Preparing in the practice rooms of Carnegie Hall, junior Alma Medvedofsky imagines the stage she will soon play on. As she steps onto the stage, she attempts to find someone in her family, but the lights blind her. This performance is Medvedofsky’s first for the International School of Music Honors Concert.
Medvedofsky is part of the International School of Music, which provides her the opportunity to audition for this recital, which involves completely memorizing a piece. Medvedofsky performed in the International School of Music Honors Concert in ninth and tenth grade. While her ninth grade performance was at Carnegie Hall, her tenth grade performance was at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“I like looking at how much I’ve improved,” Medvedofsky said. “Because sometimes, day to day, practice to practice, you don’t really realize. [But] it’s really clear if you look at past performances.”
Medvedovsky was introduced to the flute by her mother, when she was eight. Medvedofsky’s mother, Danit Levy-Medvedofsky, always knew that she wanted music to play a large part in her children’s lives because she grew up on it.
Medvedofsky’s older cousin played the recorder in the Israeli Defense Forces, and later studied music in college. Levy-Medvedofsky had heard her niece playing the recorder for years, so she introduced Medvedofsky to the flute, an instrument with a similar sound.
“When you hear the orchestra play, you hear the flute,” Levy-Medvedofsky said. “The flute has a very dominant [and] important role in an orchestra, but also it’s very gentle and delicate. So that’s how I see Alma.”
During her first year of playing the flute, Medvedofsky worked with an instructor learning the basics of the instrument. Her second teacher owned a private studio, which gave her opportunities to work with other flutists and learn how to play with them.
In 2020 Medvedofsky began working with Elena Yakovleva, who, in addition to teaching flute, plays with the Navy Band, the Delaware Symphony and the Maryland Symphony. Medvedofsky and Yakovleva meet virtually once a week for an hour. When they first met, they mainly focused on foundations, the muscle memory of playing, but now their lessons focus on preparing pieces for auditions and recitals.
“The amount of work she does, the level of effort she puts [in] is wonderful,” Yakoleva said. “ … She is dedicated, she is committed, she is very disciplined. She does not give up easily.”
In addition to lessons, during her freshman year of high school Medvedofsky played in a flute choir with the International School of Music. While she generally focuses on solos or playing with an accompanist, this experience helped her learn how to play with other flutists.
Medvedofsky also plays in the pit as part of the CESJDS high school musical. As a general rule, she tries to practice every day for around half an hour, though sometimes that will change depending on her schedule.
“When she plays the flute, you hear the sounds in the house because of the echo that we have in our house,” Levy-Medvedofsky said. “…It is therapeutic, it’s soothing; if you are disturbed or anxious or worried but you focus on that, on her playing, it can really help and be such a nice experience.”
Recently, Medvedofsky has also begun to play the piccolo as a way to better herself as a musician. Additionally she hopes to be part of an orchestra or music program this summer, and is working on flute pieces for the application process.
“Flute and playing gives me the opportunity to express myself through a different way than what I usually do,” Medvedofsky said. “ … I really do believe that music, in a way, is its own language.”