Today I would like to congratulate Rachel Flowers for all the efforts she made to achieve one of her dreams: to win the Ventura Music Festival Jazz Student Competition 2011. Rachel is a musical prodigy, but there is a lot of hard work and dedication to music behind every performance of hers. Very early this morning, I had the opportunity to talk to her and congratulate her for her great accomplishment:
In the picture you can see David Presley on the left, Jeanie Flowers & Rachel Flowers in the middle, and Steve Brant on the right. And, from Madrid, I want to thank personally David and Steve for their presence and support (Steve flew from New York to California to be at the Laurel Theater for the occasion). Also, thank you so much to Jeanie Flowers for all her silent dedication to her children. And, of course, I cannot forget Vaughan Flowers, Rachel´s little brother, who “suffers” the hours and hours of music training by her hard-working sister.
Rachel rendered a flawless performance of “Naima”, the ballad composed by John Coltrane in 1959:
As a result of winning this competition, Rachel will have the opportunity to play with the famous trumpeter Arturo Sandoval on 12th February this year.
CONGRATULATIONS, RACHEL!
And you, dear reader, what dreams would you like to achieve? Your comments will be much appreciated!
Just a couple of weeks ago, one of Günter Raphael’s granddaughters surprised me with a really nice present: a CD with symphonies by German composer Günter Raphael (1903-1960). I had never heard of him before. Raphael died in 1960, forgotten by most people. I was surprised twice, namely: I got to know about a new composer for me and I also found out that Gabriela Pieschacón Raphael —I have known her for some years but due to different professional issues, rather than music at all— is the granddaughter of this great musician of the 20th century, forgotten by music history. I have been listening to these symphonies whenever I had the chance ever since. It was a present that I really treasure.
I am quite a curios person by nature. So I started to find out about Raphael on the Internet but I was surprised there is only little information about him and even less of his music on Youtube, for instance. However, in case you are interested, you can find a page dedicated to him on the BBC: Günter Raphael’s page on BBC.
In my profession as a life and executive coach, I like to contribute to diseminating everything which can enrich people’s lives. No wonder this music does!
We have lots of very exciting news to report – and I’ll begin with the most time sensitive.
Rachel is one of the top five finalists in the 2011 Ventura Music Festival Student Jazz Competition! You may recall she was a finalist last year as well and was awarded second place. This year the live competition is taking place THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON! Yes, we had very little notice on this! But if you can come out and cheer her on, we would love to see you there!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
3:00 PM LIVE COMPETITION
Laurel Theatre (Rubicon), 1006 East Main Street, Ventura 93001
Each of the five finalists will perform one song, backed up by the band Coda. The winner will be announced at the end of the concert. The top prize winner will receive a $5000 scholarship, and will have the opportunity to perform with Arturo Sandoval on February 12. Pretty great stuff!
They are requesting a $10 donation at the door, and all proceeds go toward the Ventura Music Festival Education Fund, so you would be supporting a worthy cause as well as supporting Rachel.
In case you would like to listen to it, the recording we used for Rachel’s entry this year is here:
****************
More exciting news – Rachel has been selected as a Semi-Finalist in the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards, in the Jazz Instrumental category. In a couple of weeks she will attend a Master Class with jazz pianist Alan Pasqua, chair of Jazz Studies at USC and a celebrated performer in his own right, to help prepare for the semi-final auditions which will take place on February 26. The winners receive substantial scholarship awards, and will perform in a gala concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion! We will keep you informed as events unfold.
Rachel is very fortunate to have a fantastic rhythm section for the Spotlight auditions in Paul Tavenner on drums and Dr. Matt Van Benschoten on bass. The two pieces she performed with Paul and Dr. Matt for her live audition were Dolphin Dance and Captain Jon, both of which can be found on my youtube channel, but as solo piano performances. Hopefully soon you will hear her play these with back-up!
On top of all that, Rachel has several exciting flute auditions coming up through the Music Teachers Association of California. Rachel will be auditioning for VOCE (Voice, Orchestral instruments, Chamber groups, Ensembles), for Certificate of Merit Panels, and for the Young Artist Guild this year. I will be sending more information on these events soon, as the dates are coming up fast!
One thing is for sure – it’s never boring being Rachel Flowers!
Rachel also has a Twitter profile, which I’m still trying to figure out, but if you tweet, you can add her by searching Rachel Flowers, or LongLiveRachel. And if that doesn’t work, write to me and I’ll ask Michael!
****************
As always, we thank you for your interest in Rachel and her music!
Rachel Flowers is blind. She learnt to play piano by ear since she was two years old (presently she is 17). Then she started to teach flute herself when she was around 10, but soon her mom thought it would be wise for her to learn how to read music, that is, to be music literate. So, basically, Rachel learnt to play flute by using the Braille code. Amazingly, her dexterity on both piano and flute allows her to play them both at the same time. Rachel learnt a piece of music called “Ambidextranata” (”born ambidextrous”) written by flutist-composer-pianist Gary Schocker (www.garyschocker.com).
