the arm. I’ll never forget the feeling in the room as 23 of us plowed through the D Major Concerto, Carol in the middle of our giant circle leading us along like the Pied Piper.
Summer Arts.
BTW, Thank you Carol and Bryan. You’ve given a tremendous gift to the flute community with these remarkable arrangements. Brava!

At our first class meeting, Ali Ryerson asked the students for a show of hands of who could improvise. One hand went up and another sort of went up after that. She said “I disagree. You all can improvise. You just did it as you went around the room, introducing yourselves.” She was right. By the end of the two weeks, everyone had developed the skills and confidence to take a solo in Ali’s Jazz Flute Big Band. It was an amazing thing to witness each of these players opening up, stepping outside their comfort zones, and trying something new – successfully.
Summer Arts.

John Barcelona is the technical clearing house for working out your … stuff … on the flute. This man has the ability to hear you play, tell you all the things you’re doing well, then tell you what needs work and show you how to fix it. John was my mentor teacher in grad school at CSULB. He did this exact thing for me nearly 25 years ago, which helped shape me into the flutist and teacher I am today. Having a teacher explain the what/why/when/how of flute playing to you is invaluable. Some can tell you what and when but not all can really communicate how and why. John can. Very well.

Robert Dick brought a ton of outside the box thinking to this course. Robert is a pioneer in the world of contemporary flute performance and composition. There are things this man can do on the bass flute that will blow your mind. Don’t believe me? Get his new CD, put on track one (stereo, not laptop) and you’ll see what I mean. Whether you are someone who performs contemporary works chocked full of extended techniques or not, there’s no denying this man is brilliant. His workshops on circular breathing, improvised cadenzas, and multi-phonics were invaluable.

Speaking of brilliant flutists/composers, Ian Clarke was a bright shining light on a cloudy day. Besides being a remarkable flutist, Ian’s works for flute are equally so, and were well represented at this course. Many of the students played his pieces – very well. What I love about Ian’s writing is that he has a diverse collection of works for flute and there is something for a variety of level of player. He is a masterclass master, with the ability to include everyone in a natural and sincere way, keeping them engaged the whole time, while still maintaining focus on the student with whom he is working. His workshop on 1000 Sounds in Silence was brilliant and looking around the room as he spoke, you could almost see the students minds opening up in front of your eyes.
Summer Arts.

The students were fortunate to work with two brilliant actors from the Steppenwolf course, Alexandra Billings and Kim Rubinstein. They introduced the flute students to The Viewpoints – 9 major viewpoints to apply as they move with one another through space and work together as an ensemble. They are, in no particular order: Kinesthetic Response, Spacial Relationship, Duration, Repetition, Shape, Architecture, Tempo, Topography and Gesture. These 9 viewpoints became a standard topic of discussion on our early morning walks with fellow teachers, guest artists, and students, as well as late night flute pedagogy discussions. As a Body Mapping instructor, this particularly resonated with me. Our flute students were getting regular Body Mapping classes at Summer Arts, and for me, this was the perfect accompaniment to that. Yet another illustration of how we all cross over, connect, create and inspire at Summer Arts.

Through it all, the common thread of tell the story kept resurfacing.

From the very first night at the stage combat presentation, the actors reminded us how vital it is to tell the story, especially important if you’re an actor swinging a rapier and dagger around at another actor. They also stressed the importance of slow, methodical work and repetition. Obviously applicable for us musicians.
Dave Goetsch from Big Bang Theory spoke at his presentation about the creative process in the writers room and telling the story. His list of tips for writers hit home for me and my students – especially the one about pitching the solution and not just a suggestion. How can we as teachers teach our students if we don’t offer them suggestions for how to fix what needs fixing?

Artist Barry Underwood showed us several stories with his beautiful and innovative photographs. His ability to combine something old with something new is pure genius. As a musician, this is the dance we do all the time – finding new works to add to our repertoire, developing new techniques on our instruments, all the while keeping hold of time honored tradition. Combining works on a program by JS Bach and Ian Clarke or Robert Dick, for example, is our version of combining the old with the new.
Summer Arts.

We as musicians must always tell the story, but it’s not always clear how to do that. Actors and writers seem to do this effortlessly, why can’t we? Why do we get so caught up inside our heads and forget about this deeper level of communication between performer and listener? We’re so consumed with the technical, the execution, and the most minute details. Of course, it’s that precise attention to detail that makes us good at what we do – but it can never ever be at the expense of telling the story.

So how did our 20 flutists tell their story? With creativity, beauty, poise, and artistry. I sat in the audience with my colleagues and witnessed each of these 20 musicians create something remarkable. From soloist to soloist, chamber group to Jazz Flute Big Band, each one of them took the stage like they owned it. Those who never imagined they could improvise, did. Each of them were 100% in the moment, inclusively aware, and digging the whole experience.
Another piece of advice I gave to them at the start of our journey together was to own their space. When they take the stage to perform whether in masterclass, ensemble rehearsal or performance, don’t come into the space as if it belongs to someone else and you are a guest. Own it. And, own it they did.

Week 2

In the wake of the atrocities taking place all over the globe, it seemed a bit self indulgent to post this blog. Honestly, I’ve been hesitating to finish writing and post it. Why would anyone care about a two week flute course in Monterey Bay when so much anger, sadness, and pain are all around us. That’s exactly why this needs to be out there. We can’t stop these horrible acts from happening, but, we can keep living our lives, creating art, making music, inspiring one another, and living in the present moment. Yesterday afternoon, as I was writing this, I received an email from my friends at Summer Arts, informing me and all of the other course coordinators that all 27 art students and 4 teachers who are currently in Nice for a three week painting course with Summer Arts, were safe. I had no idea that the events in Nice had even taken place until that email arrived. About an hour later, my husband Steve and I made our way up to Hollywood for the LA Phil’s semi-staged production of Bernstein’s West Side Story. Hardly the thing I felt like doing – going to sit in a giant amphitheater with thousands of other people – but Steve was playing with the Philharmonic so off we went. I was sure the house would be light. Wrong. It was packed – if not sold out, damn near. The Hollywood Bowl seats 18,000 people. It was quite something watching this classic work after many years, realizing how relevant it is right now. Violence, fear, guns, power. Bernstein, Sondheim, and Laurents put pen to paper on this masterpiece more than 50 years ago. Many of us have seen Bernstein’s famous quote: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

In a time filled with fear, I choose love, music, art, and friendship.
Right here, right now, I’m filled with many emotions as I come down from the Summer Arts high, most of which are good, some melancholy. I miss my friends old and new, the 20 awesome flute students, and a handful of other outstanding young artists whose acquaintance I was lucky to make. Who knows if our paths will cross again – I hope they do and I hope it’s at our next Summer Arts flute course. (Cross your fingers for 2018, flutists!)

To my students, I propose this:
Get out of your head and find a place deep inside yourself to communicate the music to yourself and your audience.
Trust that your art and creativity are good and speaks for itself.
Become friends with the creative process. Focus less on the goal and more on the process. (Yes, I wrote a blog about this, too … click here, it’s a good one, I promise! )
Find the story. Sometimes it’s not super obvious, but it’s there, I promise you. Find it and tell it.

Meanwhile, I will recall with fondness our two weeks in Monterey Bay, in our sacred space at the Music Hall, telling our story and creating ourselves.

Last night together

 

 

Being a Good Colleague: A guide to getting the hang of “the hang” for newly graduated music students

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Andover Educators, Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, CSULB, Oakland Symphony, Oregon Coast Music Festival, Steve Trapani

There’s a fair amount of advice out there these days for young musicians as they graduate from their beloved universities and conservatories and start the next chapter of their lives as professionals.  Navigating the murky waters and slippery slopes is not an easy task, and many might not have the courage to ask for advice (or even know who to ask for advice)  to help them learn the ropes.  This post really hits the nail on the head.  I didn’t write it, which is why I can be so bold as to make a statement like that.  My husband Steve Trapani, a professional bass trombonist, wrote this a couple of weeks ago, right about the time our semester ended at CSULB.  Read on…

Being a Good Colleague:

A guide to getting the hang of “the hang” for newly graduated music students. By Steve Trapani.

As another year comes to a close at CSU, Long Beach (this was my 10th) I find myself thinking about what is next for all of the recently graduated music majors from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, as well as those from all of the other music schools across the country. Much has been written on the subject of improving as a musician, but not much gets put out there on the subject of interacting with your colleagues once you start working in the business. To be sure, the vast majority of your time as a young musician needs to be spent in the practice room perfecting the craft of your chosen instrument. However, I believe it’s also important to have some guidelines to help navigate the incredibly complicated social world of the professional musician.

