CEDAR FALLS - Quick and playful notes tumble from the Daniel Velasco's flute.

His fingers fly up and down the silver instrument as he works his way through eight pages of the Jolivet Concerto for Flute.

He pauses long enough to draw a deep breath before the sound of the music changes.

"This should be tender," said Angeleita Floyd, a University of Northern Iowa professor of flute and Velasco's instructor, as she sings through the notes, her arms moving with the music.

Velasco, a senior in performance, makes a quick notation on the sheet music and again brings the flute to his lips. His notes are interrupted only by the occasional sounds of Floyd offering her advice and encouragement.

Though he has yet to reach the international acclaim of flutists like James Galway or William Bennett, Floyd sees his potential.

"He is a very hard worker; he will try anything," Floyd said. "I have never seen anyone with a capacity for growth that he has."

Hard work has always been expected of Velasco, who grew up in Quito, Ecuador. At 6 years old he began studying music at a conservatory in his hometown. The after-school program was meant to keep him out of trouble but wound up leading him to his passion.

At his teacher's recommendation, Velasco began playing the flute at 9. Four years later, he was ready to quit.

"I just wanted to be normal with my friends and hang out and play soccer, but I couldn't because I was always at the conservatory," he said.

But as Velasco prepared for his end-of-the-year recital, the realization hit him.

"I realized that this was what I really loved, what made me excited," he said.

Opportunities for student and professional musicians in Ecuador were limited, though. Velasco continued on at the conservatory until he could advance no more. He played with the youth orchestra, but he always wanted more.

After high school he traveled to Europe and Venezuela. He had been accepted to a university to study architecture, but he always came back to his music. Finally, he sat down with his teacher at the conservatory to discuss his options.

"My teacher has the highest regards for Angeleita, so I decided to come here," he said.

Velasco had met Floyd several years before when both participated in an international flute festival in Ecuador. Floyd was a guest artist teaching master classes and Velasco, who was 12 at the time, did a solo with the orchestra.

"I knew then that he was a promising young flutist," she said.

Velasco recently won the National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition, which pitted him against amateur and professional flutists from around the world. He hopes the Jolivet piece will secure his place as the No. 1 flutist at the 2009 WAMSO Young Artist Competition hosted by the Minnesota Orchestra in January.

He will earn his degree from UNI this spring and is already making plans for graduate school. He is currently looking at Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin. Though Floyd would love to keep him at UNI, she said it is time for him to move on.

"For his development, I advised him of that," she said. "What I see for his future is to play in an orchestra. He would be a great orchestral player so we are looking for the best orchestra training program in the country."

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1570 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.