The process of selecting a college and prepar­ing for the auditions is surrounded by mysti­cal misconceptions, yet six college professors share remarkably similar standards. Mary Karen Clardy, University of North Texas, Patricia George, Brigham Young University-Idaho (retired), Editor, Flute Talk, Katherine Borst Jones, The Ohio State University, Walfrid Kujala, Northwestern University, Professor Emeritus,  Brooks de Wetter-Smith, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Professor Emeritus, explain the qualities they look for in prospective students.

Advice To High School Flute Teachers
Patricia George: I look for the most beautiful pos­sible tone, the elements of phrasing, liquid inter­vals, good sightreading, a sense of musical style, and a basic knowledge of music history and theory. Some of the best high school band programs spend a portion of each rehearsal playing the White Unisonal Scales (Fischer), which teaches scales, arpeggios, rhythmic exercises, and phrasing. Stu­dents who come out of band programs that prac­ticed daily on the Unisonal Scales often get admit­ted to the best colleges and receive healthy schol­arships.

Mark Karen Clardy: I recommend taking time in every lesson to work on scales, arpeggios, ear train­ing, and basic phrasing.

Common Audition Weaknesses
Mary Karen Clardy: Consistent weaknesses are a lack of confidence and accurate articulations. Daily articulation practice on scales and arpeggios pays off in auditions. Students should be able to perform both slurred and articulated passages with the same tone quality. Trial auditions for friends and family build self-confidence for the big day.

Thomas Robertello: During lessons too many teachers stop students in every measure to address details or playing prob­lems. Students often do not have experience play­ing through the entire audition repertoire to establish a flow in the per­formance. In the weeks preceding auditions teach­ers should put musical agendas aside and organize extra performances in front of strangers for those playing auditions. It is intimidating to be evaluated by an unfamiliar per­son, and playing trial performances on the audition literature can build confidence.

Patricia George: I can assess tone, rhythm, and phrasing within the first three or four seconds. Tone exercises, practice with a metronome, and melody studies are valuable activities for develop­ing flutists.

Walfrid Kujala: R-H-Y-T-H-M is the most common weakness. Accurate rhythm is a good indicator of musical talent; if I point out an incorrect rhythm, I want to hear the correction to be sure that the stu­dent is properly sensitive to the underlying pulse.

Brooks de Wetter-Smith: The most common weaknesses I hear are poor rhythm and audition pieces that are beyond what students can play well. Students are usually unaware of the accompa­niment part, but knowing how the flute line fits into the tapestry of the work is essential, regardless of the difficulty of the music.

Patricia George: The process of preparing an audition tape should begin months in advance of the deadline to do it right. Hire a recording engi­neer to tape and edit the session. Perhaps a local college music department has a recording studio that might be available and affordable. Make it easy for the audition committee by labeling the tape with the applicant’s name, address, instrument, telephone number, email address, and a list of the compositions with track numbers or timings. Send a copy of the original, not the original in case the tape gets lost in the mail.

Recommended Repertoire
   The panel suggested the following compositions as suitable for college auditions: A sonata by J.S. Bach, a Mozart concerto, plus a French contest piece or a standard work, such as a concerto by lbert or Nielsen, Acht Stucke by Paul Hindemith, or Sonata Appassionata by Karg-Elert. Among contem­porary works the panel cited are Four Lyric Pieces by John Heiss, Flying Lessons by Robert Dick, Soliloquy by Lowell Lieberman, Trois Pieces by Thomas Ferroud, and Density 21.5 by Edgar Varese. 

Thomas Robertello: I require two complete pieces of contrasting styles. One must be a Mozart con­certo or Bach sonata, and the second should be a standard piece, such as the Ibert or Nielsen con­certo or a French contest piece. It is important to prepare the whole piece, not just one movement or the exposition. Frequently students spend six to twelve months learning audition repertoire but per­fect only one section of the piece. Leaming new repertoire should be a basic activity throughout every music career. Many high school flute teachers fail to realize that high school students who aspire to a career in music should be able to absorb repertoire at a faster rate than two pieces per year. In an audition it is clear if students have not played vari­ous styles of music or are not motivated to meet new challenges.

