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COFA Newsletter
Autumn 2014
Compiled and edited by Rachel Haug
We are pleased to welcome Jim Walker as
the guest artist for our 32nd annual festival!
April 18, 2015
Competition information and application included
in this issue!
A Note from the President
Greetings, flutists and fellow musicians! Thank you all for a great festival last
year. It was a very successful day that could not have been possible without
your support and involvement. Special thanks to Demarre McGill, Dianne Frazer,
and last year’s president, Luke Shultz, as well as each COFA officer, without whom
the event could not have been possible.
Interested in
exhibiting or
becoming a corporate
sponsor?
We have an exciting year ahead in Central Ohio filled with many opportunities,
including Renaissance and Baroque flute sessions with Nancy Hadden, Ohio State
alumni presentations and recitals, and a masterclass with Lorna McGhee, principal
flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony, on February 23. Visit music.osu.edu for a more
complete listing of events.
We hope you will consider
both exhibiting and
becoming a corporate
sponsor of COFA. Your
sponsorship is a vital
The Ohio State Flute Studio/Troupe will join Wendy Kumer and the Pittsburgh Flute
contribution toward our
Club in playing a lobby concert prior to Lorna McGhee’s performance of the Nielsen
ability to present a high
concerto on Sunday, October 26 at 3 p.m. in Heinz Hall. Pre-concert music begins
quality festival. In addition,
at 1 p.m. Please join us for this exciting day!
it entitles you to discounted
This year, we are pleased to welcome Jim Walker as the guest artist for the 2015
exhibit fees and the listing
COFA Flute Festival. He has held principal flute positions with several major
of your company as a
orchestras, in addition to playing in studio recording sessions, performing jazz, and
corporate sponsor on all of
teaching. His complete biography can be found on page 4 of this issue.
our upcoming programs.
Please do not miss this great opportunity to learn from a master in our field! Join us Please visit cofa.osu.edu for
for the festival on April 18!
more information.
Rachel Haug, president
In this issue:
Pages 2 and 3
Highlights from
last year’s COFA
festival
Page 4
Introduction
to our guest
artist, Jim
Walker
Page 5
Pages 6 and 7
NFA
Highlights
COFA Competition
Information and
Application
COFA 2014 Festival at a Glance
Congratulations to our 2014 Competition
Winners!
st
Junior: 1 place: Rebecca Scimio
2nd place: Peyton Marion
3rd place: Isabel Schutte
a Glance
Senior : 1st place: Xiaofan Lui
2nd place: Eva Skanse
3rd place: Lukas Mcilhaney
Collegiate: 1st place: Kim Lewis
2nd place: Emily Duncan
3rd place: Ann Green
Young Artist: 1st place: Amanda Dame
2nd place: Munjung Kwag
3rd place: Hannah Lim
Tips from Demarre McGill
- Overdo and exaggerate every idea.
a Glance
- Practice slowly to make shapes and reinforce
desired technique.
- “Melodic” means that every nuance and geture
has a purpose.
- Slurs indicate expression.
- Vibrato leads and moves forward.
- Indicate importance by putting vibrato on the
note before the one you mean to emphasize.
- To be comfortable is to be safe and
complacent; never settle for comfort.
Pictured above from left to right: Katherine Borst Jones, Steven Finley, and the winner of a new Haynes flute; Demarre McGill and Dianne
Frazer; the Young Artist division competition winners with competition chair, Erin Torres
Special thanks to our 2014 corporate sponsors and exhibitors!
Corporate Sponsors
ALRY Publications, LLC
Brannen Brothers Flutemakers, Inc.
Burkart Flutes and Piccolos
Flute Specialists, Inc.
William S. Haynes Co.
Miles Ahead Music
Muramatsu America
Verne Q. Powell Flutes
Royalton Music Center
Woodwind & Brasswind
Exhibitors
Brannen Brothers Flutemakers, Inc.
Burkart Flutes and Piccolos
Flute Specialists, Inc.
Flute World Company
William S. Haynes Co.
