I N T H I S I S S U E

Continued on page 3

2007 Ensemble Concert ..............1

From the President ......................2On Playing the Flute in Tune

Member Profile ............................3Sharon Levin

Rick Wilson and the “Old Flutes” Website ............................6

Interview by Katherine Saenger

A Primer on Positive Studio Teaching..........................10

by Kerry Walker

A n n o u n c e m e n t sFlute Happenings..................................32007 Annual Meeting............................5

May 2007

In Concert

NYFC Ensembles Program

Sunday, May 20, 2007, 5:30 pmGreenwich House Music School

Renee Weiler Recital Hall

46 Barrow Street

Quartettino (arr. Waldemar Woehl) . . . . . . . . Alessandro ScarlattiAnn Bordley, Lauren Hersh, and Ed Wolf, flutes (1660–1725)Louis Cigliano, piano

Suite pour quatuor de flûtes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paule Maurice Shoji Mizumoto, Dorothy Papo, Rana Boland, (1919–1967)and Craig Devereaux, flutes

Drei Romanzen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anton Reicha Annette Baron and Hal Archer, flutes (1770–1836)

The Further Adventures of Two Flutes. . . . . . . . . . Gary SchockerCarol Weinstein and Jennifer Carroll, flutes (b. 1959)Allen Weiss, piano

Ball Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David L. WellsHal Archer, Annette Baron, Keith Bonner, (b. 1952)Lauren Hersh, Herb Waldren, Carol Weinstein, and Ed Wolf

Program subject to change

2007 ENSEMBLE CONCERTABOUT THE PERFORMERSPerforming the Scarlatti...The groupbegan when Susan Friedlander, a formerNYFC Ensembles Coordinator, intro-duced Ann Bordley (a lawyer) and EdWolf (a physicist). Lauren BennettHersh is on the staff of the New YorkPhilharmonic, and pianist Louis Ciglianois also a violist and librarian.

Performing the Maurice...The group(now Shoji Mizumoto, Rana Boland,Dorothy Papo, and CraigDevereaux) started as a trio aboutseven years ago, when they metthrough the NYFC. They met ShojiMizumoto at a NYFC ensemble gather-ing a year later, and they have been aquartet ever since. Their common bondis that they all love 20th century music,and have always played flute quartetsfrom that period.

Performing the Reicha...Flutists HalArcher and Annette Baron met earlythis season through the NYFC ensembleprogram and have been enjoying gettingtogether to work on different pieces.

Performing the Schocker...Flutists CarolWeinstein and Jennifer Carol are,

Participants in the May 2006 Ensemble Program concert.

Ard

ith B

ondi

2 — NYFC Newsletter

THE NEW YORK FLUTE CLUB INC.

2006–2007Board of Directors

David Wechsler, PresidentJayn Rosenfeld, First Vice PresidentArdith Bondi, Second Vice PresidentJeanne Wilson, Recording SecretaryKeith Bonner, Membership SecretaryEdward Wolf, Treasurer

Katherine Fink Karla MoeSusan Friedlander Seth RosenthalSvjetlana Kabalin Rie SchmidtFred Marcusa Stefani Starin

Nancy Toff

Advisory BoardJeanne Baxtresser Robert LangevinHarold Jones Gerardo Levy

Marya Martin

Past PresidentsGeorges Barrère .................... 1920–1944John Wummer ........................ 1944–1947Milton Wittgenstein .............. 1947–1952Mildred Hunt Wummer ........ 1952–1955Frederick Wilkins .................. 1955–1957Harry H. Moskovitz ................ 1957–1960Paige Brook ............................ 1960–1963Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1963–1964Maurice S. Rosen ................ 1964–1967Harry H. Moskovitz .............. 1967–1970Paige Brook ............................ 1970–1973Eleanor Lawrence ................ 1973–1976Harold Jones .......................... 1976– 1979Eleanor Lawrence ................ 1979–1982Paige Brook ............................ 1982–1983John Solum ............................ 1983–1986Eleanor Lawrence ................ 1986–1989Sue Ann Kahn ...................... 1989–1992Nancy Toff .............................. 1992–1995Rie Schmidt ............................ 1995–1998Patricia Spencer...................... 1998–2001Jan Vinci .................................. 2001–2002Jayn Rosenfeld........................ 2002–2005

NewsletterKatherine Saenger, Editor115 Underhill RoadOssining, NY 10562914-762-8582klsaenger@yahoo.com

Sue Carlson, Layout/Production789 Westminster RoadBrooklyn, NY 11230718-258-5325scarlson@wwnorton.com

www.nyfluteclub.org

Copyright © 2007 by The New York Flute Club Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Ihave been contemplating writing an article on flute into-nation for quite some time. After reading various piecesconcerning modern scales vs. old scales, I thought it time

to share my observations and suggestions on playing theflute in tune with any scale, modern or traditional.

There is no scale on any flute, old or new, that will auto-matically allow a player to play perfectly in tune—there arejust too many variables. The actual scale type is fairly incon-sequential given the sensitivity of a flute sound to air speed,air angle, temperature, and, of course, the anatomy of each

individual. When playing with other people, intonation is also affected by the har-mony, your voice within the chord, and the chord changes. Basically, when youlisten to someone play the flute with bad intonation, it is usually horribly sharp.As the old saying goes, “they’d rather play sharp than out of tune.” Of course, thatis when they are not busy playing flat. I believe the reason that flutists play out oftune is lack of understanding of the physical nature of tone production as it relatesto intonation. Every flutist knows that when you blow hard into a flute the pitchgoes up, and when you blow softly the pitch goes down. Every flutist also knowsthat when you turn a headjoint in the pitch goes down and when you turn aheadjoint out the pitch goes up. It’s actually quite easy to move the pitch aroundon a flute. So armed with this knowledge, why do so many people still have into-nation problems? Because it’s not quite that simple.

In this column I will discuss physical solutions to intonation problems. Bear inmind that these solutions assume a certain amount of knowledge about intonationand intervals, or some experience with ear training exercises in conjunction withflute studies. You can learn many physical corrections for intonation, but without agood ear to judge them, they are useless. You must also understand that intona-tion is a matter of control. You must be able to control the pitch and dynamicswith a beautiful sound all the time.

The concept of blowing air into the flute, the position of the headjoint and theangle of the air as it strikes the blow hole is very basic. It is one of the founda-tions on which good intonation must rest. But there are other more subtle factorsthat must be understood, practiced, and mastered in order to play in tune, in par-ticular, breath control, rhythm, and that most insidious medium of expression,vibrato. A word about vibrato before we go on. You cannot play the flute profes-sionally without vibrato unless you are doing only baroque or early classicalmusic. It is necessary in most other styles of music. However, our present discus-sion on vibrato will be limited to its effects on intonation (rather than its properand tasteful use).