There was a Xerox floating around Los Angeles in the late ’80’s or early ’90’s that addressed the subject, and Jeanne Baxtresser, former Principal Flute of the New York Philharmonic, put something out a little after that. However, things have changed quite a bit since that time – the internet, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

I thought that perhaps it would be useful for there to be a reminder for those that were around back then, and that maybe a new guide should be written for those not exposed to the originals that takes our current reality into consideration. By the way, lest you believe that I am preaching from some moral high ground, I have done many of these things at some point in my career and have been politely, and sometimes not politely, instructed in the correct way in which to comport myself. Some of these suggestions also come from observations on the job, and some come from cautionary tales passed on by more experienced and wiser people than myself.

Some basic stuff:

– Be respectful and courteous. You’d be surprised that something so obvious would need to be addressed, but some folks seem to forget that there are actual people around them with actual feelings. No matter how young and good you are, you are sure to be surrounded by dozens of musicians who were you once upon a time. Once marriages, mortgages, kids, and aging enter your life, yes, you too may find that you don’t have time to practice that amazing warm-up routine that impresses everyone with its speed and technical wizardry.
– Have a functional warm up that actually just kind of warms you up. Now’s not the time for the fastest, highest, or lowest notes you can play. Unless you’re playing lead trumpet on a pops set, we don’t want to hear any screeching coming from your horn. Bass trombonists (and some tenor trombonists), we don’t need to hear your pedal note exercises now either. As wonderful as it feels, fortissimo pedal F’s are just kind of obnoxious when people around you are trying to quietly work out a passage or two before the gig starts.
– Don’t practice anything remotely resembling a solo that a colleague is going to play on the gig that day. This too may seem like a no-brainer, but some people just haven’t stopped to consider the head trip that their fellow performers put themselves through when they have an exposed solo or passage to play. Nor have they thought that it might be somewhat distracting to hear someone else playing said solo in the building beforehand.
– Don’t play your audition list on stage while people are trying to prepare for rehearsal. I’m the first guy to discover that vacant foyer, lower level rehearsal room, or vacant stage and I love to take advantage of the opportunity to practice in a good space. But come on. Not when people are putting their instruments together and warming up. If people are around, stop the mock audition about an hour before the service so everyone else can prepare to work.
– If you’re new to the group, take your cues from those who have been there before. Sometimes people don’t mind if everyone is noodling around, but sometimes they do. They really do mind, and they expect for everyone to just sort of respect the mellow mood of the room before the recording light comes on. If someone asks you if they make a practice mute for your horn, shut your hole.
– If possible, warm-up at home before the gig. If not, find a corner of the parking garage, or a room in the performing space that no one is going to go through. Stairwells, janitor closets, boiler rooms, trap rooms, and unused offices make good places to get the cobwebs out.
– Try to get to the point where you don’t need to play a 45 minute routine in order to be ready to do the gig. 5-10 minutes of soft exercises should really be enough.
– Don’t shuffle, give “the foot”, thumbs up, or any other affirmation to your colleague who just played a really hard lick, unless you know the group. Some ensembles are very reserved and consider it a possible jinx if you prematurely congratulate them before the set is finished. Again, read the room. If everyone’s doing it, then ok, but don’t be the first one. You don’t want to be perceived as the possible reason that your colleague chipped a note just because you wanted to be supportive and inadvertently got inside their head. If in doubt, wait until you’re packing up your horn after the last performance before you give anyone an, “atta boy!”
– Develop a poker face for when you’re in performance. Try to not give away with your facial expression the fact that you missed a note, your stand mate missed a note, or that you’re upset with anything. Audience members are like rhinos or bulls whose eyes are drawn to any facial movements that differ from the unmoving landscape of 100 stoic classical musician scowls. The running commentary that your face is expressing will become their focus instead of the music.
– Sit still if the colleagues around you are playing and you are not. It is very distracting to be playing while people are flitting about. If you must move in order to get a drink of water or pick up your iPad, please do so without bringing any unnecessary attention to yourself.

Break time:
– This is a very potentially hazardous 10-20 minute window during which you should concentrate on taking care of “break” type business. This includes going to the bathroom, filling up your water bottle, and taking care of any paperwork that needs to be completed. Only after you’ve completed these tasks should you attempt to be social with anyone and “network”.
– Read. The. Room. Are the people who are talking together old friends? Is the group you are about to try and join talking about serious stuff? If so, pull up. Don’t go crashing headlong into a conversation in which you are not welcome. If you inadvertently find yourself in the middle of one of these situations because of an honest mistake, just stop and shut the hell up. If you made a gaff, politely apologize and leave the general area to do some break time activities mentioned above. If you’re lucky, no one will remember you.
– When in doubt, just keep to yourself. Wait for people to come up and talk to you. If no one does, don’t take it personally. This may be your first time on the job, but many of these folks have literally been on thousands of breaks and have a routine that doesn’t include making sure the new guy/gal feels ok about him/herself.
– When approached, be polite and courteous. Follow the rule of thumb of only speaking after having been spoken to. Answer questions and be friendly, but don’t take the opportunity to plug yourself or your band or your girl/boyfriend who’s also a musician. Just be cool. In time, like in any social situation, when the people are comfortable with you being around they will begin to try to get to know you.
– Find your peeps (if any) and hang out with them. Think back to the playground at grade school. When you were in 3rd grade you hung out with 3rd graders. Before you knew it you were in 6th grade looking down pitifully on all the poor scared 3rd graders. Don’t worry. Soon enough the big kids will ask you to play.
– Jokes. I’m not a particularly jokey kind of guy, but the telling of jokes fills a large amount of break time in some groups. Obviously, inflammatory jokes about sex, the disabled, and politics need to not even enter your mind during break time. If you must tell a joke, make sure you know your audience. Do not assume anything in this regard. People do get fired for insensitive remarks heard by the wrong person at the wrong time.

Internet: Oh boy, this is a tough one and the protocol for decent behavior is evolving every day.

– Tread carefully. Assume that any recording, video, picture, tweet, or blog post you make will be dissected, examined closely, and possibly eviscerated by the haters. Write the post then delete it before pulling the trigger. Examine, proofread, repeat. If you still find yourself compelled to post after doing this a few times, perhaps the recording, video, picture, tweet, or blog post is worthy to put out there for the rest of eternity. Understand that is what you are doing. Somewhere out there, there is a computer that is recording everything you post, and despite your most thorough privacy settings, it could come back and bite you. (You better believe this was the process used in constructing this post.)
– Technology will always favor the youth and each new generation brings its own set of ideas and social rules to the table. However, some of the best musicians I know, both young and old, have little to no internet presence whatsoever. You know why? Because they’re busy playing on your favorite movie, or winning that audition that you just got cut from. By and large the people you hear the least from are the ones doing the most work and having the most success. Facebook and an internet presence are necessary evils for the modern freelancer, no matter what your age, and the rules are not set. Try to err on the conservative side and proceed with extreme caution.
– The guys/gals are the guys/gals. You don’t have to live in a region for too long before you know who is doing the good work. They are likely in those positions for a reason and you have to respect that. No matter how you dress up your Facebook profile, Instagram account, or website, you have to have made a splash in the business first before you are accepted to the club. Don’t learn the wrong lesson from that fancy website or Facebook page of your favorite musician – they got great on their horn first, then they made the fancy website. You may get noticed because you’re young and hot, but sooner or later you’ve got to produce. It would be a shame to waste the opportunity by getting the shot without being able to back it up. Focus on winning competitions, auditions for summer festivals, regional orchestra auditions, and getting into a good masters program. Get established in the scene. Wait on the overly narcissistic website.
– When you start to have success, you have to balance your desire to let everyone know about it with the knowledge that music jobs are a limited commodity. You doing the gig means that others didn’t get the same opportunity. Being gracious in this regard can be tricky. On the other hand, it can be frustrating to stoically avoid self promotion while those around you seem to post about every single opportunity they have – especially if you’re doing better stuff.
– You must understand the pecking order and know who got you the gig. Acknowledge your benefactor and don’t go too crazy about posting about doing cool stuff when you know that you’re the 2nd, 3rd, or even last call on the list. Those folks above you who don’t post too much about themselves might just decide that you’re obnoxious or ungrateful and stop using you.
– If everyone around you is having a tough time, don’t do the backdoor brag about how you are just so busy that you can hardly keep up. This should be self-evident, but some folks seem to lack empathy for the mostly-suffering fate of many of their colleagues. You can be proud of yourself, but try to take the high road and celebrate your well deserved victory in private more often than you brag about your successes in public.

