Hey Dani Rojas! If you think football is life, wait ‘til you try recording an hour’s worth of music! Yes, football is life and death, blood and guts, glory and infamy…but so is making a recording!

With no game score to tell you if you’ve “won”, it’s just your imagination butting up against the reality of being human. An arena shorn of the trappings of the cheering or jeering crowd, it is down to you alone, your chops, your stamina, your desire, your…madness.

Awwww, no it’s not!

Because, if you play your cards well, you’ll never really be alone facing the microphones. The trick is—like Dani Rojas—to get yourself the best TEAMMATES (and coach).

Because I did just that, my experience recording was — dare I say it? — a BLAST! T’was a marathon, for sure: four flutes, 15 movements, 8 composers, but hey, I honestly had the time of my life.

So without further ado, it’s time for some TEAMMATE & COACH GRATITUDE!

Firstly, a million thanks to the “boys” of Neper Music, Tomás Quintais and Afonso Teles. Bringing their Type-B calm to the proceedings, along with proven tech skills — our (flut)uações CD — and laser-sharp hearing, I knew I was in the best of hands.

Next up, on the non-human side: the beautiful hall in Coimbra! Such a hall makes playing a joy, sending back love in sonic form. Many thanks to the (undiscoverable) architect; may you design many more halls like this.

Thanks to friends, colleagues, and family who supported yet another of my half-insane, “in bocca al lupo”-type endeavours. In bocca al lupo — literally “in the mouth of the wolf” (yikes!) — which Italians say meaning… “good luck”. HUH, WHAT? “Good luck, go climb into the mouth of a wolf?” Non caspisco… Y’all were so kind as to not mention the lupo at all…

Extra-special thanks to my daughter, Miriam, whose belief in me never flags!

Huge thanks to the amazing women of One Woman Band, and our fearless leader, Meg Kissack. Whoddathunk that you can find “your people” on Zoom? Solidarity, warmth, wisdom, kindness—powerful stuff.

Further thanks to my little pod of brilliant Integrated Practice folks in Paris, brought together by Pedro de Alcantara. Insight and encouragement in equal doses, willing listeners to Beta versions of all my music…Merci à tous!

Last and MOST, my heartfelt thanks to the indefatigable Pedro de Alcantara, the prodigious one MAN band who said yes to this project and kept saying yes even as I dreamt up more and more for him to do: play the piano! clap hands! play the claves! play cello! sing! drum! the last 3 simultaneously! ONLY Pedro could pull this off—and we’re still talking! In fact, we had a blast putting our 4 pieces together, bit by bit, phrase by phrase. A luxury.

Pedro has been my teacher/”coach” for over 25 years, through the thick and thin of my “stuff. You might say he’s indirectly led me out of several bad-luck bocche dei lupi, first as a teacher of the Alexander Technique, then of Integrated Practice, with its tendrils extending into art, writing, composition, and living life well. With such a teammate/coach, how could I go wrong?

(Can’t resist mentioning Pedro’s brand-new PIANO METHOD, with which I am spending time daily this summer. It is a delight! And his online DRAWING LABS and VOCAL SESSIONS in July. See you there?)

Recording, like football and life, requires knowing well your lupi; making the choices that keep the (big, bad) lupi at bay, and only let in the “good luck” bocca al lupo!

OK, OK; I finally capisco:…it’s like “Break a leg”! Here’s to wishing everyone a “wolves mouth” and a “broken leg” in all your endeavors!