(pastoral orchestral music) ♪♪ - Woman 1: Jean-Pierre Rampal is the most famous flutist, probably-—maybe-- that has ever lived, but especially of this century.

He is an icon in the flute world.

He's one of the reasons that the flute is so popular.

- Woman 2: Oh, I used to have records of him when I was little, and I've just totally admired his playing for years.

- Woman 3: He's awesome.

I mean, there's no other word to describe him because his playing is influencing.

- Woman 4: He's the first flutist, really in this century, to be fairly well known as a soloist.

Not just as a teacher or as an orchestral flutist, but as a soloist.

Things that he's done to promote this instrument we can all be grateful to him for because he's the reason that we have these kinds of opportunities.

- Woman 5: He's an inspiration to us all.

- Jean-Pierre Rampal: I know that to a lot of people, they like me, but I don't know why.

What I know because I'm not so bad, you know.

Otherwise they would not like me.

But why they prefer me to another people?

That is a purely, purely subjective, you know, purely subjective.

And it does no indifference with anything, you know.

(pastoral flute solo) Most of the time, I don'’t like the flute.

When it is not very well played, it's horrible.

Every instrument is horrible when she is not fantastically played.

(song ends) - Narrator: French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal has come to Mississippi to teach a master class for America's top flutists.

He'll also perform two concerts.

- Everything is different.

With this trio, you know, with Claudia Imani, I'’ve played with him since about four or five years.

He was a student of mine, and this John, I play since 25 years.

We have such a connection together that it's like if one man do the same music.

(fast-paced flute duet) ♪♪ (applause) - Music has to be perfect.

Otherwise you should play for yourself in your room.

That'’s all.

Like concert for amateur, you know, and it's nice.

But there is too much professional musicians-- I don't speak about flute, you know.

Too many professional musicians are not that good.

(slow plaintive classical music) ♪♪ - Dr. Adah Toland Mosello, Southwest Texas State University: He can play a phrase.

It'll be maybe just four notes at the beginning of a piece that just sound like some angel just touched his flute.

And it just comes floating out of the instrument.

There are very few people that can do that, that touch my heart like that.

- Narrator: Dr. Adah Toland Mosello was one of Rampal 's master class students when she was 20.

Her memories of that magical summer in Nice are bittersweet.

- He walked into the room and, as anyone knows who is a flutist, this is like seeing the icon of the flute world walk into the room.

And I was 20 at the time, so I was a little bit nervous and I didn't realize we were actually going to have to audition once we got there.

So I was very frightened that I would not make it into his class.

And I played two movements, about four measures of two different movements of the Bach Major Flute Sonata.

I can remember him, the very first thing that just put me completely at ease is he said, "“I can tell that you study with Mr. Mariano"”.

And I was like oh, I guess that's a good thing, so.

He said, "“Yes, I can tell because you have such a beautiful tone"”.

And from then on, I thought, okay, I'm all right now.

And that class, there were about 30 or 35 of us in his master class in Nice.

We met every day of the week, 7 hours a day, seven days a week.

Then we would go out at night and eat pizza and have wonderful, what we called Frez Melba and all these wonderful desserts.

And he would go with us and just buy wine for everyone.

And so we got to know him.

It was such a wonderful thing to be in his class all day long and then go out and eat pizza every night down by the Riviera.

It's quite a spectacular situation and I was scared to death.

Here I was in France playing for like the famous Jean-Pierre Rampal.

He kept saying, "“Tu est timide"”, which means "“you are timid"”.

So the last time I ever played for him in 1978, I played the Reineke Sonata.

The last movement is just all guts.

In fact, parts of it say "“Con Fuoco"” which means "“with fire"” and I just went for broke, and I probably over blew every other note, you know.

But I thought, okay, I'm not going to hear this comment this time.

And the look on his face was like total surprise.

And he just kind of let me go.

And he kept walking around the stand.

He'’d come on this side and go around the other side.

And I just kept belting it out, you know, putting in everything I could.

