When you think of a band or symphony, the flute probably isn’t the first instrument you would think of.The CWU flute choir is trying to change that.

In 1984, Dr. Hal Ott began directing the CWU Flute Choir and has been directing ever since. Ott is the flute professor at CWU and in his free time he also performs with the Yakima Symphony. He teaches several flute classes and lessons to students that are ready to improve their skills. When Ott first started as a professor there were only four flute majors and through the years that number has grown to 21.

The choir is a small chamber choir, which means that there are only a handful of students that perform. There are sixteen performers in the choir. Most of the students have only one part to play in the piece. Having a small choir helps students gain better knowledge of the pieces, and since the students solo throughout the pieces they don’t have anyone to rely on if anything goes wrong.

“The flute choir has provided students with a lot of growth. The students come together through the common language of music and share music that the students have created,” Ott said.

The flute choir has most of their performances on campus, but they take trips throughout Washington to perform.  According to Ott, two years ago they performed at the Capitol Rotunda. There were about 700 people in attendance and the students performed with the famous Los Angeles composer Maria Newman.

“It was a fantastic experience to be able to perform at the Capitol Rotunda in Olympia. It was a beautiful building and the quality of the acoustics made the flute choir sound even more beautiful. We played for a renowned musician and composer, Maria Newman,” said music performance major Amanda Felipe.

Jack Pritchard, a junior flute performance major, started with flute choir his freshman year at CWU and has participated every quarter since. Because the class relates to his degree, he continues to take it even though he doesn’t need the credits. His favorite piece is ‘A Gaelic Offering’ by Catherine McMichael.

“The best part of being in the flute choir is that it allows me to grow as a musician in a smaller group setting. In the larger ensembles, such as any of our wind bands, it’s harder to learn how to play the flute better because there are so many musicians playing that it’s difficult to pick out the impact of just my sound,” Pritchard said.

Willow Larson is double majoring in Music Education and Flute Performance. This is Larsen’s fifth quarter in flute choir. The flute choir holds class every fall and winter quarter and perform concerts at the end of both quarters.

“We have the opportunity to perform using all of the flutes. The instrument that most people think of as a flute is a C Flute. In the choir, we perform with piccolos, alto, bass, and contrabass flutes. It’s really fun to have the opportunity to play all of the different flutes,” said Larson.

Some of the pieces that the choir will be performing are  “Black is the Color of my True Love’s Hair” by Ricky Lombardo and “Chorale and Celebration” by Maria Newman.

“I feel privileged to make music everyday and teach something that I love. Music is an agent that brings people together and that’s something spectacular,” Ott said.