Sarah Carrier
It look's like you don't have Adobe Flash Player installed. Get it now.
Shiver by Danielle Schwob
Sarah Carrier is a New York City based flutist and is originally from Southern California. She has played the flute for 17 years and has taught flute lessons for 10 years.
PERFORMING
As a performer, she is known for her playing of contemporary music in both a solo and chamber music context. Her primary group is Syzygy New Music Ensemble, a group hailed by Sequenza21 as "one of 2009's most promising groups." Together, the group has collaborated with artists such as Nico Muhly, Tristan Perich, and Jakub Ciupinski and has appeared on both television and radio. Sarah has also performed with the Electric Eel Multimedia Ensemble, Chelsea Symphony and will perform with Robert Dick at the 2011 New York Flute Club Flute Fair.
The New York Times has praised Sarah for combining "thoughtful musicality with virtuosity in her alternately energetic and delicate account of a flute line laden with light multiphonics and unusual timbres."
Sarah will have the honor of competing in the Gaudeamus International Interpreters Competition this April in Amsterdam. In the past years she has participated in the Institute and Festival for Contemporary Music at Mannes, the Ransom Wilson summer masterclass in Italy, and the Idyllwild Summer Music Festival. She was a winner of the National Flute Association Masterclass Competition in 2007, which resulted in a masterclass performance in a standing-room only crowd at the annual NFA Convention. Additional performances include tours in Great Britain with the Bob Cole Conservatory Wind Symphony, in Eastern Europe with the La Primavera Symphony Orchestra, and Australia for the 2000 Summer Olympics with the Irvine High School Band.
STUDIES
She earned her M.M. (Flute Performance) from New York University in 2009, B.M. (Flute Performance) from Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University, Long Beach in 2006, and will enter as a D.M.A. candidate at CUNY Graduate Center in Fall 2011. Her primary teachers are Robert Dick, Dr. John Barcellona, Mary Palchak, and her wonderful and compassionate first flute teacher, Jennifer Green Harkins.
Sarah Carrier performs on a Muramatsu flute, a Trevor James Masters Series alto flute, and a Burkart & Phelan piccolo.
TEACHING
As a teacher, Sarah has worked with students of all levels and ages. Her belief is that flutists, especially young flutists, should engage in flute lessons that deliver a strong foundation, are pedagogically sound, and enable students to learn the flute in uniquely creative ways. No two students are alike: some are given ample time to write their own music and explore new sounds on the flute, while others will have mostly traditional lessons with occassional attention to various contemporary techniques. All students will work with Sarah to improve technique, tone, and music reading skills.
Sarah has held faculty positions at Douglaston School of Music, Walnut Valley School District, and Irvine Art and Music. Additionally, she taught college courses to Music Education majors and non-music majors as a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon.
Her main influences as a teacher are John Barcellona (author of the "Flute Doctor" series in Flute Talk Magazine) and Robert Dick (author of the seminal work,The Other Flute).
Get Started with BML to set up a lesson with Sarah.
I would highly recommend Sarah as a private flute teacher. My nine-year-old daughter has attention difficulties and Sarah has been wonderfully patient with her - she has made remarkable progress in less than a year. Sarah emphasizes proper technique and learning (for example, with a new piece my daughter has a tendency to work on the fingerings and ignore the rhythms, and Sarah has encouraged her to focus on both at once) and breathing. Beyond actual lesson instruction time, Sarah also gave us advice in purchasing our first flute, made musical flashcards for our daughter to study, and e-mailed us some videos of herself playing the book's musical pieces so we would know what they should sound like for our practice sessions. A very good teacher and a fine player herself!
- Elizabeth Griffith, mother of student