I recently heard someone use the following mantra when describing a way of behaving when dealing with large and varied group of people: “Don’t do stupid stuff.” I like that. The problem is that we don’t always know that what we’re doing is stupid at the time were doing it. All you can do is play the hand that you are dealt and try to make the best choice at the time. Understand that we’re all just trying to survive in an extremely competitive field. Music is a social endeavor and unless you’re planning to be a soloist, you’d better start to get the hang of “the hang”. You’re going to make missteps along the way, but perhaps with the help of a guide such as this you’ll make fewer bad ones. Maybe you’ll be saved from yourself before the stakes get really high and you lose a gig.

The best piece of advice I’ve ever heard about this subject comes from my wife, Rena Urso-Trapani’s, father, Santo Urso, who played Assistant Concertmaster with the Detroit Symphony for 46 years. He said, “Just go in there. Sit down. Do your job. And keep your ***-damned mouth shut!”

Good luck!

 

OKI’m back. You know, speaking of being a good colleague, here are some favorite moments capturing just that: Steve and I with our Oakland Symphony/Brewmaster colleagues; Steve and I; my Dad and his colleagues; a handful of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music Faculty; more fun with Oakland Symphony; good times at the Oregon Coast Music Festival; fabulous Andover Educator colleagues; me and my friend Ben Smolen before a Pacific Symphony/American Ballet Theater rehearsal; more Oakland fun (I sense a recurring theme here…); BCCM flute faculty; and Steve and I, again.

The brewers of the Oakland East Bay Symphony (a.k.a. the whole low brass section and second flutist) L to R: Steve Trapani, Bruce Chrisp, Scott Choate, yours truly, and Tom Hornig.

One of my all time favorite photos! Dad, Sal Rabbio, and my mentor Clem Barone.

What a great team we have at the Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB! Go Beach!

Holiday fun at the Oakland Symphony

Late-night roundtable talks at 1984 SW 5th. Represent, yo.

Pre-Nutcracker caffeine with Steve, Scott Choate, Bruce Chrisp & I

The CSULB Flute Faculty: Darrin Thaves, John Barcellona & I.

Steve & I, Nutcracker 2012.

What’s the big deal about CSU Summer Arts?

Tags

Akira Tana, Ali Ryerson, Art, Baroque Flute, Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, Body Mapping, Bryan Pezzone, California State University Long Beach, Carol Wincenc, Chamber Music, Create Yourself, CSU Summer Arts, CSU Summer Arts 2016, CSULB, CSUMB, Extended Techniques, Flute, Flutist, Ian Clarke, Jazz Flute, Jazz Flute Big Band, John Barcellona, John Wiitala, Muramatsu Flute, Orchestral Auditions, piccolo, Rena Urso-Trapani, Robert Dick, Summer Master Class, The Complete 21st Century Flutist, Wendy Caldwell

This summer I am coordinating a course for CSU Summer Arts entitled “The Complete 21st Century Flutist.” Flutists John Barcellona, Ian Clarke, Robert Dick, Ali Ryerson, Carol Wincenc and myself, along with pianists Bryan Pezzone and Wendy Caldwell, and Ali’s rhythm section mates bassist John Wiitala, and drummer Akira Tana will come together to present a two week course at CSU Monterey Bay. I know, right? Off the charts. This group of artists is serious business.
Two weeks of flute magic in a gorgeous place.
Sounds great, right? But what’s so special about that, aside from the obvious?

Let me tell you my CSU Summer Arts story…

Once upon a time, back in the early 90’s, when flannel shirts were fashionable the first time around and I was a grad student at CSULB, my flute professor came to me part way through my first year and told me he wanted me to attend a summer flute course that he was coordinating. The course would be two weeks long, take place at CSU Humboldt, and the guest artists were Michel Debost and Julius Baker. I can’t recall exactly what I said in that moment, but I’m pretty sure I replied with a very enthusiastic “yes!” before he even finished his sentence. I, along with another CSULB flute student, and a CSULB alumni clarinet student who would attend a chamber music course with the Alexander String Quartet, would all be a part of this awesome summer event. Having only lived in California for just over a year, the road trip alone took my breath away. Three of us made the long 700 mile trek north, and the further we traveled the more beautiful it got. CSU Humboldt is a gorgeous campus, and spending two weeks in this funky (in a good way), green, lush, coastal town, among the giant redwood trees, where the air was clean and crisp and the stars were so bright at night you could reach out and touch them was kind of unbelievable for this Detroit girl, to say the least.
The course was intense. Our days were long, and were made longer by our late night trips to the practice rooms to reinforce what we had learned that day. We didn’t sleep much. I also had the extra responsibility of being John’s assistant, which was an honor, to be sure. None of that seemed to affect me, or anyone else for that matter because we all were fueled by our enthusiasm and the immense creativity that surrounded us. See, while we were doing all things flute, there were all of these other courses taking place, from a variety of genres; theater, dance, visual art, as well as our fellow musician pals who were a part of the chamber music course. We all ate our meals together, most notably with Mr. Baker and Mr. Debost, and listened with rapt attention to their meal time banter. One free afternoon, my professor John invited me over to the coast with the local CSU Humboldt flute professor Betsy, as well as Mr. Baker and Mr. Debost. Are you kidding? I get to hang out with the cool kids? I’ll never forget that afternoon, or the first time I got to see the magnificent Northern California coastal views up close. Then there were the afternoons that my best friend Rachel and I walked Mr. Baker back to his apartment on campus, made him tea, and watched TV with him. Mr. Baker was getting over Lyme’s disease and he appreciated the help and the company. We couldn’t get enough of his stories.
The course was amazing in every way you might imagine. Until that summer, I couldn’t recall a time that I was more inspired. I forged many new friendships with my fellow flute classmates, several of which are not only dear friends to this day but professional colleagues as well.

Two years later, John offered me the same sweet deal to return to Summer Arts. This time, his guest artists were a former teacher of mine and a former DSO colleague of my Dad’s, Ervin Monroe, and Jean-Pierre Rampal. Seriously? 100% yes. Sadly, Mr. Rampal had to cancel because he needed emergency hip surgery, but fortunately, Mr. Baker was available to return a second time. Two more weeks of inspiration and creativity at this beautiful campus once again. Unlike ’93,  several of us CSULB flute students attended in ’95, and we had a ball together. To this day, when I get together with my Summer Arts friends, we reminisce about our time at CSU Humboldt. The bonds we formed are strong and have truly stood the test of time. At both the ’93 and ’95 courses, I felt fortunate to be chosen as a featured student soloist and play chamber music with other flutists who shared my love and enthusiasm for music and learning from these extraordinary musicians. The rich musical experiences and life lessons I gained those two summers at Summer Arts were invaluable, and they helped shape me into a far more creative musician and artist than I was before.

When John approached me 5 years ago and asked me to be a guest artist for another CSU Summer Arts flute course, you can probably guess my reply.
Our course was fantastic. Although I was now a guest artist, part of me felt like a student. We all learned from one another and those two weeks in July 2013 were just as inspirational and musically fulfilling as the summers I spent as a student back in the 90’s. I blogged about that incredible two week course, which you can read here. Suffice to say, I thought my life had truly come full circle… until I was asked to present a course of my own this summer.
If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m downright giddy over my course this summer. If I were a student, I would totally attend this course. Why? Because it’s filled with everything a flutist needs to develop, refine, and create the player they need to be to be successful in today’s music world. Oh, wait. I am attending! Yes!

So, what will we do this time around?
Well, there will be traditional masterclasses covering the standard repertoire for flute and piano, as well as unaccompanied flute, led primarily by Carol Wincenc and Ian Clarke.
Each flute guest artist will share their personal warm-up routines, including their favorite tone and technical studies.
There will be workshops on jazz style, interpretation, and improvisation led by Ali Ryerson, who will also lead everyone in rehearsals with her Jazz Flute Big Band, which will culminate in a final performance at the end of the two weeks.
There will be workshops on extended techniques, led by Ian Clarke and Robert Dick, for all levels, not only the players for whom this is standard practice, but also for the players who are new to contemporary and avant garde music.
John Barcellona, “The Flute Doctor” will teach you how to teach yourselves and your students with his workshops on flute pedagogy.
Having a strong musician wellness component is more vital than ever these days. Over the course of our two weeks together, I will present the full Body Mapping course “What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body.”
Other workshops and classes will include a cadenza writing workshop, a panel discussion on the various careers in music and tips for how to create or improve yours, masterclasses on Baroque style – both on Traverso and modern flute, piccolo masterclasses, orchestral excerpt classes and tips on how to prepare a professional orchestral audition, chamber music coached by all of the guest artists … and more!

