and I play solo piccolo and flute

with the New York Philharmonic.

My job is to play piccolo when there are

piccolo solos. Most piccolo solos are

written from Beethoven on.

Before Beethoven there really weren't,

the piccolo wasn't used much in symphony orchestras.

Sometimes I play third flute and piccolo

depending on the orchestration.

Sometimes I'll play second flute and piccolo, like

in "Mother Goose" Suite, and sometimes I'll

play first flute and piccolo according

to whatever the composer's written.

The piccolo is an instrument you can

hear above the whole Orchestra, so

everybody can be playing, the brass and

percussion, and you can still hear the

piccolo. It really does project.

A lot of times, when you're a piccolo player

patience is a really good quality,

because we sometimes sit and don't play

for a while, and then the first entrance

we play as a solo. So Tchaikovsky Fourth

is like that. I sit for 30 minutes,

and I don't play anything, and then the

first thing that I come in on is a

very exposed —

well it's a tutti passage and then a few

measures later the famous piccolo solo.

I like to make things, so I like to sew,

I like to knit. I also like the outdoors, so

I like hiking, I like being outdoors.

I do get called — a few times a year,

usually — to play some outside jobs,

mostly movies. So I've done — over the

decades I've done a lot of movies, a lot

of things, blockbuster hits. And that's a

really fun thing to do and to be

challenged in a different way than the Orchestra.

One of the big ones I did was

"Julie & Julia," and

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "Moonrise Kingdom,"

and a long time ago I did "The

Untouchables" and "The Cotton Club."

I must say when I go see the movies that I've

recorded I usually think, "I can't hear

myself — the dialogue is too loud."

I've had so many great experiences.

I remember Zubin, I came into the Orchestra

with Zubin Mehta and I remember playing

"Rite of Spring" with him. That was just a great

piece for him, and then going to North Korea

with Lorin Maazel, and playing some

of the Ravel music with Maazel, like

the "L'enfant et les sortileges" and

complete "Daphnis and Chloe" with Maazel.

I've been in the Orchestra now I think

this is my 38th season. Over the years

I've gotten to play in small ensembles

and big ensembles with my colleagues, and

you really get to know your colleagues,

and it's such a special experience to

play with them and to make music

together and to develop friendships

through our music, and I think that's why

I went into music in the first place.

When I was in high school it was the

same feeling, that I was making music

with my friends, and that was a very,

it was just such an emotional experience

to play great music and to be sensitive

to the people around you.