A flute in full blow draws me to a Taisho-period building behind the Catholic church in Hayama. A window is open, and whoever is playing sounds pretty good to this amateur.
William Bennett, whose career over four decades as a flutist requires two Web sites, is more critical, but proactively. A very good amateur, yes, but neurosurgeon Akira Onuki from Saitama needs to work at improving the tone of his playing. With patience but insistently, Wibb (as he is known to those in the know) spends some 45 minutes drawing the best out of musician and his instrument.
"Akira is the fifth student I've mentored today," Wibb explains afterward. "We have six more days ahead in this workshop," organized by Danish flutist Marie Okabe, who lives locally. "It's a little disappointing that we have less than 20 signed up, but Marie has done a fine job. We attract up to 60 at our U.K. summer school, with many distinguished names."