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Wednesday. May 9. 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B8 A r t s & E n t e r t a i n m e n t Oakville Beaver A&E Editor: Carol Baldwin 845-3824 (Ext. 254): Fax: 337-5567: E-mail: baldwin@haltonsearch.com Photo by Barrie Erskine Joan Browne, front, is a m odern-day pied piper, lu ring students Daniel Shusterm an, 16, Jessica W ilford, 16, and Brendan Harason, 12, into area m usic festivals, where they all come out with top m arks. F l u t i s t s e a r n t o p h o n o u r s a t a r e a m u s i c f e s t i v a l s By Carol Baldwin ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Three fo r three. I f Joan Browne were an ath lete, s h e 'd be m aking the big bucks with a record like that. But she's a flutist and a flute teacher whose three students - and she only has three students all came out on top at recent music festivals. Jessica Wilford, 16, who had two music teach ers before she settled with Browne, earned two firsts and a second in the recent Peel Music Fes tival, while Brendan Harason. 12, whom Browne has coached "from day-one," also received a first at the same festival. And Daniel Shusterman, 16. a student at the Etobicoke School of the Arts, earned 87% in the non-competitive Mississauga Music Festival. Harason and Wilford both say they chose the flute because they had tried and liked the recorder first, and the flute seemed similar. Their biggest obstacle was perfecting the mouth posi tions (embrasure); but once that was conquered, playing the the flute was relatively easy. "I thought it looked interesting and fun," said Harason. adding that, despite his choice of musi cal instruments, he's really a rock music fan. "I don't really listen to much classical." However, his favourite music doesn't present many opportunities for flutists. So the Grade 7 St. Vincent Catholic School student plans to con tinue with his flute lessons, although the guitar is beginning to pull at his creative heart strings. For Wilford. along with its similarity to the recorder, the flute produced a sound that she liked and showed promise as a solo instrument. "She's quite a wizard in music theory," said Browne. "It really, really helps a lot to have that solid understanding." Wilford and Shusterman both play the piccolo as well as the flute, because, says Wilford. the two instruments are similar and many symphony orchestras are looking for piccolo players. "You don't really have to learn anything new, and it gives you a better chance to get into an orchestra," said the Grade 11 student at Oakville Trafalgar High School. "I play piccolo with two groups - the Halton Youth Symphony and the school Wind Ensemble." Shusterman, who began his musical career on the trumpet, didn't particularly like the brass sec tion, but did like performing. Hence the need to try something new. After experimenting with the flute at Oakville's Performing Arts Camp under Browne's direction, it seemed a natural progres sion to ask if she would teach him privately. The Grade 11 student, who plays with the symphony orchestra at his school, is the only prodigy in Browne's trio who knows that he wants to pursue music at the university level. "It's what I'm interested in," he stated, adding that he has attended the Inter-provincial Music Camp for the past three years. "It's eight days of pretty intensive stuff...and I volunteer at the Oakville Performing Arts Camp." All three young flutists are currently working on Royal Conservatory of Music exams: Hara son, on his Grade 6 and Wilford and Shusterman on their Grade 8. "It's a very demanding pro gram," said Browne, who has a master's degree in performance from the University of Toronto. Browne plays with the Oakville Symphony Orchestra, is a member of the Toronto Sympho ny Orchestra, and studies with the Tanglewood Institute of Music - summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra - for two weeks every year, learning from the first woman ever to play flute in a major orchestra in the United States. The Oakville flutist has been teaching for about 20 years, the last few in her home studio. Each o f her students went through the Music Makers program and studied flute at the Per forming Arts Camp in White Oaks Secondary School. The latter is where Browne met all three. The former, she said, gave them a solid frame work for their musical studies, which they pursue with her twice a week - once in a private lesson and the second in a group environment. "That enables me to divide up the training. During the private lesson, I can focus on their solo pieces and their studies. In the group lesson^ we do the scales and the