FA@FSU Blog
Flute Day 2024 Recap!
By Taylor Hawkins, Secretary
March 4, 2024
This past weekend, the Flute Association at Florida State had the honor of hosting composer and flutist, Nicole Chamberlain at our annual Flute Day! On Saturday, March 2nd, students and local flutists gathered at FSU to participate in what the day had to offer: a warmup with Dr. Karen Large and Dr. Mary Matthews, numerous workshops and exhibits, and a closing recital of Mrs. Chamberlain’s compositions.
We started off the day with a warm up session with Dr. Karen Large and Dr. Mary Matthews, the flute professors here at FSU. The session was centered around implementing extended techniques into your warmup; we worked on harmonics, jet whistles, pitch bends, beatboxing and more. At the end of the session, flutists used these extended techniques to play along with pop songs including “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift and “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars.
The next workshop was “Beatboxing to a Better Bach” in which participants learned about some new extended techniques and prominent composers/flutists who work with extended techniques. We then played an arrangement by Mrs. Chamberlain of the Allemande from J.S. Bach’s Partita in A Minor that involved techniques including pizzicato tonguing and percussive syllables.
The next session was a virtual workshop with Dr. Brittany Trotter about “Flute and Hip Hop.” Dr. Trotter presented a history of hip hop along with a Google Drive folder of flute samples used in hip hop. Flutists got to read the sheet music and play along with the songs that were being discussed. Participants got to conduct a Q&A session at the end, asking Dr. Trotter about how she got into sampling her flute playing for music.
The final workshop of the day was “The Hustle: Building a Career in Music” with Nicole Chamberlain. In this session, participants learned about making money without a steady job. She spoke about finding a niche, shameless self promotion, networking, and ensuring you receive payment.
Alongside these wonderful workshops, exhibits from Beethoven and Company, Flutistry, and Spotted Rocket Publishing (Mrs. Chamberlain’s own publishing company). Students purchased lots of sheet music, played new flutes, and had Adam Workman, the repair technician at Flutistry, repair their flutes. We closed the day with a recital of Nicole Chamberlain’s compositions performed by Dr. Large, Dr. Matthews, the FSU flute choir, and Mrs. Chamberlain herself.
Flute Day 2024 was a huge success and Florida State was happy to welcome flutists of all ages to hear from our guests. The day provided participants with lots of one-of-a-kind experiences and opportunities. We look forward to serving our students and community at next year’s event!
FA@FSU Blog
Fall 2023 Recap!
By Taylor Hawkins, Secretary
December 22, 2023
This semester was a very eventful one for the Flute Association (FA) at Florida State University (FSU)! We kicked off the semester with “Flute Fun in the Sun.” We had water balloon fights, relay races, and finished with some snacks and a relaxing dip in Legacy Fountain, a registered swimming pool! In October, we hosted our first outreach event of the semester – providing free professional headshots to members. The photos were taken by one of our outreach coordinators, Steven Fireman in the Owen Sellers Amphitheater. This was a great opportunity for our FA members to have their first professional headshots taken! Fast forward to Halloween, and we hosted a Halloween Movie Night where members joined us to watch Hocus Pocus and have some snacks and goody-bags. That same week, we had our first share-it night of the semester, hosted at Blaze Pizza. Our next event was our 2nd Annual Flute Choir Reading Session. Guest conductor, Drew Hardy-Moore, a Doctoral Music Education student at FSU, led flutists of all ages and musical backgrounds for a wonderful night of music. Next, we hosted our 2nd Annual Flutesgiving – a potluck-style event in which members of the FA got together and hung out on Mina Jo Powell Green, talking and listening to music.
Our first Guest Artist was with Nancy Williams on Classical Improvisation. She met with us on Zoom and we spoke about topics such as classical ornamentation and how to improvise in the classical style; this is mainly applicable in cadenzas of classical concertos. Soon after, we hosted our second share-it night at Chipotle. Our final fundraiser of the fall semester was Holiday Candygrams. We sold them to the students at the College of Music and the Candygrams included a small bag of candy and candy canes with a customized message from the sender for each recipient. Our second and last workshop of the semester was one on flute repair by Flutistry’s Adam Workman. He spoke to many of our FA members and helped us disassemble the footjoints of flutes as well as lectured about common reasons for flute damages and why they occur. The final event of the semester for the Flute Association was the 2nd annual Winter Soirée! FA members gathered to celebrate the end of the semester. We had snacks and refreshments and watched our fellow flute players perform in a very low-stress environment. Some even performed on secondary instruments such as piano and Cuatro.
