Football is Life! …but so is Recording Music

View from the music “stadium”

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!

Remembering…Steven Wasser, CEO of Powell Flutes

There’s really nothing so wrenching as discovering that a friend has been sick and passed away, without you even knowing. Such are the trials of living overseas, I suppose…the Atlantic ocean… the pandemic…traveling—not much.

So it was with shock on top of great sadness that I belatedly happened upon the news (scrolling Instagram, of all places) of the passing of the truly amazing person that was Steven Wasser.

Steven Wasser was the owner and President of Powell Flutes for 30 years, a friend, and might I say a fan of mine going back many years. His obituary reads like the achievements of five very accomplished men—in business, philanthropy, mentoring, and community and family life.

My remembrance here is more personal: what it means to a musician to have a true supporter, and what it meant to flutists to have a real music lover as head of the flute company.

Steven and his wife Stephanie visited Lisbon back in 1994, and we connected as I had recently bought a (newer) Powell in Boston. We visited the Jerónimos Monastery (a World Heritage site) and guess what? Steven told ME all about it! Hmm, I’d lived in Lisbon already for 5 years but no, HE was the one who’d done his homework. Vintage Wasser!

This was the same curiosity and intellect he brought to Powell Flutes, where he championed all sorts of innovations (in a tradition-bound industry) for thirty years, keeping Powell well on top of the totem pole of flute-makers. He turned the shop into a mini-United Nations, bringing in formidable talent from across the globe. The loyalty he inspired was in itself inspiring; I later met the senior artisan who had made my flute; he had been at Powell for over 20 years. Success in handcrafted instrument-making depends on this kind of dedication and continuity, and Steven assembled the most wonderful team.

Steven came to an orchestra concert here in Lisbon back in 1994, and in 2014 drove for hours to attend a Syrinx : XXII concert in Westchester, NY. He loved it so much he asked me to become a Powell Artist, and to give masterclasses for Powell—and he kept his word. This unexpected support, coming from someone who has fantastic flutists passing through “the shop” on a regular basis, was worth so much to me. Many years into an orchestra position, one starts to feel taken for granted…because…one IS taken for granted. It’s a job. (Only, music can never really be just “a job”!)

I last saw Steven a few months before Covid landed, in Midtown Manhattan—for him, another long drive to hear us play. “Making us look good, as usual” was his kind compliment. His being there was the main compliment, of course!

Steven was a Renaissance man—he also collected art by Jewish-American immigrants of the 1930s, and showed me the art he had up in his corner office at Powell. It was real luck for the company that Powell was purchased by Steven in 1986, only the second owner after Mr. Powell himself. A Harvard MBA “star”, he might well have bought a company with less tradition to navigate, and fewer nitpicky details of physical construction to deal with. But I suspect the challenges of balancing tradition with innovation, taking artistic decisions, managing artists, and hand-crafting beautiful objects were the draw for him. Visiting the shop in Maynard, on two floors of an old textile mill, Steven proudly told me “Powell is the only tenant that still makes things”.

I will remember Steven fondly and often—every time I pick up one of my Powell flutes. He was far too young, at 70, and I had looked forward to our meeting again. But I’m so grateful to have known him, and I extend my deepest sympathies to his family—and to the extended family of Powell flute players.

Imagine…

If you follow the news, it’s clear that the ongoing crises of the world are many: climate change, rising authoritarianism, the fragility of democratic systems, economic inequality, gun violence, racism, misogyny, WAR…a depressing and wide-ranging list. It was 47ºC somewhere in Portugal recently (116ºF+)—did I mention climate change??

A phrase that often pops up when people speak of their experience with these problems is “I never imagined it could happen here”. Never imagined the flood, the shooting, the act of terrorism, the discrimination…could happen HERE or NOW. Even when it is happening or has happened to others—elsewhere by a hundred miles or a hundred years—repeatedly.

Perhaps this is one reason why progress moves so slowly. We all need a lot more imagination! I am not exactly thinking of John Lennon’s idealization of a peaceful world “living as one” in his hit song from 1971. I am thinking of the power of our human minds (frankly, what else do we have going for us?) to imagine THINGS-WE-ARE-NOT-ACTUALLY-EXPERIENCING.

It is not JUST that without the power of imagination the entire human race might become sad Bartelbys pushing papers, sad as that would be. It is not JUST that we would lose art and music and literature and dance and theatre and…well, the splendor of human creativity—although those losses would be plenty.

It’s that unless we use our imagination, we can’t imagine the results of our inaction: our world at 3ºC warmer—animals dying, people migrating or dying, floods, drought, fires. We can’t imagine ourselves (we lucky folks living in free democracies) living under a dictatorship—being watched, constrained, and subject to arbitrary laws. We can’t (or choose not to) imagine ourselves impoverished, our children murdered at school, our rights taken away, our skin color being factored into every decision we make and every judgment made about us, or our country invaded and bombed. Without our imagination, we think these things just happen … to others.