technical work together, and ear testing." she explained, adding that the group environment also tends to motivate the stu dents. "They are all able to hear how a scale should sound...A good flute player not only requires technical proficiency, but you have to be able to produce a beautiful sound. It's one thing to team the pieces, but you have to develop the sound and the tone." Browne will be expanding her tutelage for one week in August when she, in collaboration with Oakville pianist Gloria Saarinen, presents a chamber music camp at the Royal Conservatory o f Music building in Mississauga. Midsummer Music will offer young musi cians, aged 10 to 25 with at least Grade 5 level conservatory training, an opportunity to study with and enjoy concerts given by a number of world-class performers/teachers. A grand concert at the end of the week will highlight studentteacher solos and ensemble performances. "We're going to be featuring instruction for pianists as well as string players and wind play ers to create different combinations o f chamber groups," Browne explained. A jazz ensemble will also be formed, and recordings of the different ensembles will be pro duced. "They can play something and they'll hear it back exactly as they did it...It will open new doors and possibilities for them to make a really good living doing this sort of thing," said Saarinen, piano teacher and chamber music coach. "It will teach them how to write film music and how to bum a CD." Registration deadline is May 12 for M idsum mer Music. For more information, call 905-3333357 or e-mail gsaarinen@home.com. P e r fo r m in g A r ts C a m p m o v e s to a n e w lo c a tio n The Oakville Perform ing Arts Camp , which has been running in Oakville fo r 19 years, is changing its location this year. The application forms, available at any Oakville Library, indicate the location as White Oaks Secondary School from July 9 to 13, and July 16 to 20. However, owing to intensive maintenance needs at that schooi, the camp has been moved to John Knox Christian School on Ford Drive, just north of Royal Windsor Drive. This particular school is air conditioned throughout but is not as large as the previous facility. Parents should send applications in early to ensure a place for the child. The camp is open to children from four-years-old to senior teenagers, and daily lessons are offered for adults who wish to try an instrument. Beginners are welcome at any age, and the camp provides a great opportunity to try out an instrument without committing to a full year's instruction. Students of seven-years-old and up can choose from a wide variety of optional activities in music, drama and art in addition to private and group lessons on a chosen instrument. Classes are offered in violin, viola, cello, flute, piano (both traditional and Suzuki methods), guitar, voice, recorder and some other wind instruments on request, if a teacher is available. Besides Suzuki violin, the camp will offer both fiddle and step danc ing, taught by a professional fiddler. The program for children aged 4 to 6 will take place from 9:30 a.m. to noon. For more information about the camp programs, call Margaret Tay lor at 849-6911 or Adrienne Williams at 842-3897. Any family who would like to give accommodation to students from out o f town in return for free or reduced camp fees should call Jean Grieve at 827-6737. E x h ib it e n d s o n M o t h e r 's D a y Photo by Peter C. McCusker J U R I E D S H O W AT T O W N H A L L C ornel Silversides' painting Ijaguna Beach was the J u ro r 's Choice for two-dimensional w ork at the opening reception of the O akville A rt Society's annual juried exhibition on M onday. K . Lantos and Rea M acrell each received an honourable mention for their two-dimensional pieces. Peter C h a n was awarded J u r o r's Choice for three-dimensional, non-functional, and M arguerite Broten took home the J u ro r 's Choice for three-dimensional, func tional. The R on M iddleton M em o ria l Aw ard went to Peter C h an for Crossing Walk. J u ro r G illian M c In ty re said she was "very impressed with the standard of w ork" in the 50-plus entries. T h is juried att exhibition will remain in the M un icipal B u ildin g at 1225 Trafalgar Rd. (off W hite O a k s Boulevard) until M a y 30. Artists 24's presentation o f The Child in Us , a show and sale of sculpture and mixed media work by Elva Palo, will continue in the Gallery at Industrial Artspace, 2334 Wyecroft Rd., Units 8 and 9 until May 13. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays from 6:30 to 9 p.m.. Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Call 469-8954 for more details.