Most nights there are special guest artist events which we’ll all attend.
These events will vary in genre and include art exhibits, speakers, dance performances, and stage combat.  All of these remarkable presentations are open to the public but are free to Summer Arts students. There will be one day off to explore all that Monterey Bay has to offer, and I recommend getting out there and taking it all in. There are so many things to do and see in the area. Rent a bicycle and take a ride along the foot path that takes you around the bay. The fresh air, exercise, and flute-free time will invigorate you! Take advantage of this time. And yes, students, you’ll also get to sit down in the dining hall with these remarkable guest artists and listen to their stories and meal time banter.

Walking path along Monterey Bay in Pacific Grove. Taken last week before heading to rehearsal.

 

Sounds great, right? But you might still be wondering what makes Summer Arts so unique? I’ve heard people say “Wow. Sounds like a great class, but I can’t go this year. I’ll come next time.”
There won’t be a next time. This course is truly a moment in time. This collection of guest artists, and these students, at this campus, with the other courses taking place at this same time, is not something we can duplicate again. Sure, we’ll have another flute class again, but it will likely be different artists, and it will definitely be at a different CSU campus with different students and different courses taking place simultaneously. With all that is available to you, and all the information and opportunities you have access to via the internet as well as other summer flute courses all over the globe, how do you know this one is for you? How do you know this is what you need to do with your summer?
Remember early 90’s Rena, the one who could barely wait to let her professor finish his sentence before jumping up and down saying “YES! I want to go to this class!”?
I just knew. Some little voice inside me or feeling in my gut told me that course had my name written all over it. And it did.
It was life changing.
I just read an interesting and timely article online in Psychology Today entitled “You Need to Practice Being Your Future Self.” In it, the author says a number of things that resonated with me, among them, and perhaps the most applicable to this blog of mine are:
“If you want to be productive, the first question you need to ask yourself is: Who do I want to be? Another question is: Where do I want to go?”
“… if you want to be a writer, you have to spend time writing.”
“…you need to spend time on the future even when there are more important things to do in the present and even when there is no immediately apparent return to your efforts.”

Spending two weeks, immersed in your art, surrounded by other artists and feeding off of their brilliant creativity – not only flutists, but visual artists, dancers, actors, writers – you will learn and understand more about yourself and your craft than ever before. Sometimes you need that quiet creative space to sit in so you can just absorb it. You’ll begin to learn that the same hurdles and creative struggles you face are not unique to you or music. We all share them as artists. And so, we collaborate. We create. We experiment. We open ourselves up to learning something brand new, and we grow. How many times in your life do you imagine that you’ll be able to hit the pause button and escape to a beautiful place where you can focus exclusively on your music?

If you’ve never been to the Monterey Bay area, I have to tell you, it’s spectacular. About once per orchestral season, I have the opportunity to join my friends in the Monterey Symphony and play a week with them in this beautiful place. Being a photography buff, I always take my camera and shoot as much as possible. At least once per season, I make the time to take Highway 1 home to So. Cal, driving through Big Sur, which is A. more beautiful then words can express and B. only about 1 hour south of Monterey Bay. (Side note: remember the part about getting out there and exploring on your free day, this short road trip qualifies for the top of your list!)  It’s usually on these escapades with my camera that I learn something new: being out in nature, taking the time to soak it all in and then bringing it back to my practice room. People from all over the world travel to this magnificent place, and YOU will get to spend TWO WEEKS here, studying, learning, refining, creating, and being.
So, long story short, that’s the big deal.

Don’t you think it’s time you joined us at Summer Arts?

Looking back. Looking ahead.

Tags

Akira Tana, Ali Ryerson, Andover Educators, Body Mapping, Bryan Pezzone, Carol Wincenc, CSU Summer Arts 2016, CSULB, Dana Putnam, Flute, Ian Clarke, Iowa Piccolo Intensive, Jane Conoley, John Barcellona, John Wiitala, Mary Kogen, Merola Opera, Muramatsu America, Nicole Esposito, Oakland Symphony, Oregon Coast Music Festival, Pacific Symphony, photography, piccolo, Robert Dick, San Francisco Opera Center Orchestra, Steve Trapani, The Complete 21st Century Flutist, The Whole Hearted Musician, Warren Jones, Wendy Caldwell

Happy New Year!
It’s that time of year again, time to get back in shape after several luxurious days of holiday merriment and zero days of practicing. I made a decision going in that I would let this break be a honest to goodness break and not stress out about practicing.Taking a week off to decompress, park it on the couch, watch the complete Star Wars saga, and eat pizzelle’s was perfectly delightful. I’m finally learning that breaks without guilt are a good thing.
My practice these past few days have been some of the most mindful and productive practice I’ve had in months. Why? Because during the flurry of the orchestral season and full swing of the semester at CSULB, I simply don’t always have the time to do all the things I want to do. Mindful practice, yes. Thorough practice, mostly. But there are days when I have rehearsals and concerts, or a full day of teaching, where my practice time is whittled down to the bare necessities. I always make time for long tones, technical studies, and études before diving into what’s on tap for that week or the next. But when I return after a break, and especially during winter break from the university, it’s a wonderful opportunity to expand everything out and be more comprehensive in my woodshed. More importantly, it’s a chance to get in there and work on things in my playing that will make me better. My bass trombonist husband Steve often says he “wants to see how good he can get at playing this thing” and I concur.

The new year is also a time for reflection, where I look into the rear view mirror at the year that’s just passed with gratitude, but also ahead with enthusiasm for what’s to come. I recently read an excellent blog post by Dana Putnam Fonteneau, creator of The Whole Hearted Musician. Dana’s posts always resonate with me and this one was no exception, in fact, it inspired this blog post I’m writing now.
In the spirit of that, here are some highlights from my 2015:

Holiday fun at the Oakland Symphony

I love my orchestra, Oakland Symphony. We had a few concerts in 2015 that were definitely career highlights: Backing up the brilliantly talented and entertaining Kevin Spacey, performing the massive Eighth Symphony of Shostakovich, and an outstanding concert production of Bernstein’s “Candide.”  Awesome. All of it.

It’s always a pleasure to work with my friends at the Pacific Symphony. Their production of “Sleeping Beauty” with American Ballet Theater was exceptional in every way. I wrote a pretty detailed account of that back in March, which you can read here.

Steve bought me my first real camera as a birthday gift in March, and I’ve taken more photos in the past 9 months than I can count. I did a fair amount of photography when I was a teenager, so coming back to it all these years later has provided me with some much needed balance as well as being a terrific creative outlet away from music. Here are a handful of my favorite shots from this past spring, summer, and fall.

Sunset in Pacific Grove

Carmel

Limekiln State Park Campground

Limekiln State Park Campground

Oregon Coast

Golden Gate Bridge

NYC

Riverside Park, NYC

Benicia Bridge

Carpenteria State Beach Campground

Carpenteria State Beach Campground

I explored my more adventurous side a bit more this past year with sailing and stand-up paddle. If you had told me even 2 years ago that I’d be such a big fan of both of these water sports, I’d have never believed it.

Sailing with friends in the Carquenez Straits before an Oakland Symphony concert in November

Alamitos Bay – No better spot to go paddle boarding!

After many months of hard work and patience, my proposal for a summer flute course at CSU, Summer Arts was accepted. Words cannot describe how happy this made me. CSU Summer Arts is something I participated in twice during grad school, and then again two years ago as a guest artist, and now I get to present my own course. The line up of guest artists is off the charts, to say the least: Flutists Carol Wincenc, Ali Ryerson, Robert Dick, Ian Clarke, John Barcellona, and yours truly, with pianists Bryan Pezzone, and Wendy Caldwell, and SF Bay Area drummer Akira Tana and bassist John Wiitala. (Flutists, mark your calendars and don’t miss this opportunity to work with these fine musicians and pedagogues!)

We’ll spend two weeks in beautiful Monterey Bay at CSUMB, teaching, performing, learning, gaining inspiration from one another, and basically soaking in all that is visual and performance art from a variety of disciplines. I wrote a blog post about my experience there in 2013, which you can read here. Suffice to say, it’s another one of those soul feeding experiences.

 

June was filled to the brim with goodness, with a return to the Iowa Piccolo Intensive…

Me with Nicole Esposito and my student Katie Hirabayashi

Pre-concert shenanigans with Nicole… what could go wrong?