This is part of a conversation I had this morning with Rachel and Jeanie Flowers, her devoted mom. We were talking about the Braille code and “Ambidextranata”:
Jeanie Flowers, apart from being a mother and work full time, she is also an ethnomusicologist, song writer, singer & guitar player.
If you wish to watch Rachel playing “Ambidextranata”:
I believe in the greatness of human beings. No wonder Rachel & Jeanie are great!! And, of course, I don´t forget Gary Schocker!
The term “tartar”, coming from Latin, refers to the salts of tartaric acid such as bitartrate of potash (cream of tartar), which is a deposit left during fermentation, and also to that hardened dental plaque… However, there is a different ethymology of “tartar” apparently coming from the Mongols. They called themselves “Tata”. This term is the origin of word Tartary, that is, “the land of Tartars”.
The term “carcass” comes from the old French “charcois” meaning “trunk of a body, chest, carcass, skeleton”.
Why did I mention these two words? Just to explain the meaning of another word: “Tarkus”. Those who are experienced musicians will associate this term with the album released in 1971 by Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), the famous progressive rock band. Only a few people know the origin of this word. I didn’t even know about it until today when I decided to write on the topic.
If there is someone who knows the origin better than anybody else, this is William Neal, the painter who designed the cover of the famous album by ELP. You can read the story yourself on his web page http://www.williamneal.co.uk/.
Tarkus design by William Neal
“The name Tarkus has been open to all manner of misrepresentations, it is, however, an amalgamation of two terms. The first is found in the Bible at the second letter of Peter chapter 2 verse 4. A condition of deep spiritual debasement is mentioned called “Tartarus” (from Latin origin). The other is the term “Carcass” hence the name was painted in bones. Thus Tarkus essentially stood for the futility of war, a man made mess with symbols of mutated destruction. Tarkus went on to become a true progressive rock statement, in fact, the armadillo is still remembered by folk who never even bought the album!” William Neal
This was back 1971. Now, 40 years later, there is another young person who knows most of ELP works by heart (well, not only ELP, but also The Nice and Keith Emerson). I am talking about the absolutely amazing Rachel Flowers, a 17-year-old girl with an extraordinary musical talent. Here you are her performance of Tarkus, her tribute to Emerson, Lake & Palmer:
Yesterday was the first day of the year and I took my chance to send my wishes of serenity and bliss for all of you who are following me on this site. Today is the second day of this fabulous 2011 which hast just started full of great expectations for me. And I would like to take this opportunity to remind you, how important it is, what you believe in order to achieve your goals. Just today, my dear friend Jeanie Flowers has uploaded a live recording of her beautiful song “I believe”.
Remember: your accomplishments are directly related to what you believe you can achieve. What do you believe it will happen in 2011 in your life? What are you going to feel and do in order to achieve what you want?
Please, feel free to leave your comments. If you have found this article interesting, please share it with the rest of the world by using the button “Sharethis”, which you can find below on the left hand side.
Yesterday I attended the rehearsals of the Youth Orchestra “Allegro” Ciudad Lineal conducted by Victor Morales. Their presentation concert will take place today in Madrid at Auditorio Carmen Laforet. It was there that I happened to know about those anonimous stories of parents supporting their children in their muscial careers. That was the case of a father, for instance, who drives his 17 year old child to the music school twice a week 60 km away from their little village….
After the reahearsals, Victor Morales, the orchestra conductor, one of the trompetists, Alonso, and I, we went out for some “tapas” in Barrio de las Letras area, in Madrid. We shared interesting conversations on music and education. It was this way, that I happened to discover Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana’s music. And I would like to share this link with you:
If you wish to know a little bit more about Rafael Pascual-Vilaplana, please visit his web page: http://www.pascualvilaplana.com
The presentation concert of the Youth Orchestra “Allegro” Ciudad Lineal conducted by Victor Morales will take place next Tuesday, 28th December 2010 at 07:00 pm at Auditorio Carmen Laforet located on C/ Jazmín, 46, in Madrid (close to the Metro station “Pinar de Chamartín”). Free entrance until full capacity.
Vals Triste (J. Sibelius)
Pavana (G. Fauré)
La bella y la Bestia(A. Menkel)
Colores en el Viento (de Pocahobtas)
Aventuras de Cine (arm de Eduardo Costa)
Christmas Carol (A. Pochon)
Navidades Blancas (I. Berlin)
Noche de Paz ( H. Gruber)
Adeste Fideles. (Popular)
Victor Morales is pianist, choir & orchestra conductor. If you would like to follow him, please click on the following picture:
Today I would like to congratulate Rachel Flowers for all the efforts she made to achieve one of her dreams: to win the Ventura Music Festival Jazz Student Competition 2011. Rachel is a musical prodigy, but there is a lot of hard work and dedication to music behind every performance of hers. Very early this morning, I had the opportunity to talk to her and congratulate her for her great accomplishment:
Just a couple of weeks ago, one of Günter Raphael’s granddaughters surprised me with a really nice present: a CD with symphonies by German composer Günter Raphael (1903-1960). I had never heard of him before. Raphael died in 1960, forgotten by most people. I was surprised twice, namely: I got to know about a new composer for me and I also found out that Gabriela Pieschacón Raphael 
Hello Friends and Fans of Rachel Flowers!
