This summer, GIA released The Image and the Hope, a CD of flute pieces from the GIA catalogue, including two pieces (“Morning Mist” and “Falling Snow”) from my collection, “Times and Seasons.” Dominic Trumfio is a wonderful flutist, and he and Kelly Dobbs-Mickus did a great job with this CD. It’s a beautiful recording, from top to bottom. It’s gratifying–and humbling–to have my music included.
When I set out to write pieces for flute and piano, it was because Christian’s piano students were always playing pop songs and Disney and Broadway, and I knew there wasn’t a comparable repertoire for flute. I wanted to give my students something to play that was in a little more of a popular style, to counterbalance the endless mind-numbing exercises that fill up the beginner and intermediate flute books. Eventually it went beyond that. The pieces aren’t really “popular,” they’re just pretty. They make nice preludes and post-Communion pieces at church, and they’re good for weddings, too. But using them ourselves is one thing; hearing someone else play them–even hearing from people who have played from the collection–is quite a thrill. It reassures me that all the balancing I do to make time to write is actually worthwhile.
Kathleen M. Basi 