Little Piper
Miles Ahead Music
Muramatsu America
Verne Q. Powell Flutes
Raven-Bear Flutes
Royalton Music Center
Weait Music
Woodwind & Brasswind
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Thank you to all of our 2014 Flute Choir
Participants!
The Ohio State University Flute Troupe
Professor Katherine Borst Jones, director
Muskingum University
Dr. Nicole Charles, director
Firestone High School Flute Trios
Erin Latham, director
Otterbein University Quartet
Dr. Kimberlee Goodman, director
North Star Flute Choir
Dr. Nicole Charles, director
Mount Vernon Flute Choir
Jennifer Packard, director
Morehead State University Flute Choir
Dr. Jennifer Brimson Cooper, director
Michelle Tuesday School
Advanced Flute Choir
Dr. Angela Heck Mueller, director
University of Dayton Trio
Dr. Nicole Charles, director
The Flute Fleet
Christina Condon, director
Interested in having your flute choir participate in COFA?
Visit cofa.osu.edu to download the registration form or contact Nicole Charles ([email protected])
for more information.
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Jim Walker
Few other flutists in history have made such indelible marks in so many
musical circles. From jazz to pop to classical, television to film to the
concert hall, Jim Walker has never met a crowd that didn’t love his
powerful, “stand and deliver” performances. His star began to rise
when Jim was named Associate Principal Flute in the Pittsburgh
Symphony after a stint playing in the US Military Academy Band at West
Point. He quickly gained the admiration of colleagues and audiences in
Pittsburgh and set his sights on Principal Flute jobs. After eight years
he won the Principal Flute position in the Los Angeles Philharmonic and
never looked back.
To be Principal Flute of a major orchestra is to sit at the pinnacle of the
profession. Most flutists who reach that height are content to spend the rest of their careers there, but Jim felt an
eagerness and aspiration to move his music-making forward yet again. After seven successful seasons of performing,
recording, and touring with the Los Angeles Philharmonic—during which time the New York Philharmonic briefly borrowed
him as Principal Flute for their 1982 South American tour—Jim left the orchestra, diving off the mountaintop into the world
of jazz, studio recording and a commitment to teaching.
Jazz had been Jim’s earliest musical loves, and he was inspired to get back to it by LA’s lively club scene. After a few
years of avid listening in dives, gaining confidence undercover in the practice room, he organized his jazz quartet Free
Flight. Flute, piano, bass, and drums playing a unique fusion of jazz and classical music, propelled Free Flight to take the
music world by storm. Jim’s unique combination of vision and determination pushed the group to multiple appearances on
The Tonight Show and The Today Show and brought them a number one record (Slice of Life). By the time Jean-Pierre
Rampal—the granddaddy of modern classical flutists—called “Jimmy” his “favorite jazz flute player” in the 1990’s, Jim was
a bona fide “jazz flute man”.
Life has been equally good for Jim Walker in LA’s famed studio scene. Until June of 2010, he was a first-call studio flutist
for the better part of two decades; his bold, expressive playing can be heard on hundreds of soundtracks and commercial
recordings. His playing became the gold standard from Hollywood to Carnegie Hall and unlocked the door to studio and
concert collaborations with everyone from John Williams and Paul McCartney—“the thrill of a lifetime,” says Jim—to
Leonard Bernstein, James Galway, and the LA Guitar Quartet.
After all the reviews have been written and the stage and studio lights dim, however, Jim has said that the one aspect of
his career he could maintain to the grave is teaching. He has been filling his students’ lives with music for more than four
decades, just as his own parents—Bob, a jazz clarinetist and public school band director, and Barbara, a church organist—
filled his upbringing in Greenville, Kentucky, with piano and flute lessons. He went on to become a graduate and
“Distinguished Alumnus” of the University of Louisville as well as the University’s first “Alumni Fellow” from the School of
Music. To this day Jim credits a parade of flute teachers with helping him rise through the ranks, from Sarah Fouse and
Francis Fuge in Kentucky to the Metropolitan Opera’s Harold Bennett, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s James Pellerite, and
internationally renowned flutist and conductor Claude Monteux.