Tim ‘Philharomonic’ Carey and I

The A Team! Nicole Esposito, Angela Jones-Reus, Sarah Jackson, Tim Carey and I

… and presenting and performing at our Biennial Andover Educators Conference in Portland.

Tea time with Angela Kelly

Post-concert bliss with Amy Likar and Stephanie Cooke

Mary Kogen and I

what?!?

Post conference hike

I dig Portland …Such a fun and vibrant city!

Mc Cullough Bridge, North Bend, Oregon

In July, I headed north to beautiful Coos Bay, Oregon to perform at the Oregon Coast Music Festival, something I’ve done since 1998. Due to other performance and teaching conflicts the previous two summers, I hadn’t been to OCMF since 2012, so returning this past July was pretty special. You can read all about my adventures here.

Warren Jones and I after the SF Opera Center/Merola production of the “Don Pasquale”

Another summer highlight was my other job that I love with the SF Opera Center Orchestra and the remarkably talented singers in the Merola program. I simply can’t get enough of opera, so getting to play “Don Pasquale” under the great Warren Jones was beyond amazing. He told me that my name was the best Italian opera name ever, and as it turns out, Warren really, really likes the piccolo. (Yes!)

I promised myself years ago that one day I’d get my dream flute; a 9K gold Muramatsu. This past summer, I finally did. This flute is gorgeous and makes practicing fun again. It’s as if someone moved the soft/loud goal posts of dynamics and all the sudden I can go way further than ever before, with a more diverse palette of colors than I’ve ever been able to create. (Thanks you, Muramatsu!)

My annual trip to NYC to teach was filled with many laughs, inspiration, and beauty. My dear friend and colleague Carol Wincenc and I presented our second annual “Day of Musical Rejuvenation” in Manhattan. We had a house full of talented flutists, singers, and pianists who performed for us in a master class and evening recital. Fabulous! I also presented my annual Body Mapping workshop at SUNY Stony Brook. It’s great to return year after year, track the progress of students, and make the acquaintance of new, talented musicians. In between all of that and a host of private lessons, I was able to fit in some quality time with family. Look forward to seeing you again soon, NYC!

Me and my president! CSULB President, Jane Conoley and I at the CSU Board of Trustees Poster Session in November.

Yep, 2015 was chocked full of many wonderful things, for which I am grateful. My plan for 2016 is to continue finding balance between work and play and to make time for the people and things that matter most. It’s tricky being a freelance musician. One day I’m working in LA, the next in SF; Santa Barbara one day, Oakland the next. My freeway philharmonic colleagues and I have to keep a lot of plates spinning and serve many masters. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Cheers to a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

Body Mapping in New York

Tags

Body Mapping, Carol Wincenc, Day of Musical Rejuvenation, Flute, SUNY Stony Brook

I’m back home in warm, sunny Long Beach, CA after 8 days of teaching in New York City.  Like all of my visits to NYC, it was a full and fabulous trip. I always leave feeling refreshed, grateful, exhausted, and inspired. The turbulent six hour flight home Friday night, without Wi-Fi, provided me with plenty of time to reflect back on my trip.

For the third year in a row, I presented a Body Mapping class at SUNY Stony Brook. This was my most diverse class there yet, with a nice variety of instrumentalists. Afterwards, each student expressed their gratitude for the class, saying how helpful it was, and that they already were seeing and hearing some noticeable improvements. Yes!

The next day, my friend Carol Wincenc and I presented our 2nd annual, “Day of Musical Rejuvenation” in Manhattan. We had a lovely group of flutists, vocalists, as well as a pianist. Everyone participated in a Body Mapping class, some performed in a “tag team” style master class, and an evening recital. We enjoyed great food and great conversations…what a day it was! There were many aha moments, but one of the highlights for me was working with a musician who, when I first met her last year, was dealing with an injury. Over the course of the year, she sought out the advice from a doctor and bought the Body Mapping book specifically for her instrument. She went on to explain that between taking a break from playing (doctor’s orders) and working with the Body Mapping book, she was able to get on the other side of her injury. Her performances at the class and recital were extraordinary, and she totally brought the house down! Another highlight was standing with Carol on the street at the end of the day, watching a group of the students share their contact information, and make plans for when they’ll see one another again. That right there was what it’s all about; the camaraderie, the friendships, the bonding. The relationships we form with one another at master classes and the like, are often lifelong. Some will become our friends, and often our colleagues, too. I can think back to many master classes and summer camps I participated in when I was a student and some of those musicians are my friends and colleagues today. In fact, some may even be reading this! (Hi!) Needless to say, Carol and I agreed we need to do this again next year, and the year after, and the year after…

Post-recital fun!

It was a treat to work both privately and in master class settings with some of the finest young musicians from The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, SUNY Stony Brook, Mannes, and even a couple of international students who are currently in New York, studying with Robert Dick this fall semester.

with Juilliard flutist, Giorgio Consolati

 

My colleague James Blumer and I had a terrific visit and shared many brilliant ideas over a meal and plenty of caffeine.

Carol Wincenc performed a recital for the National Society of Arts and Letters at the beautiful Baryshnikov Arts Center. Here I am with pianist and friend Bryan Wagorn and the extraordinary Thea Musgrave.

What trip to New York would be complete without the “Only in NY” happenings? This pretty much includes those things you only see and hear in New York.
If you’ve spent time in NY, you know exactly what I mean. The guy walking down Broadway dressed as King Tut, with his patient and loyal yellow Lab dressed as a lion. No it wasn’t Halloween. Or the lady hailing a cab, dressed to the nines, holding either an end table or bench on her back – not entirely sure which. Or the people that insist on pushing you further into the ridiculously over-crowed 1 train. Even though there is zero room, and I’m wearing my instrument on my back, they mutter a few expletives, and shove some more. Oh yes, and let’s not forget the incessant, non-stop horn honking, for seemingly no reason whatsoever. Seriously, does it ever stop? Perhaps my favorite though, was the wise older woman who, when I thought I left my new iPhone in a local shop, repeatedly said “check yeh bay-ug” about 8 times. I finally listened to her, checked my bag and then she walked away saying “with women, I’m tellin’ you, it’s ALWAYS in thah bay-ug.”

There were a few low points this trip, for example losing my unlimited weekly Metro Card two days and three swipes in. When I told a few locals about it, they replied, “Yeah. I’ve been there. That sucks.” My response? To really show the MTA, not spend another dime on the subway, and walk 40 blocks back to where I was staying. I felt so proud of myself, like I beat the system. That’s right! I beat The Man! That was until I woke up the next day to pouring rain and had to buy another Metro Card.
And, then there was the epic, two day process of replacing my iPhone that died. That was fun. First world problem, I know, but still…
And finally, on the way to JFK Friday afternoon, my Uber driver and I were involved in a hit-and-run car accident. Some guy rear ended us, which made us hit the woman in front of us. Much to my surprise, my Uber driver went above and beyond and got me to JFK in the nick of time. I’m fine, by the way. Sore, but fine.

Despite the low points of the trip, I managed to find ways to integrate Body Mapping into those situations.
Let’s go back to the 1 train: By allowing my hip, knee and ankle joints to remain free and unlocked, I could stand on the most crowded train, without hanging on, and not lose balance. Locking up would immediately compromise my ability to go along with the natural ebb and flow of the moving train. For students, or anyone trying to map these areas, especially the ever ambiguous hip joints, keep this in mind the next time you’re riding the subway, or BART train, or whatever public transportation you take that requires you to stand.
How about the lost Metro Card and the long walk uptown that followed? For the first few blocks, I’ll admit it, I was pretty steamed. But, then something really cool happened, I started enjoying the walk. Like really really enjoying the walk. Taking it all in. Using my inclusive awareness to stay present and experience 40+ blocks with all of my senses 100% aware; the feel of the crisp fall air, the various aromas floating out of restaurants, and the spectacular colors of changing leaves on the trees. I happily took it all in and thought, “I love the fall! How cool that I get to be here to enjoy it!”
Let’’s take a look at the car accident: Admittedly, I was quite shaken up, and if it weren’t for my thoughtful Uber driver Sanck, I wouldn’t have made my flight. He got me there and took care of filing the police report after dropping me off. After getting on the plane I thought, “This is going to be a loonnngg flight.” But then I remembered another body mapping colleague’s “Constructive Rest on Airplanes” app” (I know, right? What are the odds?). The next 30 minutes were spent listening to that and it was exactly what I needed. I use this app often, but this time it really made all the difference in the world. Thank you, David Nesmith, for this helpful app.
Here’s the thing, Body Mapping isn’t just about how we use our selves with our instruments, and it isn’t just for people in the performing arts.  It’s about how we use our selves, and it’s for everyone.
I offer these considerations for you:
Take a moment the next time you’re chopping onions and check in with your head, neck and arms. Are you hunched over the counter, carrying tension in your shoulders as you madly chop away?
Think about how you are seated at your computer the next time you sit down to write a long email? Are you balanced over your sit bones and reminding yourself to keep your head balanced on top of your spine?
How about your comfort level while driving your car? Can you let go of the tension in your jaw when you’re sitting in bumper to bumper traffic?
Schlepping something heavy around, like a giant backpack stuffed with books? Start carrying it with both straps, so you can evenly distribute the weight, and then try to allow the front of your spine to help you out. The front of our spines are meant for weight bearing and weight delivery, not the back. Organize yourself around the front of your spine and see if that backpack feels a little more manageable.

