Q&A: Lecturer, flute instructor discusses career, upcoming performance

Aside from his 42-year-long teaching career at UCLA, Sheridon Stokes published two books on flute technique and has recorded studio music for “Mission Impossible,” “Star Trek” and “Family Guy.”

Before he performs in the orchestra for the Academy Awards on Feb. 22, Stokes, a senior lecturer in the Herb Alpert School of Music, along with a number of other faculty and students, will play in the ninth annual “It’s a Woodwind World IX” concert Thursday evening in the Jan Popper Theater at 8 p.m.

The Daily Bruin’s Kelsey Rocha met with Stokes to discuss his career and “It’s a Woodwind World IX.”

Daily Bruin: What is the benefit of professionally performing studio, contemporary concert and classical concert music?

Sheridon Stokes: By performing each one, it makes the next piece better. Understanding how to play contemporary pieces teaches you how to perform a classical piece better, and playing classical makes recording studio music sound better. I could go from playing a really experimental modern piece one day to recording “Star Trek” the next.

DB: Why did you turn to teaching if you had so much going on in your studio and performing career?

SS: I was doing a lot of studio work, but it wasn’t really fulfilling, so I had to find something else. At one point in my life I was pretty sure I was going to be an engineer, but something about music kept pulling me back in, but I wanted to try to explain the thing I loved from a technical standpoint. I wanted to approach it creatively, so I wrote two books about the flute. Then I saw UCLA advertising for a professor, and I already knew a lot of the professors in the department, so I applied and here I am after 42 years.

DB: How is a student-faculty concert a different experience from just a student concert?

SS: This concert is a good experience because as the flute professor, I don’t necessarily meet a lot of students aside from the flute students, so it’s a good opportunity for that. Also, performing with my professors has been how I’ve learned the most. Now as a professor, we learn from each other and it’s really great to engage in the creative process with them.

DB: What’s the key to teaching your students to connect with a piece?

SS: I like to make everything very visual for my students, so I’ll have them play a piece, and it’ll be fine. Then I’ll tell them to imagine they are walking through the woods or going to a party with their girlfriend or boyfriend, and suddenly the music comes alive. Even though I didn’t give them any technical instruction, the piece will sound completely different.

DB: How long have you been rehearsing for “It’s a Woodwind World IX”?

SS: We played the music for it together for the first time a few weeks ago, and from there we decide how many more rehearsals we need to do. But the trick is being very present and aware of each note you play at that given moment. … Professor Gary Gray, who’s performing too, he and I are old friends and we were in a concert together that we had never rehearsed for. We basically got on stage and sight-read the piece, and it sounded great because it was so spontaneous and fresh.

DB: What should an audience member expect to hear at the concert?

SS: There are six pieces from (Madeleine) Dring, (Charles) Gounod, (Jacques) Ibert, (Aram) Khachaturian, (Walter) Piston and (Sergei) Prokofiev. The first one is pretty standard, it’s a good starter piece because it isn’t too heavy, and later we’ve got a woodwind quintet. I’m playing on the Piston piece which is fun because there’s a little improvisation in that for me.

DB: “It’s a Woodwind World IX” is primarily a classical concert. Would this be a good concert for a novice classical listener to attend?

SS: Yes. It’s about two hours, but it should be really listenable and fun. … The important thing about performing is that you always perform fresh, and the music should sound very spontaneous. I hope it resonates with listeners emotionally.

Compiled by Kelsey Rocha, A&E reporter.