Brooks de Wetter-Smith: I look for a solid founda­tion in the basics: tone, stylistic understanding, con­trolled finger technique, good breathing, and a firm sense of rhythm. lt is not so important that a player execute a thousand notes, and too many flutists believe the more notes in a piece the better. How­ever, the results of this is often a sloppy and shallow performance. Too many teachers select music that is beyond the player’s technical ability in the hope that the committee will be impressed by the difficulty of the composition, but difficult pieces should be cho­sen only for a student who is technically gifted, but they should be balanced with subtle music.

Patricia George: I suggest not playing the Chaminade Concertino, which is a wonderful piece if played well, but too many flute professors have endured endless days judging poor performances of it. It is better to choose something less well known and to play it well.

Mary Karen Clardy: I recommend works by Bach, Mozart, sonatas by Hindemith, Muczynski, and Burton.

The Technical Virtuoso Versus the Raw Musical Talent
Brooks de Wetter-Smith: To discover musicality I ask flutists to play slow lyrical passages because the technical threat is removed and breath control, intonation, tone quality, and phrasing are clear. Technical virtuosity often is nothing beyond a bliz­zard of notes.

Mary Karen Clardy: I am more interested in the flutist’s personality, energy level, and attitude than with technical virtuosity. The ideal artistic approach blends virtuosity with musical phrasing, direction, and energy.

Patricia George: A music performance is commu­nication, which is not possible without a blend of technical and expressive aspects. Technique can be learned by motivated, hard-working students, but the expressive element is a product of genetics; it can only be enhanced by a teacher. Like most flute teachers, 1 prefer a hard working, motivated student to an egocentric virtuoso with an inflated self­-image.

Katherine Borst Jones: I look for passion, potential, initiative, and a strong desire to be a musician and whether these are accom­panied by an openness and willingness to learn. Along with basic musical talent, inner confidence and self-motivation are important.

Thomas Robertello: My entrance decisions are based on a combination of both the technical and musical elements of flute playing, but I also look for intelligence and emotional maturity. Students with vision and imagination for the future have musical goals. I look at the goals and their potential and decide if I can or should help them.

Walfrid Kujala: With each applicant I try to mea­sure the scope of musicianship, technical facility, repertoire and the overall approach to flute play­ing. Students can pay more attention to playing musically after they have control of the technical elements.

On Taped Auditions
Walfrid Kujala: One year an applicant submitted two cassette tapes. The first tape sounded like a berserk piccolo until the tape deck was switched to half speed. The second tape looked exactly the same but sounded like a bass flute because it was recorded at normal speed. That one person submitted two tapes recorded at dif­ferent speeds should prove the necessity of finding professional guidance when preparing an audition tape.

Thomas Robertello: Students often submit tapes when they apply to many schools and do not have the time or money to audition at each. I believe it is preferable to narrow the choice to a few schools and audition in person.

Mary Karen Clardy: Without the expense of going to a college campus to audition students should make a professional recording in a studio. This would assure a high quality of tape and improve the applicants chances of admittance.

Brooks de Wetter-Smith: On most tapes submitted the acoustics of the room are poor or the micro­phone placement is incorrect, and the result is a poor tape that does not help the applicant’s chances. A tape should not be edited, and each selection should be a complete performance along with a written statement of the student’s musical background, interests outside of music, and goals for the future.

Entrance Requirements for Graduate Degree Auditions
Thomas Robertello: Indiana University requires applicants to play three complete pieces in contrast­ing style: a Mozart concerto or a Bach sonata, a sub­stantial 20th- or 21st-century work, and several orchestral excerpts. I often make performance sug­gestions during a graduate audition to explore the musical flexibility and openness to new approaches in an applicant. Changing teachers at age 22 can be difficult for students who are still attached to under­graduate teachers, but it is also a great time to inte­grate undergraduate school ideas and look to the future with an optimistic, clean slate.

Patricia George: I look for applicants who pos­sess maturity and have studied and performed a broad base of literature. A strong background in chamber music performance, participation in masterclasses, private teaching experience, and attendance at summer orchestral performance programs are valuable assets for prospective grad­uate students.