Tune in and open up your awareness. You may just surprise your self.

Becoming process oriented vs outcome oriented

Tags

Alexander Technique, Amy Likar, Bill Plake, Bob Britton, Body Mapping, Flute, Jim Brody, Orchestral Auditions

I recently decided to get back on the horse and take a big national orchestral audition. It had been a couple of years, and it was time. I’ve taken many professional auditions over the years, 44 to be exact. For a student, that might seem like a lot, but it really isn’t when you think about the big picture. I mean, actors take hundreds. Dancers too. Classical musicians might take only a few before they win a job in the orchestra of the their dreams. My Dad, Santo Urso, for example, took two auditions; the first one got him into the back of the 2nd violins of the Detroit Symphony, the second got him the Assistant Concertmaster chair. Done. But the rest of us mortals, we’ll end up taking dozens until we either win the job we want, or move on to something else, musically or otherwise.
For years, it was all about the outcome; winning the job. Sure, I set little goals along the path to audition day. Ultimately though, it was all about the end result, that is until this past audition. Maybe it was the time away from the audition process, who knows, but I decided early on in my preparation exactly what I wanted to achieve during the entire process of the audition.
I set all sorts of goals. Personal goals that meant something only to me. Some were pretty basic; eliminate the extra breath here, or implement this new fingering there. Some were about my mental preparation. Some were about ways to get more from the excerpts by creating a series of companion pieces. Perhaps the biggest though, was finding a way to remain inclusively aware not only in my daily practice, but in the moment, on stage, at the audition.
This afternoon, I read a great blog post by musician and Alexander Technique teacher Bill Plake, where he speaks about your state of being when you practice. It resonated with me because that is exactly what my biggest goal was during this recent audition. I felt like for the first time in 44 of these things, I was able to really do exactly what I set out to do.
When I walked out on the stage, I took a moment to really take it all in; the sounds, the beauty of the massive concert hall, the whispers from the committee seated out in the audience behind the giant curtain, the temperature of the space … and how I felt in that space. Before each excerpt, I took a moment to look around me, breathe, and give myself the a short list of helpful instructions for how I planned to use my self in that moment. These instructions change from time to time, depending on various factors, but here at this audition I had a series of three things I told myself with regard to use of self – all of which came from three of my Alexander Technique teachers:
1. Neutral pelvis. (Thanks, Jim)
2. Fluffy ribs. (Thanks, Bob)
3. Allow my arms to suspend and float over my ribs. (Thanks, Amy)
Regardless of the challenges of each excerpt, as long as I remained inclusively aware and gave myself these three directions, I was able to musically execute each excerpt exactly how I had practiced.
I have to say, I left the stage feeling pretty awesome. I went back to my warm-up room, and did like I always do, jotting down notes in my practice/audition journal about what just happened. I started doing that years ago. It became a great way to not allow the decisions of the audition committee to color my opinion of how an audition went. We go to these things and people always ask, “How’d it go? Did you win? What did you play? How much did you play? Did you advance? Who else was there? Who advanced? Who won?”  By writing down every detail immediately afterwards, it allows me to be objective and honest. If I wait until the proctor comes in with the results, it’s too late.
So, after taking some quick notes, I learned that I didn’t advance, I smiled and thanked them for a really well-run audition, and took myself out for a delicious meal. After weeks and months of planning, it was done. And for the first time ever, I felt like I met every goal I set out to meet – except one. But here’s the thing, winning the job was only one of the several goals I set.

Without giving too much away, and instead allowing you the opportunity to think about what each of these might mean for you, here are some goals to ponder with your next audition:
1. Set goals – both short and long term, small and big.
2. Play for people. This sounds obvious, but it’s pretty important. Many of my students come to their lessons saying “Ugh …this was so much better in the practice room…” Playing in front of others, particularly new people, can get the butterflies going. This is good.
3. Choose companion pieces that will help you do what you need to do with each excerpt. Choose from technical studies, études, solo and chamber repertoire. The really terrific thing about this is that when it’s all over and done with, you’ve worked up not only a list of 25 or so 1 minute excerpts, but all of this other repertoire, too. Odds are, you’ve probably also improved your relationships with each of the excerpts in the process. This is also good.
4. Work on your inclusive awareness in your daily practice. Think about the space you’re in, drawing your attention to your senses. Thoughtfully bring yourself back to balance. Remind yourself what an appropriate amount of effort is versus tension or overuse. Ask yourself what’s happening around you? What do you hear? See? Feel? Smell? Taste? Then when A-Day comes and you take the stage, you simply do what you’ve been doing all along in your daily practice.
5. Ask yourself, how are you using your body? Are you gripping when you play the most challenging excerpts? Are you taking time for constructive rest throughout your day? Are you finishing your day of practice in pain?
I set out to get all the way through the audition without any pain. This was HUGE for me, as I’ve been sidelined with playing related pain and injury many times in my career. As a Body Mapping instructor, I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about how I use my body. It meant a lot for me to climb this mountain and find a way to use my self in my practice and in the moment of the audition without pain, injury, tension, overuse, or misuse. Successfully achieving that, was in many ways much more satisfying than advancing or winning the job. Seriously.
The act of preparing an audition, or for any big performance really, makes us better. Better musicians, better players, better teachers. Sure everyone loves to win, but it’s not just about winning the job. It’s about longevity. The long game. The big picture. I’m in it for the long haul. I’m enjoying the process of practicing to improve. I’m enjoying the journey, and not solely focused on the destination.
How about you?

Feeding our souls with the stuff that matters

Tags

7 Devils Brewing Co, Flute, Muramatsu America, Oregon Coast Music Festival, piccolo, San Francisco Opera Center Orchestra

So, here I am, camped out on the floor at SFO, next to an outlet, with a big cup of breakfast tea. It’s not hard to reflect back on the awesome, exhausting, inspiring, rejuvenating, soul feeding 12 days that just took place; a week on the Oregon Coast, opera in San Francisco, and a shiny new flute.

Let’s back up to last week at what I believe is the best music festival ever, the Oregon Coast Music Festival. I love this festival more than words can say, and for more reasons than I can list here, but I’ll start with the people, the place, the food, the beer, the music making, and the gorgeous Oregon Coast. Fabulous. All of it.

Fishing boat off of Bastendorff Beach, near Charleston, OR

Our Festival Orchestra performs three concerts during the one week residency in Coos Bay, and that week flies by faster than any other week during the year. Each year I try to savor as much as I can, taking it all in and hoping to make it last as long as possible. This year was no exception. First of all, I’m pretty sure I slept about a total of 20 hours during my 8 days there. It’s sort of hard to sleep when there are a ton of great things happening. You don’t want to miss out on any opportunity to enjoy quality time with some of your favorite people that you only see for one week a year.

Even though 5 days have passed since our final concert, Bloch’s Schelomo is still on a continuous loop in my head. How can that be? I mean, up until this past Saturday morning’s dress rehearsal, I not only was not a huge Bloch fan, I had arbitrarily put Schelomo on my unofficial “do not play” list. In retrospect, that was a pretty lame move on my part. Never having been a fan of his “Suite Modale” for flute and piano I just sort of lumped Schelomo into that same category of pieces not to like. Boy was I wrong. As it turns out, Schelomo is a very cool piece.

In addition to Schelomo, we performed several other works, but the highlights for me were: Beethoven Symphony No. 7 (Never gets old. Love it!), the fastest Polovetsian Dances known to man, Sibelius’ Valse Triste (One of my all-time personal favorites.), and Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story” (Love this one, too!). All of that plus a Pops concert = a very full week.

