Blazing Flutists

I heard some wonderful playing Saturday during the APU flute juries (the finals for flute lessons this fall). We are all grateful that juries were completed successfully.

Now, feast your eyes on these blazing players:

A Masterful Experience

At 7:00 Saturday morning we loaded up the van for a trip to Malibu.

We were on our way to a flute Master Class by Sir James Galway.

Sir James was in town for a series of concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and had agreed to appear at Pepperdine University.

As we made our way through Malibu Canyon we were on the lookout for Mr. Darcy ("who knew walking could be so hot?!?")

We arrived ready to learn and excited about the opportunity:

Jen joined us a little later:

There he is; Sir James, decked out in purple:

We all listened attentively as he told us the secret to successful flute playing...

...practice, practice, practice.

We left almost overwhelmed with the wealth of information Sir James effortlessly dispensed.

We all agreed that we would go home and practice, practice, practice!

The Chocolate Campaign

A few weeks ago, as I was waiting in the check out line at Trader Joe's, the selection of chocolate bars conveniently placed for impulse buying caught my eye (big surprise!). Since my cholesterol is a little high, I began perusing the dark chocolate.

I noticed a bar labeled "Trader Joe's Swiss 71% Dark Chocolate" and picked it up for a closer look.

The small print talked about "intense, full bodied dark chocolate made from fairly traded cocoa beans."

Intrigued, I turned the bar over and read, "Fair chocolate helps contribute to a better way of life for farmers and their families. This method of buying cocoa beans offers small-scale growers a fair price for their harvest. It's a win-win situation. You get the flavor of high quality Swiss chocolate, and you also get the confidence of knowing the ingredients were purchased in a socially responsible manner. How sweet it is."

Cool, I thought, and purchased two bars "for medicinal purposes".

I was blissfully ignorant of the human traffikking in the chocolate industry.

Thankfully, I received an email yesterday explaining that an Azusa Pacific University chapel speaker had challenged the student body to look at their chocolate consumption habits and consider the source of said chocolate. I was directed to http://www.stopthetraffik.org/chocolatecampaign/. Here is an excerpt from the site:

"Diabate and Traoré had left their village in Mali to go to Ivory Coast looking for enough money to afford a bicycle, but they were sold to a man who had paid 50,000 West African Francs (about £50) for the two boys and he wanted the money back—in labour. The boys from Sirkasso met about twenty others in the same predicament and learned that no one was ever paid. They slept in a rectangle-shaped mud hut that initially had windows but when some boys found they could escape during the night, the windows were sealed shut. Diabate and Traoré remember eating mostly bananas, though they would gobble up the cocoa beans, as others did, whenever they got the chance. Many months passed, and the boys forgot what the purpose had once been for this adventure. Life became a struggle to exist, then hardened to despair.

They gave up thinking of escape. They were under constant threat of beatings if they were caught trying to flee—and they had seen several boys treated savagely—they were actually spooked by a belief that they were under a spell. Read more in Carol Off's book 'Bitter Chocolate'. "

After reading this, I felt utterly ashamed of my complete lack of awareness of this situation. The slave trade is alive and well, and I personally have contributed to it.

No more.

I am grateful to Trader Joe's for stocking free trade chocolate. I will be buying my "cholesterol medicine" from them exclusively until the big chocolate companies clean up their acts.

Will you join me?

February Recital

Dr. Joel

My excellent accompanist Dr. Joel and I are preparing for a faculty recital.

We've got a date: Monday, February 11, 2008

We've got a time: 7:30p.m.

We've got a venue: Munson Recital Hall, Azusa Pacific University

We've picked out some of the repertoire.

We even have weekly rehearsal time carved out.

We start this Wednesday.

I'll keep you posted.

On The Road Again

It's time to morph back into the professional road warrior that lurks within each freelance musician.

I greatly enjoyed the summer hiatus. The farthest I got away from home was 7 miles. Working in the parks of Long Beach has many advantages.

Today, however, I made the 74 mile round trip to Azusa Pacific University. Classes don't officially start until Wednesday, but I was on a mission of fear: Flute Auditions.

It wasn't fearful for me.

Pity, though, the freshman flutists who just yesterday bid their family good-bye and moved into a completely foreign environment.

Today, said flutists are required to play for the flute professor they've never met (me) to determine their flute-playing fate for the entire year.

Yikes!

I am happy to report that each and every flutist walked out of the audition under their own power.

Meanwhile, the traffic was light.

I'm just getting warmed up...

Put Another Candle on the Wedding Cake

When last we saw my student Kim, she was playing her Senior Recital:

Today, not only is it Kim's 23rd birthday, it's her wedding day!

She and David were married this afternoon in Tustin.

The wedding was well attended by other APU flutists:

A good time was had by all.

Best Wishes and Happy Birthday Kim!

Quintet Road Show - The Final Chapter

The APU Faculty Woodwind Quintet did it's final road show for the semester Thursday morning.

Today we were at Don Bosco Tech in Rosemead.

Here's Rufus finishing his breakfast as he exits his car:

He also treated me to an impromptu vocal rendition of "Oh What a Beautiful Morning".

You just can't beat that.

Here's my post:

We played for a room full of polite, attentive young men:

I really appreciated the remark made by one beaming young man as he left the concert.

He was grinning from ear to ear as he said, "Thank you so much! I feel so inspired now!"

You can't beat that.

I love my job.

Still to come: News from Siam (but not until tomorrow night)

Quintet Road Show Part 2: The Carpool is Leaving When?????

"The carpool is leaving the Myrtle Avenue Park and Ride in Monrovia at 7am."

What?

Did I mention that I'm not a morning person?

The APU Faculty Woodwind Quintet hit the road for Part 2 of it's roadshow early this morning.

I left the house at 6am.

Ouch.

We were grateful to escape wall to wall morning commute traffic to something more scenic:

We had a 9:40 concert at Bakersfield Christian High School.

Mr. Cross, director of the school's excellent band, welcomed us:

The bleachers went from this:

...to this:

This was my post for the morning:

After the concert I got to meet the wonderful and talented Bakersfield Christian High flute section (Hi Ladies!):

I even rubbed shoulders with "Frederick" and "Mabel", stars of this weekend's school production of "Pirates of Penzance".

Before heading home we hit the best burger place anywhere:

We needed to fuel up for Quintet Road Show Part 3.

But first, I'm back in "Siam" tonight.

I really love my job!

APU Flute Juries

Why are these people smiling? They have just successfully completed their spring semester of applied flute lessons. Well, all except Joel. He just received his Doctorate from USC. I'm smiling, too! Congratulations to all.

Quintet Road Show

The APU Faculty Woodwind Quintet hit the road today.

We visited Valley Christian High School to play for their orchestra class.

Nathan is the band and orchestra director.

He is an APU grad currently working on his Masters:

Here are Rufus and Jenny before the concert:

Stephanie always sounds great:

Jane is ready to go:

I'm still a little hazy from last week's work:

We've got a few more road shows coming up.

I'll keep you posted.

Flutes In Concert

The Azusa Pacific University Flute Choir gave it's spring concert this evening.

The concert was well attended.

The Flute Choir played extremely well.

They've learned a lot this semester.

Congratulations on a job well done!