When teaching beginner flutists, very often the focus is on producing a niceflute sound. Teachers listen for clarity and focus of tone. What is sometimes over-looked is the exact duration of that sound. From the very beginning of a flutist’sstudy it is essential to hold pitches for their full length. A quarter note must beheld for a full quarter to the next beat, or a half note for two full beats until thethird beat begins. This starts to teach an instinctive push of the air to the very endof a note. This in turn translates to breath support to the very end of a note. Thelonger the note, the more length of breath support needed to sustain it. Too often,tongued legato notes are clipped with a large space between them. And as soonas the teacher asks for full length or slurs, the tempo begins to rush. The rushingoccurs as an instinctual response: the body begins to crave air, and rushing is howyou will finish sooner and be able to grab a breath. So flutists must be trained toovercome this physical, instinctual response to lack of air, or more precisely,unnatural use of air. While you are busy trying to hold notes for their full dura-tion, you are also training your ear to listen for that full duration. It can never bestressed enough that listening to everything you play is essential and beneficial.

On Playing the Flute in Tuneby David Wechsler

From thePresident

Continued on page 4

May 2007 — 3

FREE to current NYFC members, this section lists upcoming per-formances by members; flute-related contests, auditions, andmasterclasses organized/sponsored by members; and briefdescriptions of members’ new recordings, sheet music, and books.Send submissions to the Newsletter Editor.

FREE to current NYFC members, this section lists upcoming per-formances by members; flute-related contests, auditions, andmasterclasses organized/sponsored by members; and briefdescriptions of members’ new recordings, sheet music, and books.Send submissions to the Newsletter Editor.

Sunday 7:00 pmSHARON LEVIN will be the flutesoloist in a performance of Gaetano

Donizetti’s Concerto for flute (transcribed vio-lin part) and cello with the Stamford YoungArtist Philharmonic Orchestra.

• Palace Theater, 61 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT.• Admission: $14 general, $8 seniors.

Monday 7:00 pmA program of flute choir music per-formed by the Young Persons Flute

Choir and the Young Artists Flute Choir of theStamford Young Artists Philharmonic Program,conducted by SHARON LEVIN.

• Ferguson Library, 1 Public Library Plaza (cor-ner of Broad and Bedford Streets), Stamford, CT. • Info, visit www.syap.org or www.fergusonlibrary.org.

Wednesday 8:00 pmThe Sylvan Winds with SVJETLANAKABALIN, flute, will present a pro-

gram of compositions by Kabalin, Varèse,Chávez, and Reinecke.

• Weill Recital Hall, 154 West 57th Street, NYC. • Admission: $25–$30, general; student/seniordiscounts at box office. • Info, call 212-222-3569.

Friday 8:00 pmFlutists JUSTIN BAHRAMI andFrieda Chan and other members of

the Metropolitan Chamber Players will per-form favorite solo and chamber works byMozart, Ravel, Bach, Chaminade, andDoppler.

• Second Presbyterian Church, 6 West 96thStreet, NYC. • Admission is free.

MAY18

MAY16

MAY14

MAY13

MARCH ’07

Employment: Freelance flutist and fluteteacher; flute choir conductor of theStamford Young Artists PhilharmonicProgram.

A recent recital/performance: A programof flute and guitar music with guitaristGene Pino, performed at the Westport(CT) Arts Center in January and West-port Library in February.

Career highlights: Five Weill Recital Hallperformances (1989–2002), performingthe Mozart Concerto for Flute andHarp with harpist Karen Stern and theBrazilian Symphony in Rio de Janeiro(1992), playing with the New JerseyPops Orchestra (1986–2002), and per-forming with Gabriel Goñi at theannual International Flute Festival inCosta Rica (2005–present). Fosteringappreciation for Ecuadorian Mestizomusic with a lecture-performance forthe NFA Convention (2005, San Diego)and an article in the Flutist Quarterly

(Spring 2007 issue).

Current flute(s): A 14k gold Emanuelwith a C foot (a 2002 engagement gift),a 14k gold Brannen with silver keysand a B foot (c. 1985), and a JuliusBaker gold-plated Yamaha 892 with anSF headjoint and B foot (c. 1990).

Influential flute teachers: As an under-graduate, private lessons with TomNyfenger, Linda Chesis, and (during ayear abroad in Paris) Mme. Ida Ribera;graduate studies with Andrew Lolyaand Ransom Wilson; and post-graduate summer masterclasses withTrevor Wye and private lessons withKeith Underwood, Julius Baker, andTrudy Kane.

High school: Livingston High School inLivingston, NJ, and the Instituto de Ala-

juela in Alajuela, Costa Rica (where shewas a foreign exchange student).

Degrees: BA in liberal arts (SarahLawrence College, 1983), MM in fluteperformance (Manhattan School ofMusic, 1985), and a Certificat deMusique de Chambre (L’Ecole Normalede Musique, Paris, 1982).

Most notable and/or personally satisfyingaccomplishments: Adopting 33-plusacres of rain forest in Costa Rica andother countries through Nature Conser-vancy programs using funds from a1997 benefit concert and other perform-ances with like-minded musician friends.Producing An Album of Ecuadorian

Mestizo Music for Flute and Piano withpianist Allison Brewster Franzett (twovolumes of concert-quality transcrip-tions, visit www.sharonlevinflutist.comfor details).

Favorite practice routines: In what mightbe viewed as an understatement,Sharon says, “I tend to be methodicalabout my practicing.” When she’s work-ing on a passage, she’ll keep track ofher repetitions on a scrap of paper onthe music stand. After 20 accuratetimes, she is done with that passage forthat day and goes on to the next one.Before performing a challenging pas-sage in public she tries to have done itright at least 200 times, and more ifneeded. “I try not to burden myselfwith ‘rules,’ but good preparation is mypersonal antidote to nerves.” She variesher warm-up books, but uses A Trevor

Wye Practice Book for the Flute, Volume

5: Breathing and Scales the most.

Other interests: Spending quality timewith family (her retired father is nowan actor and playwright) and friends,travel, learning Italian, food (her hus-band loves to cook) and wine, autismspectrum disorders (she has a high-functioning autistic son, age 13), andgoing to plays and opera.

Advice for NYFC members: Take care ofyour body and spirit: exercise, eat right,be nice to people, and have a fun life.And plan ahead so you don’t ever haveto practice more than four hours a day.

Member ProfileSharon Levin

NYFC membersince 1983

FLUTE

HAPPENINGS

respectively, a physician practicing psy-chiatry at St. Vincent’s Westchester andan elementary instrumental musicteacher in the Port Jervis school district.This is their sixth Ensemble Concertperformance. Pianist Allen Weiss is aJuilliard graduate and a therapist at St.Vincent’s Westchester.

Performing the Wells...

This group, made up of players fromthe other ensembles and the NYFCboard, was assembled specifically forthe NYFC recital.