How we were able to fit in other important actives like BBQ’s…chamber music soirées…late night Euchre… quality time with my camera…and beach time (surfing, if you’re a violinist)…

is clearly a testament to our outstanding time management skills. Right?
Sure, we could just go home after evening rehearsals and concerts, get our 8 hours, wake up refreshed and get to rehearsal early the next morning, with plenty of time to warm up. But why? Playing darts at The Liberty Pub until close is way more fun.
It was during our dress rehearsal of Schelomo that I decided to buy a flute that I was seriously considering. Muramatsu America generously allowed me the opportunity to take a flute on trial to Oregon and then to San Francisco, so that I could see how it worked not only in the practice room, but in the orchestra. And, not only in the orchestra, but in the role of principal flute in Oregon as well as second in San Francisco. The roles are very different, and I’ve been patiently searching for the flute that will allow me to have all the expressive freedom I want and need when playing solo repertoire, chamber music, as well as in each of my roles in the orchestra. Saturday morning, I noticed several similarities between moments in Schelomo and in Richard Strauss’ Salome (one of my other all-time favorite pieces). And then, in that moment it all clicked for me. I started to take more risks musically, and was able to create more nuance and color on a piece that I never thought I liked, than I’ve ever been able to do with either of my other flutes, on pieces I’ve really liked. This flute is seriously awesome. I couldn’t be happier. Thank you, Muramatsu.
This week, I’ve been playing second flute and piccolo on Don Pasquale in San Francisco. One of my other orchestral positions is as second flute/piccolo with the San Francisco Opera Center Orchestra, another job I love. Let’s see: I love opera, I love Donizetti, and I love Don Pasquale, so, I guess one could say I’m having a pretty enjoyable week here, too. No darts, Euchre, or beach frisbee, unfortunately. But, between the bits of Schelomo still going through my head, I now have bits of Don Pasquale, too. Not bad.  

None of us get rich doing summer festivals. It’s all about the people.
Going to Coos Bay each July feeds my soul in a way that nothing else seems to. When I leave there,  all of that goodness comes back home with me, and I do my best to hang onto it for as long as possible. This year, I get the added bonus of reinforcing all of that goodness with a big dose of opera, in a great city, with great people.

Lunch at 7 Devils Brewing Co. AWESOME food & beer!

Right now, it seems like a long time until Coast.
But like every year, you get busy doing what you do, and all of the sudden 51 weeks have passed,  we’re all back in our cars headed to Coos Bay, singing loudly in our cars to keep ourselves awake,  headed to paradise where we’ll play really great music together, stay up way too late, play cards, hang out at the beach, and drink awesome craft beer. Only 359 days to go!

Collaborating, Sharing, Laughing, Trusting … & drinking great craft beer

Tags

Alexander Technique, Andover Educators, Body Mapping, Flute, Flutists, TaKeTiNa

I just returned home from four incredibly full days in Portland, OR at the Andover Educators Biennial Conference. Our AE conferences are a wonderful opportunity to all come together, break bread, share ideas, and learn from one another. I always come away from them feeling refreshed, inspired, grateful, and full of great new information.

Here are a few personal highlights from the 2015 conference:
1. TaKeTiNa with the amazing Mary Kogen. If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you may recall me singing Mary’s praises two years ago at our 2013 AE conference in Ames, IA. I will go into detail below about Mary and my journey with TaKeTiNa this past week. What is TaKeTiNa you ask? Of course, you can click here to learn more about it, but in a nut shell, it’s an amazing lesson in developing and building better internal rhythm. You gather as a group and form a large circle, in the center of which is a percussionist (ours was Jake) and a leader who calls out the syllables and rhythms that you will clap and step to. It begins simply and grows to a sort of poly-rhythmic, call and response chaos where it’s expected that you’ll fall off the train. But then, Mary, being the genius leader she is, brings you back to the basic rhythmic groove. These TaKeTiNa classes have made a huge impact on my internal sense of rhythm and pulse, which I thought was pretty good before I began with it. But, like anything you practice, it keeps improving.
2. Supervised teaching class with Janet Alcorn. Janet is articulate, patient, generous, and an overall brilliant musician. She has such a calming presence, and I learned a great deal listening to and watching her provide feedback. Thank you, Janet.
3. Melissa Malde’s presentation about creating a “What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body” course at the university level. Melissa presented a terrific lecture on rib movement in breathing at our 2013 conference, so I was looking forward to hearing her again. This lecture was especially valuable because several other AE’s shared their ideas on how they’ve constructed their courses. I am optimistic one day I’ll have the good fortune to create one at my school.
4. Amy Likar’s “What Every Musician Needs to Know…” Hour 1, and Kelly Mollnow Wilson’s Hour 5 presentations were both AWESOME! Hands down, the best Hour 1 and Hour 5 I’ve seen to date – and to be fair, I have enjoyed several versions of these two hours in past years, all of which were very informative and helpful. Amy and Kelly each took the delivery of this material up to another level and I left feeling full of ideas to implement in my own presentation.
5. My private Alexander Technique lesson with Jim Brody was one of best AT lessons I’ve had in awhile. Jim is a phenomenal AT instructor, and his help with my use of self will be something I think about in practice, performance, and day to day living for a long time.

Speaking of Jim, let’s talk more about that lesson and more about Mary’s TaKeTiNa classes…
It all began bright and early Saturday morning with Mary’s Ta Ke Ti Na class. Let me just begin by saying that Mary is extraordinary and I want to be her when I grow up. Two years ago in Ames I attended my first class. It was pretty awesome. Not being a fan of the whole get up early and be functional thing, it was a pretty amazing feat in and of itself that I was able to peel myself out of my lumpy dorm room cot and make it to ANYwhere at 8:30 am. But after that first class, I was practically jumping up out of bed and skipping to Mary’s class with glee. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to work with her again this year in Portland.
Side note: I LOVE PORTLAND. I’ll just throw that out there right now. Seriously, I could absolutely live here, in a heart beat.
OK, where was I? Ah yes, my practice room epiphany on Saturday morning…
So there I was, loving Day 2 of TaKeTiNa. One minute I’m totally in the groove and all is well in the world, then the next, chaos sets in, I’m stepping on the wrong foot, and clapping on random beats all by myself. P.S., in real life, i.e. the orchestra, if I were clapping on random beats all by myself (so to speak), I’d be horrified. Not here though. I was able to laugh at myself, and trust that I’d find my way back into the groove.

Just like with Body Mapping.
When tension mysteriously creeps in or when I begin to grip in a way I ordinarily do not, I remain aware, avoid judgment, and trust that I can bring myself back to balance. Once you’ve discovered and continue to rediscover balance, replacing old habits with new, you want to return there. F.M. Alexander said, “When you stop doing the wrong thing, the right thing does itself.” This time around with TaKeTiNa I began to really make the connection between all of it.

After exploring the space between the beats, enjoying all kinds of poly-rhythmic chaos, followed by a brief but grounding few moments of constructive rest, I made my way out to the farmer’s market just outside the music building.
Side Note #2: Friends, the Portland Farmer’s Market is serious business. I can say without reservation, it is hands down, the best farmer’s market I’ve ever been to.

Tea time with Angela Kelly

After a delicious, homemade, 10 lb scone, a cup of tea, and quality time with my friends, it was time to hit the practice room.
Lately, my practice has felt pretty similar to that feeling when one hits their head against the wall. Repeatedly. The only good that comes from that is the trust that you have deep within yourself that it won’t last and that it’ll get better.
This morning, things started out a little rough. I was nearly ready to pack up, go for a walk, and try again later. Instead, I decided to trust that it would improve and that I’d figure out what I needed to do to make what I was practicing come together in that moment. I started thinking about some golden words of wisdom from a couple of my AE friends, from another brilliant AT teacher Bob Britton, as well as the instruction I received at my Alexander lesson on two days earlier with Jim. I took a few minutes to allow it to sink in, reminding myself that I trusted I could get past this road block. Then it happened. Like someone flipped a switch. All of the sudden it all came together. The next two hours were two of the most productive and enjoyable hours of practice I’ve had in months.

Later Saturday night, I performed one of the newer gems of the flute duo repertoire with my Alcyone Ensemble partner, Amy Likar. We collaborated with a terrific Portland based pianist, Stephanie Cooke on Yuko Uebayashi’s “Town Light.”

Post-concert bliss with Amy Likar and Stephanie Cooke

This piece is gorgeous, and flutists, if you don’t already know it I highly recommend you get it and add it to your duo repertoire. Throughout the performance, I kept reminding myself of Jim and Bob’s words of wisdom, and it worked like a charm because our performance couldn’t have gone better. If it were possible to smile as I played Saturday night, I would have.

