NJYS Ensemble Feature: Flutes, Flutes, and More Flutes!

by Kristine Peters, Education Coordinator
Wharton Music Center

In addition to being Artistic Coordinator for the New Jersey Youth Symphony and the Director of the Orchestral Camp, Diana Charos Reilly is a flute instructor with a very large following. She is the loving owner of two dogs, Jack and Jeter, and a lizard named Thor. An alumni of NJYS herself and an ensemble director for just over a decade, Diana is always bringing the love and joy of music to the forefront.

Why do you like working with flute ensembles?
I find it a challenge working with a large group consisting of the same instrument. It’s an incredible challenge in regards to tuning, timbre and getting the kids excited about playing together like a symphony orchestra. We do have the benefits of having a bass flute, alto flute, and piccolo, and hopefully one day the contra-bass flute, too.

I enjoy working with these ensembles immensely. It becomes a chamber-music-slash-orchestral rehearsal because I’m able to help them with anything. I also like the challenge of discovering new music--oftentimes I will take older orchestral music and arrange it for flute ensemble, but flute choirs are becoming a fad recently, so there’s a lot of new works written specifically for flute ensembles as well.

It’s fun getting the students to love being in a flute orchestra, mainly beecause there has been a mindset for so long that you always want to end up in an orchestra. But now I’m getting a lot of flutists who want to join in sixth grade and never want to leave the flute ensemble until they graduate and go off to college. I’m always considering how to change it up for them--putting them on alto, bass, piccolo.

Why are the flute orchestras — Flute Choir, Flute Forum and Fortissimo Flutes—important to NJYS?

All sections of the orchestra perform at a very high level here at NJYS, but the woodwinds in particular have a distinctly elitist nature because of the demands of orchestral wind playing. Having a large flute population allows NJYS to truly get the best player for the ensemble.

Flute Choir, Flute Forum, and Fortissimo Flutes perform at NJPAC

What musical skills are you building?

Quite often with flute, as with violin, we’re accustomed to being the solo melodic line.  When you are then put in a room with 26 other flutes, the skills of blending, communicating, ensemble playing, bodily energy, moving and playing as one is what I am trying to teach them. It truly embodies teamwork. I want them to see that every link is just as important as the other, no matter what the age or the level of the player.

I’m also trying to show them how to play off of each other and act as a single unit so that could perform without a conductor, if ever need be. They could pull off a concert independently--no easy feat.

Finally, I am teaching them to respect each other. Respect in that rehearsal is not the place for practicing. Practice takes place at home, and the rehearsal is a collective experiences. 

What non-musical skills are you building?

I would say the most important take away from participating in the flute ensembles at NJYS is respect for all. I keep coming back to that word, but I really do think it is important in all facets of life.

This is especially challenging in the youngest ensemble, Flute Choir, and the oldest ensemble, Fortissimo Flutes. In Flute Choir, there’s a wide range of ages, from sixth to ninth grade. So I’m always asking the ninth graders to have the same amount of respect and understanding for the sixth graders as the sixth graders have for the ninths graders. I’m asking them to work together and help each other from within.

In the elite ensemble, Fortissimo Flutes, they are all rock stars. They’re not only the best in their school, but quite often the state—ranking in Regions and All-State. They each want to be the best of the best. So it’s fostering an environment that encourages respect for each other and the importance of community--no one exists in a vacuum.

What kinds of ways do the students surprise you?

One of the biggest surprises I received this year had to do with my studio space. My students often see getting ready for rehearsals, running around looking for music. My music has become what some might call disorganized because it’s all over the place. One day I walked in and my students had alphabetized all of my scores and put the photocopies with the originals. So I had completely organized and well-placed music. Their note to me said, “You might have been able to take it, but we couldn’t any more. Surprise!” It was such a kind and thoughtful thing for them to do. 

What is the repertoire for your upcoming concert in January?

We will be repeating the material from NJPAC, but with the youngest group, we added Pachelbel's Canon in D with hopefully hand bells and harp, and a piece called Swingin’ Safari, a jazzy tune. Flute Forum will perform a piece by a Japanese composer, Songs of the Ocean. Fortissimo Flutes will perform a piece from the Paris Conservatoire called Ski Symphony by Faustin Jeanjean. It’s a very challenging technical piece with a lot of runs--needless to say, it requires a lot of practice. I seized the opportunity of the high they got from performing at NJPAC for NJYS's 35th Anniversary concert in November to challenge them with harder music. 

Why is arts education important?

Students of music and the other performing arts have a responsibility to go out into the community and perform for audiences of all types. It’s also important to know what’s going on artistically within their own state. As our organization is becoming one of the most prestigious in the Garden State, we have to own the opportunity we have to bring eager young musicians to underserved venues like hospitals and nursing homes. And the NJYS flute ensembles really want to bring their gift of music back to the people.

Flute Choir, for grades 6-9, meets on Mondays from 5:15-6:45 p.m. Flute Forum, for grades 9-12, meets on Mondays at 6:45-8:00 p.m. Fortissimo Flutes, for grades 10-12, meets on Thursdays at 8:00-9:15 p.m. All rehearsals take place at 570 Central Avenue in New Providence. To inquire about auditioning for an NJYS flute ensemble, please call 908-771-5544 or visit www.NJYS.org.

Flute Forum and Fortissimo Flutes will perform on January 18 at 3:00 p.m. and Flute Choir will perform on January 25 at 3:00 p.m. Both performances take place at the Union County Performing Arts Center at 1601 Irving Street in Rahway. Tickets are $15/Adults, $10/Students & Seniors, available by calling 908-771-5544.