And without imagination, the urgency to act is dulled, possibly to nothing.

But…what does this have to do with music?

Musicians live by their imagination. We try to get into the mindset and heart-set of the composer. We try to imagine the historical context—where would the music have been played? Who would have comprised the audience? How it might have been sounded on the instruments of that time?—and to the audience in that time or place? We imagine the life of the composer, the life of each phrase, and find some point of contact with ourselves. We try to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. We connect.

We may get it all wrong, but the striving for empathy is what counts. If only everyone used their imagination a little more, like a musician, perhaps these crises would feel more urgent, and we would be compelled to action.

Next time you read the news, read it like a musician reads a score.

A Gold Star for… Young People!

On one of my favorite podcasts, the co-hosts trade turns giving—to themselves or others—”Gold Stars” and “Demerits”, which range from silly things like emptying the dishwasher (Gold Star!) to serious things, like reading your iPhone instead of paying attention to a child (“Demerit”!).

So today, as we near the end of this long and strange school year, I’d like to award a GOLD STAR to the many Young People in my life who are doing exceptional things. It’s easy to say they (not us, no, not us, never!) spend too much time glued to YouTube and so forth, but the evidence is otherwise. These kids are pulling off a lot of serious work, under enormous pressure—from family and societal expectations, academic pressure, a shaky economic outlook, and, of course, a … pandemic.

In my own life, I see this up-close and personal with my 12th grade daughter, working furiously to finish high school well under the oddest conditions, looking forward to college (hoping to not start college on Zoom in her bedroom…), but still finding time to participate in a peaceful protest here in Lisbon last weekend. The word “commitment” comes to mind.

Likewise, the constellation of my students, prospective students, and many other flutists I’ve met briefly in classes, shows me the power of this generation to PERSIST, to keep on working, striving, improving, (while waiting for a live concert like us all), and yet, remaining profoundly humane to each other at the same time. I look forward to being able to greet and hear them IN PERSON before too long.

In the meantime, everyone is “making do” (“desenrascar” in Portuguese, a great word) using Skype, Zoom, and recordings, in spite of the limitations and imperfections involved. A huge thank you to you all, along with the GOLD STAR, for your dedication, effort, and good cheer!

Poster for our 8th and last recital of the year at ESART (a Zoom event, naturally)

Head joint upgrades, Part 1!

Are you feeling like your flute is letting you down? Do you feel you are ready for an instrument that can do what you can imagine doing? Are you looking to upgrade to a much better instrument—and yet, you don't have the funds for a whole new flute?

We've all been in this position, and the very best advice I can give you is to UPGRADE YOUR HEAD JOINT! The head joint of a flute is like the bow for a violin or cello—and believe me, our string-player friends spend a lot of time searching for a better bow, since it is so much more affordable than a better fiddle!

As long as the body of your flute is working well—and if it isn't, you should send it to Luthier Tomás Miranda right away!—then you can definitely make a huge positive impact in your performance by upgrading to a better head joint.

Which brings me to Powell and Powell's famous head joints: famous since 1927 for their response, flexibility and projection! I have in stock a wide selection of head joints, both Signature (a more accessible line which is still totally handmade) and Custom, in materials ranging from classic Silver, Grenadilla, Aurumite and Gold. There's literally something for everyone.

If you are interested, just contact me for a no-obligation trial, or attend the 5th Summer Flute Academy, where there will be oodles of stock available to try and buy.

Gorgeous Powell head joints, waiting for you to find yours!

D E D I C A T I O N !!

Yesterday, on my way to rehearsal, I passed by a diplomatic ceremony in front of the Jerónimos Monastery. I was feeling grumpy because I'd had to get off a warm seat on the tram to walk past this "stoppage" and catch another tram on the other side.

Then I saw these colleagues, from the Portuguese Army Band, out on the street, playing at 9:15am, when the temperature—yes, in Lisbon!—was 4º Centigrade (that's 40º F). WOW, guys, that is great for skiing, but COOOOOLD for standing still, let alone playing. Yet there they were, and playing beautifully and somehow even in tune.

My hat's off to these musicians, that's for sure. I hope the diplomats had some appreciation.

We know all the years of practice and dedication it takes to reach professional level, but sometimes it just hits you in the face: you really have to be, and stay, DEDICATED!!

PS: No, Lisbon is not supposed to be this cold (but it is, sometimes)!! PPS: Yes, there were at least 4 flutists in the band—BRAVO!

The Portuguese Army Band, performing with class and distinction in 4ºC weather!