The NFA Blog

Complexity vs Simplicity…Solidarity and Choosing the Light

By: Cathy Collinge Herrera

 

Greetings to All from your International Liaison Chair!

Having just returned from two weeks of working and performing in Latin America, I am writing to offer a bit of perspective on our current multifaceted world. While it behooves us to understand complexities as best we can, stepping back and giving simplicity a place in our thoughts can be life-giving.

I imagine each of us has enjoyed the reality that, “music is the international language”, right? Picture yourselves in an orchestra, creating a heart-soaring rendition of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe. You’ve never had a conversation with the 3rd chair viola player… but you are connected through the language of music. You may live on a farm and love beef, and the viola player may live in a city apartment and be vegan, but there is a solidarity, a unified effort to reach the audience’s hearts with each note and phrase. With that concept in mind, I share the following reflections…

I would like to invite you to take a moment to ponder, or read aloud our NFA Vision:

“Inspiring flutists, enriching lives, and uniting the world through music.”

 And our NFA Mission Statement:

“To nurture and support an inclusive and thriving global flute community.”

Pretty simple, straightforward, and filled with hope.

When our NFA founder, Mark Thomas joined forces with 10 vibrant members of the flute world to form our organization and initiate the beauty of gathering to share our experience, inspirations and insights, aka our NFA conventions, he created a beacon of light for many generations.  It was a simple idea that soon embraced flutists around the globe…

During the decade following NFA’s founding I was fresh out of M.M. studies with Robert Cole (one of those 10 who joined Mark) and found myself launching my career with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Peru, sponsored by the U.S. Fulbright Foundation. Mark’s example, along with my subsequent conversations with him, served as encouragement to develop an additional adventure of gathering flutists in Latin America and creating the opportunity to share our experience, inspirations and insights with one another as well as with flutists from other countries outside Latin America. One thing led to another, and the Latin American flute festival scene was born.

Again, a simple idea, but serving as an organizer I learned it was also complicated; there was a plethora of challenges. For starters, there was international embassy support to be garnered for visiting flutists, and at that time in Peru there was a 400% (!) importation tax applied to many products, including musical instruments and music. Creativity and generosity were the names of the game to make the positive impact we hoped for.

As the Peruvian festival idea took off, U.S. flutists who learned of the project from my articles in Mark’s “Flute Forum” newspaper donated flutes and accessories to aid aspiring students working with less-than-ideal instruments. That inaugural NFA beacon of light served as an inspiration, and sparks from that light have flown throughout Latin America ever since.

The point I’d like for you to focus on is that with those hefty taxes, a country’s government was in a position to color life in a certain way, making artistic advancement and exchange for flutists there fraught with obstacles. But the Peruvian flutists and I clung to a simple idea and worked around the complexities and challenges as best we could, because of our common goal. Fast forward a few decades: importation taxes in Peru are currently 0%-18% last I checked, and the Latin American flute festival scene in Peru and beyond is still going strong. The government has changed multiple times, but the festival’s existence didn’t.

Likewise, our National Flute Association has seen over 5 decades of varying governmental leadership; throughout that time and variances in policies, our organization has maintained its integrity and we are still thriving, focused on our common goal. 

That said, while we are not a governmental entity, we are in a position to recognize and respect the views and concerns of our members in the NFA’s international community who may be affected by our current governmental policies. We are also called to continue to be creative, generous and supportive of one another, work around challenges, as well as be a source of strength for our collective vision and mission.

Our connection with the international flute community is a vital part of our existence as flutists. We embrace and are inspired by music brought to us from composers and performers around the globe. We share our own music with flutists on all continents. We overcome the barrier of language to have the opportunity to learn from masters of our art or to share with students in other lands.  Many of us perform on instruments crafted by the hands of foreigners, just as many foreigners are artists performing on instruments designed and created in our backyard. Now more than ever, the international language of music weaves us together in countless ways. Let us endeavor to remain steadfast in our unity and mutual support, creatively leaping hurdles that may present themselves.

Again, remember out Vision and Mission statements from before.

If we liken the NFA in the USA to a beautiful, strong tree, we would have:

The Roots: Mark Thomas our Founder and the 10 initial committee members, plus those who were part of the first convention.

The Trunk: Our Vision and Mission.

The Branches: (All of us!) the multitude of U.S. and international members, performers, teachers, students, aficionados, committees, officers, composers, flute makers, publishers, dealers, accessory inventors, ideas, projects…

The Leaves: the surrounding circumstances of daily life, such as varying governmental administrations that are seasonal, coming and going. Sometimes they offer the hope of spring or summer shade, other times temporary autumn beauty, or the stark emptiness and cold of winter.

But the roots, tree trunk and branches remain.

I encourage you all to identify your branch connected to our strong tree trunk, cling to that trunk and use your gifts of the “international language” to keep that light of solidarity burning that so many have lit before us, and if you come upon someone in our community struggling in a darker or colder place, share your light and creative solutions! While life is certainly complex, we can focus on simple, positive responses and remain unified.

Wishing you many beautiful melodies,



Cathy Collinge Herrera

NFA International Liaison Committee Chair, 2023-2027

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