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Thank you to everyone who came out to our share-it nights and events this semester! We hope to see you again next semester.
Flute Day 2023
By Adeline Belova, Secretary
March 30, 2023
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The Flute Association at Florida State had the incredible privilege of hosting the spectacular Carol Wincenc for our annual Flute Day! On March 4th, students and guests arrived at the university bright and early to experience everything this big day had to offer, including a warmup session with Dr. Karen Large, a variety of workshops and exhibits, and Professor Wincenc’s incredible technique lessons.
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Carol Wincenc is a Grammy-nominated flutist with a vast, successful history in flute performance and education. She is one of the most prominent flute figures in modern history, winning a variety of awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Flute Association, the National Society of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Music, and Distinguished Alumni Awards from the Brevard Festival and Music Center and Manhattan School of Music. She is currently on the faculty of the Julliard School and Stony Brook University.
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Along with Professor Wincenc’s marvelous workshops, the Flute Association is grateful to have hosted Burkart, Beethoven and Company, and Flutistry. All three extraordinary companies pride themselves in their work to provide musicians with the finest quality instruments and sheet music possible. Both Burkart and Flutistry showcased their best flutes and piccolos for guests to try, while Beethoven and Company provided a vast selection of solo and ensemble flute sheet music to purchase. Needless to say, the day was packed with generous selections for guests to enjoy.
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All in all, the 2023 Flute Day was a massive success for the Flute Association. We look forward to presenting our members and the community with next year’s event, continuously expanding bigger and better than ever before.
FA Halloween Flute Choir Day
By Adeline Belova, Secretary
November 8, 2022
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On Sunday, October 30th, the Flute Association had the wonderful privilege of hosting a Halloween-themed Flute Choir Day, an event dedicated to reading fun flute ensemble music of varying genres and performing a concert showcasing the culmination of everyone’s efforts. From young middle schoolers to seasoned adults, we had participants of all ages join us in playing a variety of music from Harry Potter and GhostBusters to Phantom of the Opera and much more.
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In addition to showing off their fun costumes, participants gained great experience in refining their sight reading and ensemble playing skills. Each piece was conducted and rehearsed by a member of the FSU Flute Association, including President Samantha Donnell, Secretary Adeline Belova, and Social Events Chair Rachael Lawson. After a rehearsal session, the performers hosted a successful final concert to showcase the work they have accomplished.
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Overall, the Flute Choir Day allowed students to take a step back from demanding repertoire and difficult scales to play lively and fun music as a community, reminding us of why we love to be musicians.
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Jill Felber Visits FSU
By Adeline Belova, Secretary
October 12, 2022
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The Flute Association at FSU eagerly welcomed Jill Felber this past September to give an outstanding masterclass presentation and performance. An internationally acclaimed recording artist and distinguished performer, Professor Felber serves as the flute professor at the University of California Santa Barbara College of Music.
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Alongside globally-renowned pianist Dianne Frazier, Professor Felber worked with graduate flutists Freddie Powell, Pamela Bereuter, Brenna Wiinanen, and Samantha Donnell to guide them in their performances, as well as presenting a show-stopping performance of her own. This marks her second appearance with the studio, as she presented an insightful virtual workshop in January of 2022 for the annual Flute Day. We give our sincerest and deepest thanks to Professor Felber for her outstanding work and generosity!
To accompany Professor Felber’s wonderful visit, Miyazawa flutes kindly joined us with a collection of beautiful flutes, head joints, and piccolos for the students to try. Their exhibit allowed students to gain insight into the world of professional flutes, and to witness first-class craftsmanship at its finest. A huge thanks to Miyazawa for joining us with Jill Felber and Dianne Frazer for an incredible Friday!
