Pender Island Flute Retreat
​      Telling Stories in Sound                                 
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    • William Bennett
    • Lorna McGhee
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    • The Impeccable flutist by Nandin Baker
    • John Stutton- Reflections
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Reflections from PIFR 2016 - John Sutton, Performer

I want to record some of the more important things I feel I have received during PIFR 2016.

Firstly, I am leaving Pender Island with a heart that is more open and happier. I am so grateful for this change, and hope that I can continue to choose to pursue more freedom and joy once I return home.

I have played for William Bennett. I have caught some of his passion, sat and talked flutes, and pulled open the simplest of phrases with persistent intensity. It has been wild, funny, bewildering and surreal. I also might need a new headjoint $$$$…

I have sniffed the essence of the transformation that Alexander Technique could bring to my playing. I will definitely be seeking out AT sessions when I get home. Gaby, I promise I will keep working, working, working towards less effort!

I have drunk in a lot of Lorna’s gentle poetic wisdom. Some of it has stuck, the rest of it has been scribbled frantically across page after page of notes. I will be returning to these many beautiful phrases many times in the coming months.

I have met so many wonderful people, all with a passion not for personal recognition and gain, but for learning how to communicate through sound a little better each day. Humility has possibly never been said in a sentence with flute before, but I think I can use it with absolute truth about my experiences at PIFR.
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Thank you Pender Island Flute Retreat 2016!!!


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