Papa Smurf wrote:
All of you folks down in Oz - My friend Alexa Still will be doing
a flute festival somewhere on your sub continent in the next few days.
She did not tell me just where, but I am sure you have heard about it.
If any of you are in attendance, please make it a point to hear her play
and/or teach. Then go up and meet her. She is an amazing player, a
fantastic teacher and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Tell
her Keith said hello (she doesn't even know I'm a smurf).
Alexa Still's name has come up twice on this list lately, so I
thought I'd come out of work-imposed lurk mode to comment. I am happy to
report that she is now the flute professor at the University of
Colorado-Boulder. I've only had three lessons so far, but all of them have
been helpful, and studio class has been wonderful.
She's probably in Oz right now, since she left here yesterday or
today. The festival is in Melbourne, I believe. And yes, do go say hello
to her; she's quite friendly, in addition to being a great player.
And on another subject: a BIG thank-you to all of you who
commented on my "getting interviewed by a student" querry. I can't believe
how many responses I got! Everything from "let the kid make his own
decisions" to "turn and FLEE!" If I wrote personal thank-you's, I'd have
to send over 50! This question obviously hit a sore spot. I've been
waiting to write until I had the rest of the story. After rescheduling
twice, the mom finally called--a half hour before our
appointment/interview, to say that her precious darling had picked a
teacher the previous week, but if he didn't like her after a few lessons,
they'd call me. (I ever so politely told them not to bother.)
However, I'm glad that I came up with a firm policy as a result of
this, as I got another call a few days later from a girl who wanted to
take a private lesson from each of six teachers, one each week, and then
make a decision at the end of six weeks as to which teacher to pick. I was
able to encourage her to go with ONE of the teachers and give that teacher
a chance for a while, especially since the first teacher she mentioned is
fantastic. (I think I saved five teachers a valuable hour of time.) So
thanks again to all of you for your advice.
Adrian, welcome back! We've missed you.
--Shelley
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Shelley.Collins@... University of Colorado-Boulder
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