Willow Glen Resident
News
Photograph by Vicki Thompson
Ann Licater with one of her flutes, from a collection that includes bamboo, clay and redwood flutes from different regions of the world. She will perform at the Center for Spiritual Living on Aug. 18.
Ann Licater's music is breath of fresh air
By Mayra Flores De Marcotte
The throaty sound inside the bamboo flute echoes throughout the room, off the walls and into the audience. As Ann Licater's fingers flutter on and off the holes of her prehistoric flute, her eyes are closed, her body swaying from side to side.
"Each flute has a different sound," says Licater, who lives in Campbell. "It's an instrument of the heart, and it takes you out of your head."
The vibrato shakes the audience members. Some close their eyes as she walks by with her wooden flute, while others gain a peaceful look on their face as they watch her play.
The flute has been part of Licater's life since she was 10 years old, and more than 30 years later is still a way for her to connect with the people around her.
An example of this connectivity happened during her concert travels.
She met another flute player in the busy Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. As he walked past her, she recognized the flute case and asked if he played. Bewildered, he asked how Licater knew it was a flute case.
"We took a look at one another's' flutes and began to play, right there in the middle of the airport," she says. "It was a peace within the chaos."
Back in California, Licater has found that same sense of peace at Willow Glen's Center for Spiritual Living.
"The center has given me such an opportunity," she says.
The flutist plays at the center about once a month. Along with her performances, she also teaches beginner workshops on how to play the Native American flute.
"In some way, the flute changes them," Licater says, "and that's what art is supposed to be all about."
Licater was schooled as a young child on the classical silver flute.
"I was the oldest in the family, so I had the first choice," she says.
Growing up, the sounds of jazz and hints of classical music would fill her every day. All her siblings played instruments as well.
Early on, Licater was drawn to an improvisational sound and found herself straying further and further from more traditional approaches.
By the time she reached graduate school, Licater was more comfortable letting her fingers and inner self capture her special sound.
"I really follow my intuition when I play," she says. "I play what I am feeling."
She began to trust her judgment and let go of the traditional sounds in music.
"The flute has been teaching me," she says. "It's really taught me about deep listening and connection."
Still, Licater says she had no idea of the flute's raw power until she came face to face with the closest interpretation of its original form. That was during a Native American powwow at Stanford in 2001.
"It was an instant transportation to another place in time," she says.
From then on she never looked back.
Licater has traded in her silver flute for an array of bamboo, redwood and even clay flutes made in different regions of the world.
"There's something to be said about a flute that's made of old growth, of something that was once living," she says. "It becomes a bridge that can instantly move people from their hectic schedules to a deep, connected calm place."
The effect that Licater's flutes have on others is evident at the center, says Dave DiLullo, who is the music director at the Center of Spiritual Living.
"People love it," DiLullo says. "They are moved, and some say they go into meditative states. Regardless of what their belief, many say the music resonates with them."
The music and the sound of the flute play an important role at the center, he says.
"Everything revolves around the music," DiLullo says. "We are trying to create music that can be a platform for transformation and meditation or that provides an uplifting experience for people."
Licater's flute music does just that, he says.
"Ann fits in at the center in a very special way," DiLullo says. "She brings in a whole tradition of Native American music and allows us to tap in."
Licater's choice of instrument is also a breath of fresh air, he says. "The flute is both new and old," DiLullo says. "It's an ancient instrument. It's simple and uses the human breath as a medium."
Ann Licater will perform at the Center For Spiritual Living, 1195 Clark St. on Aug.18, 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Seating is limited. To purchase tickets, call 408.294.1828, ext 116 or visit www.sanjosecenter.org.
Ann Licater's CDs can be purchased in Willow Glen at Morning Crane Healing Arts Center on 1314 Lincoln Ave. and at the bookstore at the Center For Spiritual Living at 1195 Clark St. and in Campbell at Moonfyre Metaphysical on 401 E Campbell Ave.