And I finished and I was exhausted.

And he just said, "“Oh, tu joue belle le Reineke"”, which means "“You played well the Reineke Sonata"”.

And I was, okay, I'm in seventh heaven now.

And I think that kind of won him over, that he had finally gotten to me so that I would come out of my shell.

- If you want to play well, you have to be more stronger than your technique.

You know, you have to fly above your technique.

Then you are free and you can express everything you want.

That is difficult.

It doesn't happen often.

But sometime in your life you can say, oh, today, you know, I think I did it.

I did play very well.

I forgot the instrument.

If you forget the instrument, it's a good sign.

If you have going to have a problem with that, so many forget it.

Thank you.

- Narrator: Rampal now prepares for his master class at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Four students have been selected from a nationwide audition.

- Bravo.

I enjoy some time.

Some time I don't enjoy at all.

It is not my mistake, you know?

You know, if the students are good, it's fantastic.

It's a source of inspiration.

If the students are no good, you know, I'’ll not speak about that.

I think is the worst, the worst moment you can spend in your life.

But fortunately, now the level of performance is so high that most of the time, the people are very good and it's always a big, wonderful exchange of inspiration.

- Narrator: One of the students is Dr. Mosello's own student from Southwest Texas University, Zini Mont Meyer.

Another student is Dr. Judy Hand, professor of flute at McNeese State University in Louisiana.

- Dr. Judy Hand, McNeese State University: For me, it's a double opportunity.

It'’s an opportunity as a player to get feedback from this great world-class musician and an opportunity as a teacher to get ideas for my own students.

- Narrator: Hand realizes she selected a piece by a composer Rampal doesn't like.

- You'’re going to play?....

- Your favorite.

- My favorite?

(class laughs) - Many people told me many times, "“Why you didn't play so much Gaubert and Broussand?

"” And I say it'’s bad music, you know?

I'm not made, you know, to play bad music.

I try to play the best music I can.

- I knew he didn't like the Gaubert because he doesn't happen to think it's a great piece of music.

He said you have to bring the music out of it.

And I think that's true with a lot of very non-complicated pieces.

I think about folk songs and children's songs, lullabies.

What makes them beautiful is the way they're communicated.

- Only the Nocturne is good.

It'’s a good piece.

It's a good piece with guts.

But beside that... (flute and piano play nocturne) ♪♪ - He just kept saying he didn't like it, and that's okay.

You know, he still was able to help us with it and able to respond to the way we played it, and I respect that.

Because I have seen classes where someone just couldn't get past the fact that they didn't like the music.

Didn't really help the player that much because they were just so much against the music.

And everyone leaves that experience feeling negative.

And he didn't do that.

So that meant a lot.

(music continues) ♪♪ (song ends) - Bravo.

You have a beautiful sound.

(applause from class) - And I played the entire C.P.E.

Bach Sonata, the Hamburger Sonata, and he was very happy to hear me play that.

I'm glad I picked Bach because he was wanting some Bach.

But I wanted to play that for him because I knew he would have great ideas about how to get that across.

- This Sonata by C.P.E.

Bach has been written in 1786.

You can imagine?

1786 means that it was written just after Figaro.

You know, this is a very rare example of somebody, a wonderful composer, wonderful composer, wonderful composer, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who was just-- As a refugee in Hamburg.

He died in Hamburg, and even he was not connected with the other world.

It's a beautiful piece.

I love this piece.

Allez.

(piano and flute play bright tune) ♪♪ Listen, you have a beautiful sound.

But this allegretto... - Too slow?

- Of course it'’s too slow .

(playing same song faster) ♪♪ Just like that, you know?

It's a first movement.

It's a first movement.

Otherwise, you ruin the whole thing, you know?

It'’s full of life.

(singing a phrase) - He has incredible technique and incredible articulation and great speed.

And he can play things a lot faster than the rest of us can.

And so sometimes I have to tell my students, now, this is Rampal.