A Few Final Thoughts
Thomas Robertello: I recall as a high school stu­dent the good experiences I had with the auditions I took at Eastman, the Manhattan School, and Juilliard, where I studied with the two J.B.s, Baker and Baxtresser. Carol Wincenc asked questions about my goals, musical desires, and teachers. I remember Bonita Boyd’s calm welcoming that was comforting when I felt chaotic inside. At the Juilliard audition for Julius Baker, Sam Baron, and Paula Robison, I was asked for my birth date because the application read 3/2/84 and the audi­tion was during the same month of the same year, but I assured them that I was 18 years old.
   I think students should buy more music than they have time to learn because they will learn it even­tually. It is good motivation to have a library of new pieces to learn. In high school I spent all my money on flute music and still remember looking at all the black notes in the Schubert Variations and think­ing that some day I would be able to perform it.

Patricia George: Choosing to major in music is a complicated decision. If students really want to be a music major, they should commit to the program whole-heartedly. Teachers never know which stu­dents will blossom or when it will occur. Sometimes the sheer desire for a career in music will work mir­acles, but just because a flutist played in a high school band and performed the Faure Fantasie, the Block Suite Modale, and the Chaminade Concertino well at a solo contest is not sufficient to become a music major. Some stu­dents choose music as a major because they en­joyed the social aspects of the high school music pro­gram. Music majors should have a sense of communi­cation and expression, the work ethic to make a commitment, boundless energy, love practicing, love to attend concerts, and intellectual curiosity.
   Many years ago an article by a Curtis Institute faculty member explained that many public school teachers become so excited if a student can read, count, and has some technical mastery that they jump to the conclusion that this person has talent and should audition for admission to Curtis. The writer stated that technical ability and basic music reading skills are a given component of the craft but not the art. What Curtis seeks is the student who has the ability to tell a story, create a moment, and play expressively.

Mary Karen Clardy: The most memorable audi­tion was for my first professional position, for which I was told to bring excerpts of my choice. I brought The Modern Flutist because it contained several of my best prepared excerpts, but to my surprise, the conductor stood beside me while I played the audition. After I played he asked to hear more and randomly chose excerpts from the book. Fortunately, I knew the book well and won the audition, but that was the last time I ever brought a book to an audition.

* * *

  
   Inheriting students from other teachers can be both frustrating as well as informative. Parents of high school seniors have called me more times than I care to remember to set up a few lessons before their college-bound flutist takes an entrance audition. Invariably such calls come out of the blue, for a student I have never seen before. Somewhere they have learned that a few lessons with an established teacher will greatly increase the odds of being accepted by the college of their choice.
   The quality of previous instruction is evident soon after a new student walks in the door because I ask new students to bring the music they have been studying. Many arrive carrying only solo repertoire; when I probe a bit it comes out that they do not own a scale book and some are unsure what an etude is. When I hear that they just worked on songs – their word – not mine – with the previous teacher, I know a great deal about the quality of past lessons and that this student has not had a bal­anced regimen of scales, etudes, and solo literature.
   In my book the building blocks of good musi­cianship are scales, arpeggios, and etudes. Perhaps some teachers do not spend time on these basics because they believe students will enjoy lessons more without the drudgery of scale practice. However without a background in scales, when students reach a moderate level of technical devel­opment their progress will slow and become frus­trating if the basic components are missing.
   If flutists have established good practice habits over several years and learned fundamental scales and arpeggios, the solo literature is relatively easy to learn. Most students who lack a foundation in scales and arpeggios will sightread poorly, and they learn new repertoire slowly because their basic fin­ger dexterity and coordination exists only in the keys that correspond to solo repertoire they have learned. When the music ventures outside of those keys, they fumble, especially when playing keys with more than four sharps or flats. These tonal centers feel foreign, and seldom-used accidentals have to be translated. For example E# becomes F natural and C flat becomes B natural. If these accidentals are rewrit­ten, this only contributes further to their poor sightreading. It takes more time to translate the notes than to read and understand them as written.
   Good college entrance auditions are the result of many years of proper practicing, and cumulative work on the standard technique building books such as Taffanel and Gaubert’s 17 Daily Exercises or Moyse’s Daily Exercises, and etudes by Andersen, Garibaldi, Berbiguier, and Altes. A sequential jour­ney through the solo literature should begin with the Baroque masters and progress to the present. None of this can be accomplished in a few months.
    My plea to any teachers who allow students to work on the solo repertoire without requiring fun­damental etudes and exercises is to return to the basics and assign the unpopular exercises that will make later progress possible. Introduce students to simple music theory, history, and basic musical ter­minology, and please explain the difference between a solo and a song.