(cont’d from page 1)

4 — NYFC Newsletter

The finer your aural skills, the betterthe execution of all the techniques.

After you have learned how to holdnotes for full duration, a good amountof long tones with a metronome and atuner is the next step. Try this series ofexercises, where intonation is the pri-mary focus. They are very simple, yetvery difficult. One must play longtones (quarter note � 48) for 16 beats,beginning at ppp and crescendoing tofff in various ways. For example, youmight decide you want your crescendoto peak at the 8th beat and then dimin-uendo over the next 8 beats. Or, alter-natively, to shorten the peak time to 4beats, diminuendo for 4 beats, and dotwo repetitions. Or, to peak at the full16 beats. It doesn’t really matter whatyou choose to do as long as you areclear about what you want to achieve.Repeat it a number of times. Alwaysmake sure it is rhythmically anddynamically accurate. It is extremelyimportant for the dynamics to takeplace exactly in the proper spot rhyth-mically. You should be watching thetuner to monitor the sharpness as youget louder and the flatness as you getsofter. You must appropriately compen-sate your embouchure while playing tokeep the pitch absolutely steady. Let ussee how this is done.

Most people can play in tune at onedynamic level. It is dynamic changesthat start to affect intonation and it isthe extreme dynamic changes thatmake the pitch go to extremes of sharpand flat. The reason for this is thatevery time you change the air streamyou affect the pitch. An embouchurehas to be extremely flexible in order tocompensate for the acoustic intonationphenomena caused by a more or lessforceful air stream. Every flutist has anembouchure, but, in essence, you mustcreate a new embouchure with everydynamic. The embouchure must func-tion as a valve that continually regu-lates and compensates for the air flowfor the sake of accurate pitch.

There are three things to be awareof when you talk about embouchureand mouth compensation for pitch.They are the same three things thatgenerally control the tone of the flute:(1) the size of the hole between yourlips, (2) the volume of air going

through the hole, and (3) the angle atwhich you are blowing into the blow-hole of the headjoint. When you playmf, the embouchure hole is a moderatesize to accommodate a moderate flowof air. When you play fff you mustblow much harder and the pitch goesup. To compensate for this effect youmust open your mouth behind yourlips while playing. This makes yourjaw drop down, changes the angle ofblowing, increases the size of yourembouchure hole to accommodatemore air, and lowers the pitch. Con-versely, when you play ppp, youreduce the volume of air and you areblowing through a hole that is toolarge to accommodate less air. Air pres-sure drops and the pitch now sinks. Tocompensate you must close yourmouth slightly while reducing the sizeof the embouchure hole. This is moredifficult and strenuous than the fffcompensation. Nevertheless it is theway you begin to understand how toplay with these radical dynamic differ-ences. When playing mf, you must finda position for your jaw slightly openbehind your lips, between the fff posi-tion and the ppp position, with an OOor an EAU formant and get the soundyou like. And you must have what Ilike to call the “floating jaw,” one thatis able to come up slightly (close) orgo down slightly (open) according tothe musical needs of the moment. And,finally, you have to keep your flutesound homogeneous throughout theseslight variations of jaw and lips. Youmust also always keep the air movingat a minimum speed for your “regular”sound when playing softly. Too manyflutists think that you have to choke upand stop blowing freely in pianissimo.Always blow freely!

Assuming that you now have fairlygood control over long tones, let’s takeany repetitive fingering exercise andapply the same metronome/crescendo/decrescendo technique of practicing. Ilove the No. 1 of Taffanel and Gaubert17 Daily Exercises for this, with halfnote � 60, start 8va. You really cannotuse the tuner for this because it goesby too quickly. You just have to listen.Repeat each line. Do a very large cycleof repetitions starting ppp and trackinga crescendo to a specific point in theexercise, and then begin a diminuendo.Do all this slurred. Make sure yourrhythm and placement of the crescen-

dos and diminuendos are absolutelyprecise. Do two lines in this fashion.On the third line change to a newscheme. Perhaps doubling the time ittakes for a crescendo and a diminu-endo. Or do some ppp crescendoing tofff and beginning again on a subitoppp. After that, try ffff diminuendoingto ppp and then subito ffff. After thattry trading repetitions alternatingbetween ffff and ppp. Do two morelines. Then the fifth line, etc., you getthe idea. Make the dynamic changesradical, with intonation, preciserhythm, and smooth technical execu-tion your focus. Don’t worry aboutcracking notes on the fffs, it will showyou the limitations of how hard youcan blow and how to extend thatenvelope. After you run out of slurringschemes, start to couple dynamicchanges to the articulation chart at thetop of the page. Here you will alter-nate ffff with pppp according to slurrednotes and tongued notes. For example,slur three, tongue one with a ffff onthe slurs and p on the tongued note.Then reverse this. And do the otherarticulations in this fashion. At first thisexercise is extremely fatiguing. But ifyou do it properly over the long haul,it will give you phenomenal control ofpitch and dynamics.

Now we reach the final culprit inbad intonation: vibrato. The waveringof a long tone as you hold it isvibrato. The waver is produced bydoing something to the air stream as itis being blown into the flute. Somepeople produce vibrato in a throatfashion, where the throat is used as anoscillating body, using an ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh throat movement very rap-idly. I’ve heard it called the nannygoat vibrato. The other method forproducing vibrato is to pulsate the airfrom the muscles in your abdominalarea, in a ha-ha-ha-ha or a hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo fashion. The speed of thisvibrato can be very slow or quick.Both vibrato styles alter the air stream,and therefore alter the pitch. Thenanny goat is an older style of playingwhich was used by many players ear-lier in the twentieth century. Thenanny goat doesn’t really alter thepitch as much as the other vibratostyle. But it diverts the free blowing ofthe air into an area of the throat andcuts down on the volume and force ofair going directly to your lips and into

Wechsler (cont’d from page 2)

May 2007 — 5

the flute. This cuts the power of yoursound, and the ability to phrase withas much expressive control. It alsointerrupts the free flow of the air. Thenyou must blow harder and that causessome unnatural straining of crescendosand less dynamic contrast in a phrase.You still must do some mouth andembouchure compensation for intona-tion but not as much as the other styleof vibrato.

The hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo vibrato is apulsation of air produced by breathingmuscles in your abdominal area. Thisvibrato acts essentially like frequencymodulation. When you pulsate byblowing, you are raising and loweringthe pitch of the note to create thevibrato. It is analogous to a stringplayer vibrating on a string and raisingand lowering the pitch by moving theirfinger slightly up and back in its posi-tion. The waves can be rapid or slow.The wave depth can be very deep orvery shallow. The wave depth is theactual rise and fall of the pitch as youblow harder and softer to create thevibrato. The ear perceives the top partof the vibrato wave to be the in-tunepart of the frequency modulation. Inorder to play with vibrato a playermust lower the basic pitch of the noteso that the vibrato pulsations will comeup to the correct pitch and the ear willperceive it as in tune, not sharp. If you

play with the lower part of the vibratowave in tune, you will sound sharp.You correct this problem by bringingdown the basic pitch in proportion tothe amount of vibrato added. That isdone by opening your mouth behindyour teeth, as mentioned earlier. Youcan do a series of exercises of longtones beginning with no vibrato andthen gradually adding it. You simulta-neously compensate for the rise ofpitch in proportion to the amount ofvibrato added. Use the tuner with thisexercise.

Once you get familiar with thislong tone exercise, you need to inte-grate the vibrato as an expressive toolinto your phrasing. Vibrato has thepotential to really sabotage yourphrases in no time at all. You mustfirst learn to direct your phrasesthrough the use of dynamics and tonalintensity and then add the vibrato asthe “icing on the cake,” so to speak.Pick a lyrical piece that you know. Itneed not be a flute piece. Severalcome to mind—Bach’s Air on a G

String, the Nocturne from the Mid-

summer Night’s Dream byMendelssohn, and the “Dance of theBlessed Spirits” from Orpheus byGluck. Play the piece with absolutelyno vibrato. Then begin to directphrases by using only crescendos anddiminuendos. It very often helps to

imagine you are playing a differentorchestral wind instrument, one thatrarely or never uses vibrato. I like todo this exercise as a clarinet or Frenchhorn. Try to get into actually “being“that instrument and using intensity oftone in conjunction with dynamics todirect your phrase. Listen for all theintonation pitfalls that go along withthe dynamic phrasing and compensateas you have learned to do from theprevious exercises. Then you willbegin to add the vibrato to sweetenyour expression at the phrase cli-maxes and recessions. Then imagineyou are playing the flute again.

I hope this column on intonation isa helpful one. Just bear in mind thatthese exercises are very difficult to do,and they take time. Do not try to mas-ter them in a week. Leave yourself afew weeks or months to get used tothe jaw movement, the possibleembouchure changes, and the differentuse of your lip muscles. If any tempo Ihave mentioned seems to fast or slow,by all means change it! These are exer-cises to improve your control, not tomake your life miserable. I have donethem and they have worked for me. Ifthey are not working for you, or theycause you physical discomfort discon-tinue them. If you want to modifythem to suit you better by all means doso. Good luck!

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETINGSunday, May 20, 2007 at 5:30 pm

Greenwich House Music School, Renee Weiler Recital Hall 46 Barrow Street, New York, NY

The annual meeting of the New York Flute Club, Inc. will be held on Sunday, May 20,2007 at 5:30 pm. At that time we will elect officers and members of the board of direc-tors. All current members are eligible and encouraged to attend and vote.

The spring ensemble concert, featuring flutists who have participated in the NYFCensemble program, will immediately follow the 5:30 pm meeting. There will be a recep-tion following the concert.

Post-concert refreshments will be needed. Please phone David Wechsler (718-859-8649)if you can bring something. Requested items include wine, soda, cheese, crackers, cook-ies, grapes, and other nibbles. Please help us make a nice end-of-year celebration.

6 — NYFC Newsletter

Richard M. Wilson, the man behind the “Old Flutes” website

[www.oldflutes.com], is known to the flute world as a scholar, collector, and

performer. However, most of his weekdays are spent working at his day job

at the California Institute of Technology, where he is a professor of mathematics

with research interests in the field of combinatorics. Rick earned degrees in math

from Indiana University (AB, 1966) and Ohio State University (PhD, 1969). He

regularly performs with various period instrument groups in the Pasadena area,

and enjoys showcasing his collection of historical (c.1750–c.1930) flutes in lecture

demonstrations around the country. He agreed to this email interview because, in

his words, “I love to talk about flutes and flute-related things....”

interests outside of mathematics then.The recorder allowed me to play musicwith others. It was my first seriousinstrument. Two good friends, DougLeonard and Suzanne Ferguson, coachedme on basic music and recorder tech-nique, introduced me to historical per-formance practices, and encouraged meto study period sources like the treatisesof J.-M. Hotteterre (1707) and J. J.Quantz (1752). The recorder got meinterested in renaissance and baroquemusic, and the instruments of those peri-ods. Soon Doug took up the baroqueflute, and in 1978, I ordered a moderncopy of a baroque flute for myself. Irealized that the flute would let me godeeper and further into the 18th centurythan the recorder would.

KS: What got you started as a collector?

RW: On a six-week mathematical visitto Holland in 1977, I bought two 19thcentury English boxwood flutes from anantique shop in Amsterdam. Thesewere my first flutes, acquired before Iordered a baroque flute. One was asmall flute with one key and the other

RICK WILSON AND THE“OLD FLUTES” WEBSITE

Interview by Katherine Saenger

a four-key flute. They were madec.1830, though I had been led tobelieve that they were older when Ibought them.

I was fortunate, when on a sabbati-cal leave visiting the University of Lon-don in 1978–79, to be able to takebaroque flute lessons with StephenPreston. Stephen was one of the pio-neers on baroque flute. But he wasalso seriously interested in and veryknowledgeable about 19th centuryflutes. He was a huge influence on me,both then and also later, at theWildacres Retreat in North Carolina.Nancy Toff’s The Development of the

Modern Flute also helped to pique myinterest in early flutes.

When in London, I purchased afew more 19th century flutes, mostlyjust because I wanted instruments toplay. Until 1985 I still consideredmyself primarily a recorder player, butI had caught the flute bug and therecorders were being played less andless. It was about that time that I real-ized I was a collector (with 15 antiqueinstruments and a desire for more) aswell as a player.

KS: Any interesting stories about the

acquisition process?

RW: First I should confess that I havenever found a rare, valuable instrumentin a flea market. My flutes come fromdealers in antique instruments, or fromsellers referred to me by friends andprofessional contacts; occasionally by

KATHERINE SAENGER: How you bal-

ance your “double life”?

RICK WILSON: A professor at Caltechcan have a very flexible schedule, somostly there is no problem...though attimes I become so engrossed in onelife or the other that it becomes easy toneglect everything else. By the way, Iam a much better mathematician than Iam a musician.

KS: Do your department colleagues

know about the flute side of your life?

RW: Most of my colleagues are aware,but only some of the students. I usedto play on the Talent Show evening at“Freshman Camp” (our three-day fresh-man orientation session)—though per-haps my presence was moreappreciated than my performance,since it was so hard to get any of thefaculty at camp to participate! Andonce I did a Sunday afternoon concertat Caltech, part of three-concert serieswith a group called Con Gioia, whichin this instance consisted of a fortepi-ano, a glass harmonica, and a glassflute (made by C. Laurent in Paris,1834, and played by me).

