The next morning we visited Robert Bigio's workshop. He showed us how he makes flutes and piccolos by hand, demonstrated his tools and lathes, and explained that he lets the wood cure for ten years before crafting a flute from it. He let the girls play on his collection of rare and old flutes as he introduced them to the various key systems. Robert entertained them with his stories and jokes, and then ate lunch with us at a great Italian restaurant.

In the afternoon we went to the Theatre Museum, where we had a guided tour of the history of the theatre, followed by a make-up demonstration. The professional make-up artist chose Virginia out of the class of about twelve people, and amidst great laughter and kidding back and forth between him and my girls, turned her into a sea goddess with glittery green lips. Next we had a costume workshop where each of the girls who hadn't been made up tried on a costume: Heather became a cat with a tail, Rachel wore a pageboy's jacket, and Alison a romantic white ball gown. A special exhibit in the museum allowed visitors to manipulate puppets and life-size dolls via pulleys and magic boxes, which engrossed the girls for an hour.

In the evening, we went to the famous Church of St. Martin's-in-the-Field, where we attended a concert by candlelight. Martin Feinstein was to have played a Vivaldi Flute Concerto, but decided to play a sopranino recorder instead. The entire ensemble was excellent and the girls loved hearing familiar pieces like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and the Pachelbel Canon. After the concert we met Martin briefly.

In the morning, we took off for the home of Wissam Boustany for what the girls later said was the best masterclass they d ever had. The pianist, Richard Shaw, was superb, and each of my students played her piece by memory. For Rachel, playing by memory is an old skill, but this was the first time the other three had performed without music. They had worked for a long time to surprise Wissam, who greatly favors playing music by heart. He stretched them to play their pieces beautifully. "You've got to delight in every note as you're playing it," he told Heather. "If you're worried about the next note, you lose it." He showed Rachel how to build a bigger piece with phrasing and not just attend to the details within it. In addition, he told her, "Practice makes you good at practice. It doesn't make you good at concerts. To get good at concerts, you have to play concerts." He told Virginia that she has a terrific imagination, but admonished her not to get lost in it, and encouraged her to project more across time and space. He asked Alison to sing a passage and she courageously did, allowing Wissam to stretch her toward more expressive playing than she thought she could do. After the class, Wissam and his wife delighted the girls with a delicious cake and a glimpse of his new baby daughter.