He goes fast.

You don't have to go that fast, but you have to communicate the spirit of the piece and you have to get a certain amount of energy out of it, even if you're not going fast.

But he does have such facility and such control over that, and I want them to hear that and be inspired by it.

(playing a complicated phrase) ♪♪ (playing the same phrase) ♪♪ - Open!

(music continues) - (French) (imitating phrase) (imitating phrase again) (music playing) Voila.

Speaks much better.

- That's what's so wonderful about music is that you can communicate ideas without having to use words.

And he sang a lot.

Or he would just stop and say no and sing something.

And then you knew what he wanted.

♪♪ - Brilliant.

♪♪ - He wanted it to be great, and he helped us take that next step and get to that next level of, really, excitement and communicating something that would be very effective for the listener instead of just playing a lot of right notes.

♪♪ - Open to arrive.

You arrive in B-flat.

(music continues) - Bravo.

(applause from class) Bravo.

That is a difficult piece.

A very difficult piece.

From breath in to (indiscernible) Thank you.

- He was positive and he was complimentary.

And he said he liked my sound.

He called it fleshy, which I had never heard before.

I asked him what he meant by that, and he just meant, you know, full-bodied, lots of meat on it.

So I like that.

And I'll treasure that comment.

- First sound.

The sound.

If you have not a good sonority, forget it.

It's like if you want to be a great singer, you have not a good voice.

The quality of voice is very important.

A great deal of sound is very important.

Then you must have everything.

You must have the technique above the technique, you know.

- Narrator: Back at McNeese State, Hand'’s student Kristi Conrad practices the Bach Sonata.

(playing sonata) - Yeah you did-- you do the same thing I do.

And he got me for it.

And I really like what he did with it.

These three Gs were kind of dead.

And then I gave the downbeat.

G was just great, but they didn't lead there very well.

So he stopped and sang it.

You know, he got me to put more energy behind those two to think, going here, get me over the bar line with those three Gs in a row.

(plays sonata) Enjoy these.

Good.

(music continues) That'’s it.

Then sweeter.

That means a lot to me, to know that my students respect the way I play and know that I can hold my own.

And that if I go and play for some world-class player like that, that there will be something positive to say about it.

So they're sort of excited that it was positive and that he had some nice compliments and that other people had nice compliments.

That means that their teacher knows what she's doing.

So that was good.

- Hah!

Hello!

But what about you?

- Narrator: As the master class resumes, Rampal recognizes his former student in the audience.

He hasn't seen Mosello in years and has no idea why she's here.

But as his next student plays, Rampal will quickly recognize the impact of his lessons 20 years ago.

- Gratefully, this time will be for Zynahia Montemayor.

- Zynahia Montemayor, Southwest Texas state University: I'm probably going to blank out up there.

Just being next to this man.

It's just amazing.

I'm just kind of in shock right now.

- Hi.

You want to start with what?

- But when she got up to play, I must tell her now, that I was... my palms were sweaty, my lip was shaking.

Every time she took a breath, I was taking it with her.

(playing) - The way he looked at me, you know, he just looked at me like this twinkle in his eye that nobody's ever looked at me that way.

It was so neat.

- As soon as he kind of turned to her with that twinkle in his eye and that smile on his face, I thought, okay, she's in, you know.

This will be fine.

And she handled it like a pro.

And I got to say, I was extremely proud.

(playing) - I started playing, and I played a few notes, and he turned to my teacher and asked her if I was her student.

And that kind of, right when he said that, I had played about four or five notes.

And then he turned to her and said, "“Is she your student?

"” And she said, "“Yeah"”.

And he said, "“Oh, beautiful, beautiful sound"”.

- Etudie?

D'’accord.

She has a beautiful sound.

Beautiful sound.

- After he said, "“Are you her student or is she your student?

"” I felt, oh, my God, I have to you know, he's going to know.

He knows that I'm her student, so I need to play well.

And plus, it was also for me.

I needed to do something good.