KS: Tell me about your beginnings as a

flute player. Did you start off with a

metal flute in elementary school?

RW: I played an old, smelly school clar-inet in junior high school band (thoughI never learned to practice seriously),and quit so I could take other coursesin high school. Any interest in music laydormant until my brother-in-law RobertBlock, a musician/musicologist, sent mea recorder when I was 27. It was theright time; something clicked. I had few

Rick Wilson playing a baroque flute made by Folkers andPowell after Jacob Denner (c. 1720).

May 2007 — 7

trades with, or purchases from, othercollectors; and finally by auctions,including eBay. I did once buy 20flutes at one time, part of a collectionthat was being dispersed.

I also acquired ten flutes thoughmarriage. I played many duets with agood friend and fine flutist, Fred Kasper,who had some wonderful historicalflutes, primarily modern replicas by RodCameron and Folkers & Powell. Myrelationship with his wife Kathy, a poetand artist, changed soon after his tragicdeath from cancer, and we have beenmarried more than five years now.

Perhaps the most interesting storyconcerns the time I returned from twoweeks in China in 1996, without anyInternet access during that period. Atthe time I still did not have a homecomputer but would use the computerin my office, two blocks away, almostevery evening. After a nap and someunpacking, I dragged my jet-lagged selfover to my office and, after taking careof some email, casually logged ontoeBay to look at the antique flute offer-ings. There WAS one very interestingitem: a 19th century simple systemflute with a long foot joint down to A,14 scallop-shell keys, and engraved sil-ver rings. The bidding was up to $1800and the end of the auction was inTWO MINUTES. The description saidthere was a maker’s name stamped onthe flute but that it was illegible. How-ever, I instantly recognized the instru-ment as matching a flute made circa1825 by Stephan Koch of Viennashown in Philip Young’s book The

Look of Music. I decided to bid, man-aged to click just 15 seconds before thedeadline, and won at $1825. It is nowone of my favorite flutes, and, in viewof its date and location of manufacture,the perfect instrument for the SchubertVariations [composed in 1824].

KS: Do you have any advice for would-

be collectors?

RW: Once when I was giving a lecturedemonstration, a young flutist in theaudience asked how one could get acollection like mine, and I said some-thing like “Start 25 years ago.” That’s anot insignificant point about collecting,unless one can afford to buy an exist-ing collection on the rare occasionswhen one might be available.

KS: Do you own and/or play any “mod-

ern” metal flutes?

RW: I have only two metal Boehmflutes, a silver A. G. Badger (NY,c.1880) and a plated Bonneville (Paris,c.1912). These are important for mycollection. Though my primary interestslie elsewhere, I must, of course, repre-sent and understand the various typesof Boehm instruments, if I am to speakabout the history of flutes. I play them,though I don’t sightread well, as mypractice time goes elsewhere. I dohave seven more Boehm flutes, butthey are wooden instruments from the19th century: two cylindrical German-style flutes with open G� keys, and fiveconical ring-keyed flutes including aGodfroy and a Louis Lot.

By the way, Badger is a VERYimportant 19th century American makerof Boehm flutes. He would be wellknown and admired today if only hisflutes were at or near modern pitch sothat they could be useful to modernplayers. But they are very high. Mine isat A�455 or somewhat higher. I lovethe Badger; it has a wonderful soundand I often wish I could find otherplayers of flutes at that pitch to playwith. But speaking of “modern,” youmay be surprised to know that I have ametal Murray system flute, by Arm-strong, 1972. That’s the latest instru-ment in my collection, which exceptfor modern copies, does not otherwisecontain flutes made after 1930. Ihaven’t played the Murray much, butfind it fascinating.

KS: So the “standard” modern flutes

don’t really interest you?

RW: I have a great deal of respect forthe modern flute. I find it quite flexibleand I enjoy contemporary music thatincludes extended techniques on these (Continued on page 8)

instruments. Even though I prefer toplay other systems, I greatly admireBoehm: he was the only one who hadthe courage to completely throw outthe old system and the engineeringgenius to start over with a new, logicalsystem and build a practical and ele-gant instrument with it.

I once said to my friend Jan Boland,a performer on both modern and earlyflutes, that I was thinking about spend-ing more time on the Boehm flute. Iwanted to play the Poulenc sonata. Iwas surprised at her reaction, whichwas (I paraphrase) “NO, don’t do it!You are NEEDED for the old flutes.Plenty of people play the modernflute.” Hah, hah. I know I could playPoulenc if I wanted to, but she had avery good point. I have an appreciationof and some affinity for the old simplesystem flutes and am fortunate to havesome good instruments; I have a duty(and desire) to let them be heard.

Someone has to do it. The baroqueflute is now represented by many fineplayers. Renaissance flutes are heardtoo rarely. But even more rarely heard,for instance, are early romantic periodViennese flutes (with nine to fourteenkeys) playing flute music from1820–1850.

KS: How do you keep in shape on the

flute?

RW: I try to practice daily on four orfive flutes, though sometimes a day ortwo goes by when I don’t play at all. Iam proud of my flexibility. I am ableto switch from one flute to others withdifferent embouchures, bores, and fin-gering systems without intermediatewarming up. Not perfectly, but prettywell.

Details of keywork for the left thumb and right-hand finger on the Stephan Koch (Vienna, 1825) flute Rick Wilson pur-chased on eBay after his 1996 China trip.

8 — NYFC Newsletter

I like to make an analogy betweendifferent flute systems and different lan-guages. Once a language is learnedwell, there is little confusion, in thesense that a bilingual speaker of bothFrench and English will be able toswitch from, say, French to Englishwithout accidentally using Frenchwords in their English. Also, once oneknows 10 European languages, it iseasier to learn an 11th. Same for finger-ing systems.

And a slight digression: I thinklearning a different system flute is use-ful for all flutists. Just as it is said thatstudying a foreign language can helpone understand one’s own languagebetter, so can studying, say, baroqueflute, help you understand the Boehmflute. An instrument suggests interpreta-tions, some of which can then beapplied to performances on otherinstruments.

The flutes I use change with time.For weeks or months I will include acertain flute in my playing, but then I’llput it on a shelf and take another onedown for a period. (I admit that some-times I drag out a dozen flutes to trycertain things.)

KS: Any special preparations for

concerts?

RW: For a week or two before a con-cert or recital, it is essential to practicepieces on (and only on) the flute onwhich they will be played.

KS: Do you get much chance to play

with others for fun?

RW: Oh yes. My friend Harry Bower inSan Francisco is a serious player of ren-aissance flutes, one-key flutes, ANDboth early and late 19th century multi-keyed simple system flutes. We gettogether for week-long visits at leasttwice a year and run through many

duets on various keyed flutes. Weinvite local players of renaissance andbaroque flutes for jam sessions. I doplay with other instrumentalists, earlyor modern, when I get the chance andmy instruments fit in. I find that early19th century flutes can work really wellwith sensitive guitar players. I also playhouse concerts (for fun) with friends.