– Victoria Jicha

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"Style is man himself. It is but order and movement put into one’s thoughts." – Writer and philosopher Buffon

   Some people have the idea that the best style is the richest and most osten­tatious, whether in music, fashion, or in cooking. They add even more stuff to the mix in an attempt to impress neighbors and colleagues. Beware of improved musical editions and modi­fied foodstuffs alike. These days it is hard to find anything that does not claim to have been improved upon. There is milk from hormonally injected cows, enriched bread, anti­bacterial soap, low calorie sweetener, and of course, improved music.
   Mahler reorchestrated Schumann and even Beethoven; since then edi­tors have done likewise with some of our most cherished repertoire. Perhaps they have misunderstood Rainer Maria Rilke’s admonition in Letters to a Young Poet:  "Art demands from its faithful servants as much as from its creators." It is hard to imagine an attempt to improve a classical painting, but some nudes were painted over by order of the church as improvements made in the name of morality.
   Amidst claims that simple, fresh foods are the best, one fast food chain advertises its sandwich as "five meats and three cheeses with everything on it." This may be more for your money, but in the process, you lose the essence of the thing. On a recent flight I was served a salad with a small container of dressing that could have and should have been limited to a few basic ingredients. This one had been improved. The ingredients label read "soybean oil, sour cream (cream, milk, locust bean gum, carageenan, enzymes), water, vinegar, eggs, lemon juice from concentrate, egg yolks, cucumbers, com syrup solids, salt, sugar, herbs and spices, onion, mustard flour, natural flavor, xanthan gum (food fiber), gar­lic. All that for one ounce of "naturally fresh" salad dressing.
   Flute style is sometimes like this, with too many ingredients added to the basic mix in an effort to improve it: stuff the low notes, put in a good buzz, and cut through a texture at any cost. As a lis­tener, I do not like the flute to sound like a trombone. I have nothing against the trombone, but I prefer the flute to sound like itself, poetic and fragile, rather than the bombast created by some recent mouthpieces. Allow the flute to have its color: dark and soft in the low notes, brilliant and lyrical in the third octave, warm and human in the middle range.
   At one time and with the best of intentions J.S. Bach was edited by adding metronome markings and dynamics befitting the Romantic era, then performed by full Wagnerian orchestras and huge pipe organs. Today style is usually determined by practices in the country and the period in which a piece was written, but even within an historical period styles can vary. Tuning was largely a personal refer­ence until J .S. Bach laid the ground­work for equal temperament. Before 1800 some pipe organs were tuned very high and some very low; the Hannover A was not the Coethen A and performance styles varied from one province to the next. The desire for authenticity has dominated musi­cal style in recent times, yet no one should claim absolute authenticity.
   In matters of style, less is more. Don’t try to say too much. Mstislav Rostropovitch commented, "It takes hours and hours to master a lot of notes, but it takes years to play a sim­ple phrase." Most of the conductors, soloists, and singers I admire have a quality of inimitable simplicity. In their care, music becomes evident. Jean Cocteau, the novelist, playwright and poet said "Style is a very simple way of saying very complicated things." In musical interpretation, good style is doing as little as possible, but simplic­ity is not easy.
   According to Denis Diderot, "The desire for the extraordinary is the character of mediocrity. When one despairs to achieve a beautiful, sim­ple, and natural thing, he seeks some­thing bizarre." Stated simply, the music of the last two centuries has its roots in dance and song; phrasing relates to the voice and rhythm to instrumental dance. The great merit of the Baroque revival, more than the desire for authenticity, is its quest for these stylistic roots. As Honore de Balzac said in The Unknown Masterpiece, "The mission of art is not to copy nature, but to express it! We have to seize the spirit, the soul, the face of things and beings."
   Style and interpretation comes from enjoying and understanding. It’s what the senses catalog and associate with a memory of experiences and interpreta­tion is not something that becomes instinctual and hormonal out of a clear blue sky. It should feel natural to us and to our listener , bur it must be culti­vated. There is a technique of interpre­tation; it should sound simple, because like culture, "it is what’s left when you have forgonen everything." Inter­pretation is too often like jam: the less one has, the more one spreads it.

