Three student flute players represented USC at national flute competitions, each of them taking home a win.
Third-year flute performance student Zach Warren won the Florida Flute Association Young Artist Competition. With the win, he was granted a $500 prize. Warren has done competitions in the past, and this is his third win. He spoke about the process of the competition.
“You have to send in ... a pre-screening recording and based on that, they’ll invite three or four finalists to the actual convention,” Warren said. “And you go and you play for the panel of judges, and they write comments and everything, and they’ll usually announce the results of the competition later that evening.”
Warren credits his success in part to the USC School of Music, specifically to associate professor of flute, Jennifer Parker-Harley.
“She really encourages all of us to do competitions. And I think that, in general, the School of Music is aiming to educate people on how to be good musicians rather than just be really good at their instrument,” Warren said.
Warren says that he definitely wants to be a full-time performer upon graduation.
Fourth-year flute performance student Samantha Marshall, another musician who competed at a national level, won the Flute Society of Washington Collegiate Soloist Competition. This competition accepts applicants from states around Washington, D.C., making Virginia-born Marshall eligible.
Similar to the Florida competition, contestants first sent in recordings. Judges then chose three finalists and invite them to perform in a live competition.
The final competition consisted of what Marshall considered a diverse set of music, differing from what she initially performed. She believes this to be, in part, a major challenge she faced.
“The more one attempts such an endeavor, the easier it gets! I believe that’s why Jennifer [Parker-Harley] always keeps the studio informed of upcoming competitions and performance opportunities. I had a blast!” Marshall said.
Marshall initially learned the flute by playing along to movies and CDs, without standardized books or methods.
As a student at the School of Music and under Parker-Harley, she has developed a deep appreciation for technical musical learning.
“I’ve become enamored with the standardized method books that we use because expanding technique means that I am giving myself the tools to play literally any piece of music in any informed way I want to,” Marshall said.
Marshall advocates for making classical music available to anyone. She performs jazz, folk and pop along with her classical performance and study.
Philip Snyder, first-year doctoral flute performance student, also won the Flute Society of Kentucky Young Artist Competition.
Warren, Marshall and Snyder all used their talents to represent their peers, their teachers and the USC School of Music.