Yesterday was a gorgeous day, one of the first 80 degree, sunny days we’ve had in Nashville this year (believe me—it will not be the last!) It would have been a perfect day to spend in the garden, or taking a walk, or visiting one of the many parks in my city. What was I doing? Adjudicating solo and ensemble from 8 to 4! It was an amazing experience, even for someone who has done rather a lot of that kind of work, because it’s been three years since we were last able to host the event. Think about it—no student younger than ninth grade had ever participated before yesterday. Even more amazing to me was the fact that I heard almost entirely good, competent, even lovely and expressive performances. Music is alive in our schools, and there are still kids who want to play, despite the hardships of the past couple of years.

This month’s Flute Examiner features an interview between Kelly and Shanna Pranaitis, a fascinating visionary in the world of contemporary music for low flutes. And that’s not even the tip of the iceberg of her varied interests! Keith writes a sanity-saving guide to participating in online flute forums and Kelly shares an article on the importance of taking a step back to see our physical health more clearly. Finally, we have two submissions from our collaboration with New York Women Composers this month. Our featured composition is Marilyn Bliss’ Murali for solo flute. Marilyn is a founder of NYWC and she has been instrumental in our partnership. Along with her piece, we’re sharing an article written by Simon Berry about a new anthology, Flute Music of New York, that will feature several of the composers we have introduced to Flute Examiner readers over the course of our collaboration. We are also so happy to provide a link to an updated version of one of the works we’ve shared, Elizabeth Austin’s Sonata. This music is living music, still evolving and sometimes changing. Isn’t it exciting!

Luckily for me, today is a beautiful day, too—a perfect springtime Sunday afternoon. Let me wrap up this note so that I can go outside and soak it up. Wherever you are, I hope that it’s a beautiful day for you, too!

—Jessica Dunnavant, Editor

	Anthology: 9 Pieces for Flute Alone from the New York Women Composers, Inc. The Flute Examiner’s collaboration with New York Women Composers Inc., featuring flute works of NYWC members (including free PDF perusal copies) has so…
	Shanna Pranaitis - a Radically Traditional Flutist When did you know that flute was THE instrument for you? What has your education as a flutist been like? When I was…
	Can’t See The Forest for The Trees As musicians, we sometimes become so focused on details that we fail to honor the overarching shape of a phrase or the entire…
	“Murali” for solo flute by Marilyn Bliss When asked by Nina Assimakopoulos to write a short piece for flute inspired by literature, my attention turned to the many depictions of…
	Arm-Chair Experts and Filtering Forum Content We are bombarded daily with social media presence. This is both a blessing and a curse in so many different ways. One thing…