Is it possible for the sound of an instrument -- the essence, the voice -- to bring some people to tears and cause others to gnash their teeth? Is it possible for such a voice to actually communicate? To chide, to warn, to comfort? I have asked this question daily since I began playing the flute at nine years old, as a child in Fairfield, Connecticut. My parents, a tone-deaf father and amateur pianist mother, seemed to expect me to not take the flute too seriously. When I developed a practice discipline of nearly 2 hours a day, I was chastised and told that this was not 'healthy'; that I should go outside and play. My first teacher was very distressed that I wanted to learn the Mozart flute concertos in my third year of study; I won a spot at Connecticut All State and became the Principal Flute of the University of Bridgeport Symphony. At fourteen, I performed the Mozart D Major Concerto for the high school; neither of my parents were present. But events within and without my family (the near-death of my father by his own hand and the assassination of President Kennedy) caused me to turn my back on God, and on playing the flute.
Odd though it may seem, I had refused to see the opera "The Magic Flute" (just as I had refused to visit Germany and Austria when I went to Europe). When I did, however, I began to wonder if there could possibly be any connection between it and my flute. My name, my overbearing Mother, my children, whose names ironcally all start with 'K', and Monostatos -- this orchestra with its deceitful players. So I began to write the story as a novel, and to get on with my life in a more practical way. "Piper to the Alternative" is still a work-in-progress" because the story is still being lived. I began to perform only when I felt God was leading me to. I began to look inward and try to find my roots, and find this voice, that had caused such commotion, and was so precious to me. And I also began to research the other mystery in my life -- the murder of President Kennedy. In that regard, I recently performed in Dallas for the women of the JFKLancer Conference. The legendary Mary Ferrell, the perhaps the most respected of the original JFK Assassination researchers, responded with a statement I will always treasure. "Well, Bach is my least favorite composer," she said, "but I thoroughly enjoyed that."
I appreciate your requests for audio files; they will begin to be posted in the next few weeks.
If you'd like to learn more about my ideas and see some photos I took in Saltzburg and Paris of places related to Mozart and his family, as well as about "Piper to the Alternative", a mystery novel-in-progress about Mozart, visit the Wolfgang Mozart page; for photographs and documents relating to the Presidential Limousine in which President Kennedy was riding on 11/22/63 visit JFK Assassination Presidential Limousine SS-100-X.
952 934-4777.
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