I needed to play well that day.

(playing) I felt like he really liked the way I played.

He connected to what I was trying to do and gave me more feedback like this is good, but this is better, you know?

(playing) - Okay.

Your double is a little weak, you know.

It's a little.

(demonstrates) It should be more.

Did you practice the scale on the second syllable?

- Where that one piece where he really got me.

The Moran Mouret.

He had a lot more to say there.

And that's one of my pieces I played in my senior recital.

And I think out of all of them, that was my most difficult.

And at first I thought, oh this is easy.

I can play this, you know.

But then when I started playing, it's so much harder to play, especially like the, for example, the theme at the beginning.

It's so simple, you know.

It's three or four notes over and over again.

It's so difficult to play in tune correctly with a good tone, the right style.

I mean, the whole thing is just-- it's difficult to do.

And that's one thing I really learned how to do a lot of things that I wasn't getting before.

(playing) - Double tonguing, huh?

Huh?

Huh?

That's it.

This is your mistake, huh?

- Yeah.

- You have to make a lot of improvement of all that.

Because you have a nice sound.

You have a fantastic sound in the low register.

It'’s very good even with this is terrible B foot joint.

Even with that.

- A lot of the things he was telling me were things that Dr. Mosello had told me before.

He is one on this, or he is one on that.

He's going to say this stuff, and he said it, like he gave a big ol'’ explanation on the B foot joint.

And Dr. Mosello had already told me that he does not like the B foot joint.

- There was one place, I got to say in the detail, where it's become a tradition in American flute playing.

There's one place where all American flutists at the end of the cadenza, take a breath.

And I knew he didn't like that.

I remembered that from 28 years ago.

And so I said, "“Whatever you do, don't breathe in that place before-—"“ And she didn't.

And he looked at me and he went like this and blew me this kiss across the room.

And of course, no one else knew what he was doing.

And of course, I knew right away.

(playing) - Keep.

Keep it down.

(playing) Go at tempo.

No rallintando.

(continues playing) Bravo.

(applause from class) Bravo.

(continued applause from class) - Oh, my God.

You know, it's the first time I hear in America somebody playing the good tradition of this is sonatine.

Most of the time, you stop here, you know?

It's so ugly, you know?

It'’s not like... (demonstrates) Completely idiotique.

- He smiled several times over at me and winked.

And then when she finished playing, he came over and spoke in French to me so that, you know, it wasn't to everyone else.

And I said, "“Well, how do you think she played?

"” He said, "“She has some problems with her tonguing, but in one week it will be better and she plays very well.

"” So I felt pretty convinced that he was happy with the result.

So it's great.

- Narrator: After class, Rampal meets Mosello's other students - Mes etudiants: Alisha, Jeanette, and Amy.

- Hello.

Ah, you didn't change.

- I didn't change?

I look the same?

- You didn't change.

- Narrator: Back in Texas.

Rampal's greatness will live on in these two generations of students.

(playing a duet) - Now our favorite.

The double-tonguing one is where he really stopped you cold.

And it was interesting because of all the things that you've always thought was your strongest point, and I've always thought was your strongest point, is the tonguing because you can single tongue so incredibly fast.

Now the problem is, is that because of that, you haven't worked maybe enough on double-tonguing.

But I think what happened at that particular moment, and this can happen in a master class, he only heard you for half an hour.

I've heard you for five years.

Is that you got what I call the "“zugga zuggas"” right there where the fingers and tongue just didn't quite get where you wanted them to get.

And you may have been a little tired by that time.

- And he said in the master class, "“I practiced when I was young.

Not right now.

"” Now is the time to do it.

I think that's one thing that's going to stick a lot, to do it now.

Now's the time.

- I hope that that will bring them a bit of the maximum of love for music.

This is the most important-- Love is the most important thing.

If you love music, and if the public.

The public, while listening to you they feel your love for music.

It's okay.

What can ask more?

(playing pastoral duet) ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ (song ends) (applause)