KS: What led you to set up your website?

RW: I wanted to showcase and catalogmy collection, while sharing things Ihad learned about and from the flutes.Few flutists today realize how manyflute types existed and how greatlynational styles differed before 1900.Also, I have a lot of hands-on experi-ence (and opinions) that I wanted toshare. And I was not happy with theway old flutes are too often spoken of:“They don’t get no respect.” One canread in modern books and articles thatthe simple system flute “clearly couldnot fulfill the requirements of the 19thcentury” and that it has a tone that is“inferior” or “deficient in quality.” It isof course possible to criticize earlyflutes for various reasons (e.g., they arenot always easy to play), but this gen-eral condemnation (especially of tone)is just modern prejudice and I wantedto present the other side.

KS: How long has the website been in

existence?

RW: Since 2003.

KS: Did you do it on your own?

RW: Yes. After getting a domain nameand a web host, I learned HTML from abook. The format of my site is reallyvery simple.

KS: Do you get many visitors?

RW: More than 5,000 different peoplevisited in January, some several timesand most viewing a number of pages.The pages other than the home pagethat were visited most included the

pages on renaissance flutes (503 hits),baroque flutes (454), 19th centuryBoehm flutes (245), classical flutes (235),etc. The combined pages on 19th cen-tury simple system flutes received 588viewings. Fingering charts were popular.I am proud of my comprehensive fin-gering chart for simple system flutes,and it was viewed 355 times that month.

KS: Do your visitors ever send you any

interesting email?

RW: Yes, definitely. For example, aSpanish collector recently told me thatthe official flute at the Madrid Conser-vatory until 1888 was the 12-key Tulou“flûte perfectionée.” Some visitors writeto ask for information about an “oldflute” a grandparent left to them. I tryto help when it is a 19th century flute,but often it is just a student modelBoehm flute from the 1950s. Those arenot old flutes for me. I know littleabout 20th century Boehm flutes, andnothing about their value or what theserial numbers mean.

KS: Do people ever want to see your col-

lection in person?

RW: I’ve had some important flute peo-ple stop by to look or try, but onlyonce or twice a year. I can’t imaginerefusing a potential visitor unless I wasbusy at the time. I often bring outflutes to show non-flutist friends andguests at home, when the subjectcomes up. Anyone can appreciate themas works of art and engineering.

KS: Is your collecting guided by any

particular interests or objectives?

RW: The huge variety of historicalflutes fascinates me. Especially withregard to 19th century instruments, myobjective is to acquire professional ornear-professional quality instrumentsrepresenting major trends, periods, andlocations in Europe and America. As arule, I am not interested in, for exam-ple, mid-19th century one- or four-keyflutes, as only amateurs and studentswould have used them then. And as arule, I am not interested in one-of-a-kind curiosities.

I cannot find or afford many original18th century (or earlier!) flutes, so Ihave many modern replicas of suchinstruments. In addition to mainstreamtypes, I do seek out less common buthistorically important models, such as

Wilson (cont’d from page 7)

The left-hand section of an “Equisonant” Flute by J. Clinton, London, c.1858. (R. S. Rockstro condemned the ClintonEquisonant flute. But RW says, “It is a very fine design, with a good sound, similar to that of a conical Boehm flute. Seehttp://www.oldflutes.com/articles/equis.htm.”)

May 2007 — 9

copies of a C-foot Denner flute (c.1720),a two-key Quantz flute (c.1740), and amulti-keyed Tromlitz flute (c.1790).

I love to play a piece of music on aflute from the same period and loca-tion when/where the music was com-posed. This is why I need so manyflutes. I wish that all flutists and listen-ers could enjoy this kind of experience.

KS: I guess that’s one reason you are so

happy to do lecture/demonstrations . . .

Can you give us an example of a sam-

ple program?

RW: I usually play 10 to 12 flutes, start-ing with the renaissance and proceed-ing chronologically. I show slides ofperiod costumes and closeups of partsof the instruments. I like to demon-strate the meantone intonation of therenaissance flute and the lively trills onthe baroque flute. When I get to the19th century, I might play an extractillustrating “notes sensible” fromTulou’s Méthode on a five-key flutestamped “Tulou,” an excerpt illustrating“glides and vibrations” from Nichol-son’s Preceptive Lessons on a flutestamped “Nicholson’s Improved,” andexamples showing the differencebetween “Klopfen” and “Bebung” fromFürstenau’s Die Kunst des Flötenspiels

on a flute by W. Liebel of Dresden,Fürstenau’s favorite maker.

KS: You mentioned that you try to

avoid the term “eight-key flute” as a

generic for the common pre-Boehm

multi-keyed flute.

RW: I usually say “simple system flute,”and I like to put “pre-Boehm” inquotes because the system was in usewell into the 20th century. English lan-

guage sources use “eight-key flute”because that type was so standard inEngland (and the US); but as a mathe-matician, I’d feel stupid using “eight-key flute” to describe French fluteswith five keys or German flutes withnine or eleven keys.

KS: How do you balance historical

integrity and playability when your old

flutes need restoration/repair?

RW: Good question. Playability is veryimportant to me. There is much to belearned from playing and hearing theseinstruments. (This distinguishes my col-lection from many others, especiallythose in museums. Museums have adifferent mission, and I completelyunderstand this.)

Historical integrity is essential and isthe key to playability, because whenthese flutes were new, they were emi-nently playable. I want to get the flutesback to that condition (few flutes areplayable when I get them; they needparts, crack repair, and more). But Idon’t think that only historical methodsof repair are to be used. For me, superglue, power tools, and modern padsare fine. But I do want to match metalsand woods as well as possible.

There are craftsmen/artisans whorespect and understand the instrumentsand their makers. Rod Cameron, a his-torical flute maker who has done won-derful work for me, tells me that heoften imagines himself as the embodi-ment of the original maker, continuingthe same work and striving for thesame goals. I think others who havehelped me, my friends Michael Hubbert(a genius at working with any material)and Joe Moir (who knows every system

of wind and brass instrument evermade), share this attitude as well.

