For a tour of the layout of this web site, hover your mouse pointer over each of the menu items to your left. You will find that I've added a lot of new features, including teaching materials, downloads, events calendars, and much more.
Interested in hearing about my non-standard career path? Discouraged by poverty and a lack of opportunities? Are you determined to "follow your dream?"
My life story is a bit of a cautionary tale that might interest you.
In this version, I have provided some recent updates. When I originally wrote my little bio, things were looking positive. Has all that changed? Well, have a look, and judge for yourself.
From time to time I've written articles about various aspects of playing and studying the flute, inspired by my teaching and my practice. Here is where you can browse through and download them.
The Downloads section is much expanded from previous versions of the site.
I'm offering Audio Files of some of my performances, Articles, Presentations and other things (like my brochure), and you can also find Music Files, with things like the ever-popular Galway Tone Study, and so on.
All of the downloads are free.
I'm excited about this new feature. Rather than concentrating only on my own concert and appearance schedule (such as it is), I would like to offer the resources of my web site to flutists and flute organizations in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area: write to me about what you're doing, wherever it is, and I'll add it to my flute events calendar for all to see.
It's not my intention to develop this web site into a portal of some kind - the Web equivalent of a convention center, lots of rooms, hallways, and the like. No, I prefer that a web site be about content.
However, a myriad of good web sites are out there, and some of them aren't well known. Whenever I find a web site with solid content that serves an important need in the flute community, I'll add it to my links.
The list is changing all of the time, so check back now and again to see if anything new has popped up.
The What's New? section will reflect any changes of that sort.
The Lessons section is an information resource for my private and university students (or potential students).
Here you'll find:
- information about my teaching philosophy,
- information about distance learning possibilities I offer through my "virtual studio,"
- a copy of my studio policies document,
- a copy of the latest syllabus for my students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and
- a direct link to the Music for Study section of my music catalog.
The biggest new feature of my web site is the addition of a complete catalog of my published music. You can:
- browse through it by instrumentation,
- read detailed descriptions,
- look at sample pages of every piece,
- listen to recordings of excerpts from nearly every piece,
- and link to a web page where you can purchase it (this includes Falls House Press and my own Online Store)
In addition, look at the right-hand column of every page. What you see is a listing of four of my most recently published pieces. You can link directly to the product page that describes each in detail.
My online store is hosted by Lulu.com.
Scores and parts for everything published by ZalmanStudios.com is available for purchase there.
I've kept a personal journal through most of my adult life. It's been a source of ongoing insight, as well as amusement (I did what?).
As musicians, practice takes up a significant portion of our time, as well as a lot of our thoughts and aspirations.So, why keep a practice journal?
I have long encouraged my students to keep a practice diary or log of their practice time, what they are working on, what difficulties - and successes - they are having.
I am a strong believer in doing what I teach, so here is my practice journal for you to read and comment on.
My mind tends to wander, though, and sometimes thoughts and inspirations (not to mention rants) of various sorts will surface from time to time. Hopefully these thoughts will be mostly flute related, but then, a writer is his own worst editor...
An RSS feed is available for you to link to, in case you find that you want to keep abreast of the latest entries as they happen.
I've long had a desire to share what I've learned as a composer, teacher, computer software engineer, and web designer.
Working on this web site, a labor of love as it has been, has taught me a great deal about the kinds of things I enjoy doing, have some experience doing, and would enjoy offering as a service to our world. The Services section describes the range of services that I offer, which include:
- workshops, masterclasses, and performances
- music arranging
- music typesetting
- royalty free music for media creators (photographers, DVD authors, and so on)
- web and media design and programming (of which, naturally, this web site is a huge, but not isolated, example)
- on-demand publishing,and
- advertising layout and design.
The standard flute repertoire is vast, encompassing a wide range of styles. Becoming familiar with the most important works is a difficult task.
Not everyone studies in a conservatory, of course, and in our times the emphasis on the newest, most fashionable composers, as well as on contest repertoire, means that numbers of real gems out there are gathering dust.
A new tutorial presentation appears about every month or so, and consists of an introduction to an important, but possibly neglected, work from the standard repertoire.
In organization, these tutorials are similar to the “Unleash!” presentation, i.e., slides with audio.
As it seems appropriate, I will gather them together and issue CD versions of them from time to time, for those of you who want to peruse them offline.
As promised, here is an online version of my improvisation class. It contains about an hour's worth of audio, including dozens of improvised examples.
Be patient with the network, though. Sometimes the first audio clip takes a long time to load.
With that in mind, I've made a CD of the presentation available from my Online Store. The slides and notes are still available as free downloads as well.
Whenever I add something to the web site, or make any other kind of change, I'll add an entry to this list. When you make your next return visit, - stop here first to see what might pique your interest.
Don't forget to check out the latest additions to my music catalog, too, found in the right-hand column of every page.