Jim’s gratitude to his teachers is returned to him by his students. As Professor of Practice and Coordinator of Flute Studies
at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and Instructor of Flute, Chamber Music and Music
Technology, at The Colburn Conservatory of Music, Jim devotes at least twenty hours a week to steering the careers of
young flutists. Before coming to Los Angeles, Jim’s teaching career included positions at Duquesne University, CarnegieMellon, and the University of Pittsburgh, and since arriving in Southern California he has been invited to be visiting
professor at the University of North Texas, the University of Texas-Austin, and Arizona State University. This summer
(2014) he has been asked to be visiting professor at The Music Academy of The West in Santa Barbara, CA.
Jim has taught hundreds of flutists both privately and at these renowned institutions. Many of them have gone on to
successful orchestral careers, holding Principal Flute chairs in major symphonies from Phoenix to Boston to Beijing. Still
others have careers in fields as varied as gospel music and arts administration. Jim is not interested in simply training
musicians; he inspires each pupil as a whole person, and students leave his tutelage feeling empowered, reaching for the
stars. With such a legacy, it is no wonder that students on four continents have flocked to hear his recitals and master
classes. Jim’s creativity allows him to reach not only these students but also others he never sees with his editions of flute
masterworks on the Alfred Music Publications Young Artist Series. He is also completing a set of flute method books filled
with unique, fun, highly instructional exercises so that future generations can continue to benefit from his wealth of
knowledge and generosity.
Dynamic soloist, legendary orchestral and studio musician, celebrated jazz flutist, and an inspiration to countless students
worldwide; Jim Walker is living proof that with enough creativity and determination, one can reach the stars. He is a living
legend, and a true Renaissance Man of the Flute.
Jim Walker is a Performing Artist for Burkart & Resona Flutes and Piccolos
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Highlights from NFA
Professor Katherine Borst
Jones conducted the National
High School Flute Choir, an honor
group, playing music of Thomas
Duffy, Nancy Galbraith, Ladd
McIntosh and the world premiere
of Juba by Valerie
Coleman, Changes by Anne
McGinty and Murmurations by
Ohio State alumnus, Robert Spittal who was in
attendance.
Many alumni flutists were involved in the convention as
performers, presenters and chairs of committees,
including: Meret Bitticks, Marcela DeFaria Casaubon,
Rebecca Collaros, Morgann Davis, Ann Fairbanks,
Kimberlee Goodman, Danielle Hundley, Ellen Blanchard
Huntington, Kristopher Keith, Amy Likar, Nicole
Molumby, Lea Pearson, Robert Spittal, and Kelly Mollnow
Wilson. Katherine Borst Jones serves on the Advisory and
Nominating Committees and is chair of the Development
Committee. She also judged the quarterfinals of the
Young Artist Competition and served on a panel, “The
Current State of Practicing.”
The OSU Flute Troupe after their NFA performance
The Ohio State Flute Troupe, a flute choir
comprised of the members of the flute studio,
presented a program that included the music of
School of Music alumni Matthew Saunders and
Ladd McIntosh. The group also performed a
showcase event featuring the music of Bruce
Smith. Sophomore Ann Green was chosen by
competition to perform with the Collegiate
Flute Choir and senior Luke Shultz performed
for legendary French flutist, Maxence Larrieu,
as winner of the Master Class Competition.
The OSU Flute Troupe with Bruce Smith
COFA Officers and Contact Information
Advisor: Katherine Borst Jones, [email protected]
President: Rachel Haug, [email protected] Vice President: Audrey Rice, [email protected]
Secretary: Margaret Fisher, [email protected] Treasurer: Ann Green, [email protected]
Editor: Rachel Haug, [email protected]
Competition Chair: Erin Torres, [email protected]
Exhibit Chair: Rachel Haug, [email protected]
Flute Choir Chair: Nicole Charles, [email protected]
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