I would never change a workingpart if it seems to be near-original. Iwould never modify an originalembouchure, never shorten a flute orenlarge the tone holes in an attempt tochange the pitch, never change thebore of an instrument if it is in nearoriginal condition. I can’t learn how aflute might have sounded and beenplayed if changes like this are made.But, for example, many wooden flutesfrom early in the 19th century have hadtheir embouchures crudely enlargedlater in that century, to accommodatehigher pitches; in such cases I do nothesitate to have the embouchurebushed and recut. (I understand whatresults is only an approximation of anoriginal instrument.) If I have new partsmade, I save the old broken parts withthe flute. I will leave some blemishes,modifications, and old working repairsintact, as they are part of the history ofthe instrument

Here is an interesting point. I havecleaned and repadded, or more exten-sively restored, some instruments onlyto find that they did not play well forme. That is, they were out of tune ordid not produce a good sound. Ratherthan attempt retuning or getting rid ofthe instruments, I put them on a shelf.Many times I will take them down fiveor ten years later to find that they nowplay well, or at least have good quali-ties. What has happened is not that theflute changed, but that I, in the interim,have learned how to play historicalflutes better. What seemed difficult, Ican now manage, and some of theseinstruments become favorites. Thankgoodness that I did not irresponsiblytry to modify these instruments to bet-ter fit me, when it was I that did notunderstand the instrument. As a collec-tor, I have the luxury of being able tohave the instrument wait until I catchup to it.

KS: Thank you so much! I look forward

to many more visits to your website. �

�Katherine Saenger is the editor of the

New York Flute Club Newsletter and a

scientist at the IBM T.J. Watson Research

Center in Yorktown Heights, NY.

Details of articulated keys on a flute by Benedikt Pentenrieder (Munich, c. 1845).

10 — NYFC Newsletter

A PRIMER ON POSITIVE STUDIO TEACHING

by Kerry Walker

Ateacher’s teaching style canhave a profound effect on thelearning process. As a

university-based instrumental musicteacher, I feel a special obligation toutilize a constructive and positiveteaching style because much of whatmy students learn from me will bepassed on to a new generation of stu-dents when my students go on tobecome teachers themselves.

This article describes some of myfavorite “positive teaching” techniques.These techniques offer a win-win forboth students and teachers, enhance asupportive learning environment, andmaximize the limited teaching timeavailable in the studio. Musical skillsand “life skills” can both be improvedby learning how to work with others,how to word criticisms appropriately,and how to listen with more sensitivity.

PRACTICE PARTNERSAssign or suggest the idea of “practicepartners”; students who might be well-matched can tackle any or all of thefollowing tasks together.

Scale practice: Practice scale patternstogether. Students are more motivatedto stick to a schedule and use a varietyof patterns when they are accountableto each other. Just like workouts with afriend, you help motivate each other tostay flute-fit!

Observation of each other’s lessons:The observing student takes notes forthe student who is being taught,thereby getting a bonus lesson. Theobserved student benefits from the writ-ten feedback, ideally reinforcing theconcepts that were taught, and from theexperience of “performing” for two lis-teners. The teacher benefits by having a“supportive witness” to verify soundimprovements made by the player.

Mentoring: Some of my upperclass-men mentor a younger student throughcoaching or advice on choosing

classes, or even help with theoryhomework. They are gaining teachingexperience, and my teaching conceptsare being reinforced as they arehanded down to the less-experiencedplayer.

Sight-reading duets: Usually I suggestthat the pair of readers be abilitymatched; as with tennis, it can frustratingfor a stronger player to work with onemuch weaker. If both players are weak,the reading session may lead to frustra-tion, but certainly also to patience, to anefficient practice approach, and toimprovement. Tuning chords will alsohelp each develop a better ear.

ENSEMBLE PLAYING

Professionalism developed throughchamber ensembles: In the secondhour of our two-hour flute choir ses-sions I break the ensemble into smallerchamber groups. I rotate which ensem-ble I coach and let the other groupsrehearse on their own. Working inde-pendently helps develop many skills,including the ability to work with oth-ers. The most advanced group runsitself, each member of the group feel-ing confident about sharing the respon-sibility of comments with the commongoal towards improvement. Groupswith students less confident with read-ing and ensemble playing are assigneda group leader—usually the player onthe first part. Their rehearsals are usu-ally more efficient this way until thegroup chemistry develops. Then, as thesemester continues and confidencegrows, the leader role can rotate. Ifthey are working on a quartet, werotate the parts so that a differentplayer will have the first part—and theresponsibility to conduct phrasing andkeep the rehearsal running smoothly—for each movement. It is understoodthat everyone has the commitment ofgroup ownership, but with a delegatedleader there is less pressure for thegroup in balancing the egos.

MASTER CLASSESMaster classes—both my own andthose given by guest teachers I bringin—provide many opportunities forlearning.

Teacher preparation through groupcomments: The students in myweekly master classes are expected tosupplement the comments I make withtheir own. Each person is responsiblefor one complimentary comment andone positive suggestion. At times themajority of the group focuses on acommon opinion in which they canjust respond with a “ditto” or “pass.” Iam impressed with how future teacherschoose their words wisely when giventhe responsibility. At times I elaborate,like a translator, for greater understand-ing. I rephrase the comments in sum-mary form to lead to constructivesuggestions. At times we focus on spe-cific topics such as breathing, phrasing,chamber ensemble playing, and per-formance anxiety. You need to have agood rapport with the group and com-mon trust to have the performer talkabout nerves in front of the group. Thechallenges are all around for the listen-ers, performers, and teachers.

Performance development throughlearning by listening: Ours is anauditory art. Group ownership of theclass fosters collegiality and empathy,creating a supportive environment forperformance growth. The observersbecome excited for each particularindividual’s progress. Students not per-forming learn through listening andobserving as if they were “in the per-former’s shoes,” free of the distractionand concerns of performing them-selves. They watch the score, theymake notes for future practice.

I think the benefits of auditing aresometimes underestimated. The August2006 Julius Baker Master Classes hadover 65 applicants this year and only40 performers could be accepted.When it was suggested to the less-

May 2007 — 11

advanced players that they join theauditors, some decided not to come.What a loss, particularly for the youngstudents who would have benefitedfrom hearing stronger players in chal-lenging repertoire. I find another errorin judgment that occurs in youngflutists, of just listening to flutists.While it is wonderful to listen to themany flute recordings available and tosupport your flute friends at theirrecitals (a requirement in many stu-dios), flutists can learn even more bylistening to other performers. Forexample, observe the natural singingvoice and apply concepts such as useof vibrato and color changes to theflute. Listen to the string player and seehow phrasing is articulated with thebow. Observe how much air the lowbrass player intakes before starting aphrase. Listen to how different styleperiods are interpreted by differentplayers. For example, observe thestring player performing Bach.

Performance development throughguest teachers: When I bring in aguest teacher to teach, my students seemy commitment for their betterment. Attimes, the light bulb just goes on for astudent performer when the same con-cept is presented by another teacherusing a different teaching approach.This is when I, the teacher, learn andgrow and become inspired as I observefresh ideas shared by a colleague. It isbeneficial for the students to observethe camaraderie among professionals inthe field as well. Alumni who are nowcolleagues send me their studentsbefore contest time for the same rea-sons, it helps them to better their stu-dio. They don’t feel threatened whenthey know I will be reinforcing theirconcepts or even offering new sugges-tions. It is their opportunity to observefrom a different view as well.