Alcyone Ensemble

When my alarm went off Sunday morning, I was sure it was some kind of cruel joke. Between three nights in a row of late-night “round table discussions” at our super kick-ass Air B & B, and Saturday’s post-concert festivities, I was feeling pretty exhausted. Nevertheless, I peeled myself out of bed, and let me tell you, Sunday’s TaKeTiNa class was particularly challenging. It was also exactly what I needed to begin my day and end the conference, and I felt like a new person afterward.

These conferences are so incredibly valuable for about 100 reasons. It’s not just about the wealth of information we learn in master classes, lectures, presentations, workshops, etc. All of that is wonderful. It’s also about the little gems we informally share over a meal or a drink, or the late night roundtable-esque discussions in our PJ’s with our herbal tea (or glass of wine). It’s all about relationships; building new friendships and strengthening friendships we’ve had for years. It’s about the silliness that ensues when you’re so tired you get punchy. It’s about the adventures you take to find the perfect donut/cupcake/cup of coffee/book/shoes/craft beer, etc.

Late-night roundtable talks at 1984 SW 5th.

Yesterday, Mary and I had an in-depth discussion about how we might go about applying for an AE grant to fund a joint venture between local craft breweries in the city of our conference and TaKeTiNa — something along the lines of “Tasty Locally Brewed IPA’s and TaKeTiNa; Their Causes and Affects.”  It’s still a work in progress, but we’re optimistic!

Mary Kogen and I

Unfortunately, just like all things in life we love and lose ourselves in, the time passes far too quickly and before we know it, it’s time to head home. When planning our time in Portland, a group of us decided to hang out one extra day and get outside and enjoy some of the beauty of this great city. There’s simply nothing better after a body mapping conference, where we’ve been thinking and talking about how we use our bodies, than to get outside and move! Despite my otherwise verbose nature, I don’t think it’s possible to put into words the beauty we all had the pleasure of experiencing yesterday.
Here are a few of my favorite photos from our adventures around Portland:

Columbia River Gorge

Hiking at Latourell Falls

Looking north across the Columbia River at Washington, from Vista House

Latourell Falls

Kelly Mollnow Wison, Amy Likar, Vanessa Mulvey, Jill Dreeben, and I after an epic hike

Without question, the most breathtaking view of all from the Portland Women’s Forum State Scenic Viewpoint. Wow.

Many years ago, I chose to pursue a life in music because there was absolutely nothing else in the world I could see myself doing that would bring me the same joy. Adding to that the beauty of somatic work, learning how the body works and how to help not only myself but others to play with more freedom and ease, less tension, and how to avoid injury … it’s a pretty awesome thing, to say the least. I can’t help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude for what I get to do for living, and the people with whom I collaborate with each day. Reconnecting with old friends, making new ones, sharing stories and ideas, laughing until we cry, and taking time to smell the roses (literally … I mean, have you been to the Rose Gardens in Portland … O M G!). Coming together and collaborating with like minded artists is a gift to us all; Generously sharing ideas, with a sincere openness to learning as much as we can from one another;  Being able to laugh at ourselves and learning from our mistakes – especially when you clap loudly on random beats all by yourself; Trusting that you’ll always sort it out and get yourself back into your groove, in the practice room or in life, and remembering it’s all about longevity, so we need to take our time and enjoy the ride.

Each time I return home after these adventures, I do my best to keep as much of the “zen-ness” of it all for as long as I can. Rich experiences like this are good for the soul and I feel refreshed and ready to embrace the next adventure with a renewed sense of energy.
Thank you to all of my colleagues and friends who organized a great conference, and also for your friendship and wisdom. You’re all rockstars.

Surrounded By Inspiration

Tags

Angela Jones-Reus, Body Mapping, Dana Fonteneau, Flute, Gotterdammerung, Inspiration, Iowa Piccolo Intensive, Nicole Esposito, Pacific Symphony, piccolo, Richard Wagner, Sarah Jackson, Tim Carey, Whole Hearted Musican

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of inspiration. I’m talking about life-changing inspiration. As with all of my blog posts, I toss ideas around for awhile, often jotting down notes or leaving myself voice memos over several days before I actually sit down and write. I’ve been thinking a lot about the events of these past two weeks; teaching in Iowa City at the Iowa Piccolo Intensive and playing Wagner with the Pacific Symphony. Every bit of it has been pretty darn awesome, to say the least. Then this morning, I woke up to another one of Dana Fonteneau’s terrific blog posts. Her topic this week is “Who Do You Surround Yourself With.”
Who indeed!?

Pre-concert shenanigans with Nicole… what could go wrong?

Let’s go back to Iowa City, shall we?
I was delighted to be invited back to the Iowa Piccolo Intensive by my dear friend Nicole Esposito. It was such a pleasure to join my friends Sarah Jackson, Angela Jones-Reus, Tim Carey, and Nicole for five days of fun, non-stop laughter, great conversation, delicious meals, and some pretty fantastic music making, not to mention working with a dozen very talented young piccolo players. I presented three Body Mapping classes and performed on two recitals with my friends. As a Body Mapping instructor, I can’t tell you how much it means to me when a student tells me they’ve had a major break through as a result of Body Mapping; pain and limitation are no longer an issue because, with the help of the information they’ve learned in my class, they’re now able to properly map something they had previously mis-mapped. Tension which had been creating limitation is simply gone. The result, more ease and enjoyment in their playing, and the best part is that they actually hear the difference as well as feel it. WOW! This is huge! As someone who has suffered many years of tension, pain, and injury, I really understand what a big deal this is. Body Mapping has totally changed my life, and I love that it helps so many others, too.

Me with Nicole Esposito and my student Katie Hirabayashi

Musical collaborations with my colleagues were, in a word, awesome – OK, I know, I already said that earlier, but it’s true. Aside from my collaborations with each of these brilliant musicians, simply sitting in the hall and listening to each of their solo recital performances was incredibly inspiring. After all, we all learn from one another, right? Sometimes it comes in the form of idea sharing, and we had plenty of that. But, sometimes it’s less obvious and it’s paramount that we remain aware and open so that we recognize when something truly great is going on around us. If we stop, listen, and really pay attention, we just may be moved. In the Body Mapping world we call this being inclusively aware; awareness of your self and your surroundings.

Tim ‘Philharomonic’ Carey and I performing Ken Benshoof’s “Spindrift”

Well, my inclusive awareness was totally on point in Iowa, and I took it all in. Every bit. I left there chocked full of great ideas for new repertoire for both me and my students, as well as thoughts to consider the next time I revisit some of the old favorites I’ve been playing for years. I also left Iowa with a big challenge to myself: how good can I get at what I do, and what do I need to do to take my whole game up a giant step? Challenge accepted! Thank you for this enormous gift of inspiration, Nicole, Sarah, Angela, and Tim. Go A Team!

The A Team! Nicole Esposito, Angela Jones-Reus, Sarah Jackson, Tim Carey and I

The day after I returned home, I began a week of work playing selections from Götterdämmerung with my friends at the Pacific Symphony and Deborah Voigt. I’ve played these selections before, but this time I played a different part; 3rd flute. It’s such a blast playing low flute in Mahler, Strauss, and Wagner. You have many rests which allow you to sit and listen to the orchestra and soak it all in. Then, when you do play, it’s not your typical melodic flute line, it’s often chordal, inner-harmony goodness, with the occasional independent 1 bar melodic line that you get to play with one of the dozen horn players sitting behind you. Totally cool. I seriously felt like I was living the life of a brass player this past week; no stress from having to play ten zillion notes, most of which are totally exposed for the world to hear, but rather playing yummy Wagner chords and sitting there in the middle of the orchestra, wrapped up in a big fluffy blanket of all of that glorious sound. There are moments in Götterdämmerung that nearly move me to tears every time. This past weekend was no exception. I found myself smiling each time the low brass completely took over the hall, but then being on the verge of tears as the Immolation scene built up to its enormous climax and then came winding down to it’s beautiful, poetic close.
Deborah Voigt, our Brünnhilde, was exceptional. I’ve shared the stage (or in most cases, the pit) with many outstanding opera singers over the years. This was beyond measure, and from where I was sitting (about 15 feet behind her) it all appeared totally effortless.
Goose bumps.
Every time.

So, once again, it turns out Dana is right. Surrounding ourselves with beauty, greatness, and people who inspire us really does make all the difference. But the thing is, we have to be completely present and totally aware of what’s going on around us so we can soak it all in. Be open to learning, and surround yourself with people who inspire you and encourage you to grow, because that’s when the magic happens.