Back in October Yolanda and I attended a concert at the National Museum of American History to hear the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (see previous post). To our amazement, the band featured Dr. David Skorton, the brand new Secretary of THE Smithsonian, playing flute. The man has some chops!

Dr. David Skorton, Secretary of the Smithsonian
Photo courtesy of AP

During the break we chatted with him, and in a feat of shameless self-promotion, I gave him my card. Just last week he showed up at my shop!

Before joining the Smithsonian, Skorton was the President of Cornell University, and before that, the University of Iowa. AND he’s an MD cardiologist. That’s a lot of talent and brainpower packed into one really nice guy.

David plays a Pearl flute. I replaced a couple of pads, did some shimming and re-seating, along with some general adjustments. He is looking forward to being a guinea pig for my experiment with synthetic flute pads. I believe this will help alleviate problems with temperature, humidity and finger pressure – all of which mess with the pads in various ways. Stay tuned!