However, I think it is better for stu-dents not to study with more than onemain teacher at a time. It can be con-fusing to the player. It also places themain teacher in an awkward position,both in a commitment sense, and in thesense of feeling a need to “defend”opinions that might differ from theother teacher’s. Yes, the beauty ofmusic is the many interpretations that

guest master class teachers can bring.But the player needs musical maturityto understand the differences, andshould be guided by one main teacher.I enjoy sharing interpretations that Ihave observed from the master classesover the years. For example, I havenotes all over the Bach Sonatas, “JeffreyKhaner calls this an ‘aria’”; “ Mr. Bakersuggests doing this passage in onebreath...” My students enjoy the wordsof wisdom being passed on, but theydo get frustrated when at times, theopinions might conflict and I leave thechoice in their educated hands! (I dofeel a sense of accomplishment if I playthe same phrase two different ways and“sell” them both so well that I have dis-guised my favorite version.) The won-derful thing about music is that eachinterpreter, including themselves, canrecreate the piece when they play it.

KEEP A PRACTICE JOURNALAs in documenting what you eat toimprove your eating habits, writingdown what you are actually practicingwill keep you more accountable toyourself and more organized with yourpractice routine. Here are other ideasfor the flute journal.

Record of repertoire: Study andmaintain a variety of style periods(baroque, classical, ...). Challenge your-self with solo, accompanied, chambermusic, and orchestral repertoire. Bal-ance repertoire with etudes and dailyexercises. Perhaps focus on repertoireby the style or composer and then theother things that are studied can rein-force the main solo piece. For example,

Style focus: French ImpressionismComposer: Claude DebussySolo piece: Syrinx

Accompanied piece: Prelude to the

Afternoon of a Faun, arranged for fluteand pianoChamber music: Sonata for flute, viola,and harpOrchestral excerpt: Afternoon of a

Faun

Etudes: Modern Etudes by PaulJeanjeanDaily exercises: add pentatonic andwhole-tone scales to routine.

Wish list repertoire: Future repertoirein the planning. Again, emphasize bal-ance and variety for immediate reper-toire, and pick long-term forcompetitions and recitals.

Concepts/goals from lessons: Analo-gies learned, discussions had, short andlong term goals. For example, discus-sion topics for impressionistic musicmight include tone color experimenta-tion to represent ambiguity or images,opportunities for developing breathcontrol for long orchestral passages,and the benefits of memorizing Syrinx.

Assignments or exercises: work on awhole tone etude in Jeanjean. ForAfternoon of Faun, read the Mallarmépoem that inspired the piece.

Recording or reading recommenda-tions: Listen to the many interpreta-tions of Syrinx. Listen to orchestralpieces by Debussy. Look up biographi-cal information on the composer. ReadRampal’s discussion of Syrinx [in Flute

Explorer, March 2000].

Question page: List topics and/orproblems to discuss at the next lesson.For example, discuss the appropriate-ness of breath marks in Syrinx.

Notes from lessons or masterclasses: For example, I learned Wyeand Moyse have different opinions onwhere to breathe in Syrinx.

I am sure that there are many ideasthat other teachers could add to mylist, but these are just a start, illustratingthe ways in which we can use ourteaching to enhance both musical skillsand life skills. As musicians, we servethrough the humanities; music is ourlife and the means by which we makethe world a smaller and better place. �

�Kerry Walker is professor of flute at

Western Connecticut State University in

Danbury, CT. She has directed the sum-

mer Julius Baker Master Classes (now

the Julius Baker Master Classes—The

Legacy Continues) since 1993.

The New York Flute ClubPark West Finance StationP.O. Box 20613New York, NY 10025-1515

Greetings! The annual meeting of the Club andthe NYFC’s ensemble program concert will be at theGreenwich House Music School on May 20. Hope to seeyou there!

This issue is a 12-pager with three full-length articles. Inthe first, Dave Wechsler expounds on physical solutions tointonation problems in an expanded “From the President.”Next is an interview with Rick Wilson of the “old flutes”website, by yours truly (quite fascinating, if I do say somyself!). Finally, Kerry Walker describes her favorite “posi-tive teaching” techniques. Thanks to her, I no longer feel

guity about those long-ago bonus half-hour lessons I got watching Harold Bennettteach the student ahead of me. (I allowed a lot of extra time for that subway tripto Queens....) Now I know that listening in to another student’s lessons is notcheating, it is a recommended pedagogical technique!

Sharon Levin, CT-based flutist with an interest in Ecuadorian Mestizo music, isthis month’s member profile subject. She is another example of a key componentof our membership: people who first join as high school or college students andthen stay with the Club for decades as adults.

As this is the last of the newsletters for the 2006–7 season, I would like tothank the year’s interviewers, writers, photographers, and proofers for their manycontributions. This select group includes Ardith Bondi, Tanya Dusevic Witek, Mar-jorie Hone, Don Hulbert, Ed Joffe, Rebecca Quigley, Peter Schaaf, Renée Siebert,Pat Spencer, Nancy Toff, Kerry Walker, David Wechsler, and Barbara Williams. Andanother big thank you to Sue Carlson, our skillful and patient newletter designer.

Best wishes for a good summer. Regards,

Katherine Saenger (klsaenger@yahoo.com)

May 20, 2007 concertSunday, 5:30 pm • Greenwich House Music School, Renee Weiler Recital Hall, 46 Barrow Street

2007 Ensemble Program Concert

From theEditor

2006–2007 Concerts87th Season

October 29, 2006 • Sunday, 5:30 pmFENWICK SMITH, flute, and SALLY PINKAS,piano

November 19, 2006 • Sunday, 5:30 pmLEW TABACKIN, jazz artist

December 17, 2006 • Sunday, 5:30 pmLAUREL ZUCKER, flute, and MARK DELPRIORIA, guitarHoliday reception

January 21, 2007 • Sunday, 5:30 pm TIM LIU, Chinese bamboo flutes

February 25, 2007 • Sunday, 5:30 pm THE HANOVERIAN ENSEMBLEJOHN SOLUM and RICHARD WYTON,baroque flutes

March 10, 2007 • Saturday, all dayFLUTE FAIR 2007—CAROL WINCENC, Union Theological Seminary

April 29, 2007 • Sunday, 5:30 pm2007 NYFC COMPETITION WINNERS

May 20, 2007 • Sunday, 5:30 pm ANNUAL MEETING & ENSEMBLE CONCERTGreenwich House Music School

All concerts and events (except as noted) at YamahaPiano Salon, 689 Fifth Avenue (entrance betweenFifth and Madison on 54th Street). All dates and pro-grams subject to change. Tickets $10, only at the door;free to members. For more information, visit the NYFCwebsite at www.nyfluteclub.org or call 732-257-9082.