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1. No One Will Insist That You Become a Professional Musician

 
“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way and if you don’t want to do it, you’ll find an excuse.”  – Jim Rohn (entrepreneur and motivational speaker)

 
   Don’t listen to the naysayers: a career in music is absolutely a viable choice, so long as you are serious about it. Interestingly, it takes many more hours and years of training and practice to become a professional musician than to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer. That being said, most people I have encountered in my life, including even some audience members I have spoken to at Minnesota Orchestra concerts, do not understand that a profession in music is a real job. I cannot tell you how often I have been asked what my full-time job is after telling someone I play flute in the Minnesota Orchestra. Musicians generally do not receive the same level of understanding, affirmation and validation given to those pursuing those aforementioned careers.
   It took me longer than I care to admit to realize that no one was going to hold my hand along the journey to fulfilling my dream of becoming a professional flutist. Most of the time, you will have to commit to supplying your own motivations and have the self-discipline to structure the time needed to accomplish your goals.
   The examples of successful professionals that young musicians look up to may obscure the fact that the road to a stable living in our field is often jagged and rocky. You will experience some wonderful highs after thrilling performances or after being offered a well-paying gig, but at other times you will scarcely feel like you deserve to be considered a working professional at all. Setbacks inevitably will happen to you, whether it comes in the form of a bad audition, getting passed over for a part you wanted, or lack of gig offers. It will be tempting to get mired in your lack of success. Remember that hard work is not always uniformly rewarded. Fortune has a tendency to drop in intermittently and unexpectedly. You must forge and sustain your own inner resilience to carry on.
   In the end, make sure you are in touch with the real reasons you are pursuing a career in music. It’s okay if these reasons and values change over time. Your values will ultimately guide you to the right path.

Secret Tip #1: When asked what you do for a living, immediately label yourself as a professional and identify what you do as work. I will usually say something along the lines of “I am a professional flutist and I work in professional orchestras for a living, as well as doing some teaching and freelance work.” This typically wards off the always obnoxious what is your day job question and implies to the listener that your work is a real job. You can then go into more detail about the kinds of work you do as the conversation continues. Avoid using the words play or perform – “I play flute” or “I perform at weddings” – until later in the conversation.

2. Determination Will Take You Further than Talent (A Little Luck Helps Too).

“Give the world the best you have, and the best will come to you.” – Madeline S. Bridges (poet)

 
   Many people have told me that I am talented. Even if they know about the many hours I practiced over many years as well as the cost and time spent on obtaining two music degrees and taking many, many auditions, they will still insist that I also required that rare element, mysteriously bestowed upon the few, called talent to succeed.
   My personal experience, however, is that whatever talent is, it didn’t take me very far on its own. Over and over again, I alternately surpassed and was surpassed by those I judged of possessing lesser, equal and greater ability to myself. The ambitious artists offering that which is consistently well-manicured and exciting will gain greater rewards and recognition over time. However, there is always an element of luck at play in who gets chosen for any given position or gig. Even a top performer can stumble in the moment. The musical tastes of contractors and audition committees will differ (and that’s okay), and at other times one must simply be in the right time and place to be the one offered a job.
   One thing I have noticed is that those who succeed, in any field of human achievement, can credit a mindset of steady and persistent determination. This mindset allows them to notice when life is throwing them an opportunity (i.e., making their own luck) and also provides them the resilience to keep going when an opportunity doesn’t work out. This motivates musicians to practice even when they don’t feel like it. This is what drives someone to have the courage to ask the advice of a mentor, be open to criticism, challenge themselves, and to continually seek to improve in ways small and large over time.
   What is the source of this courage and determination? There has been quite a bit of research done in recent years on such topics, some of which I will reference below. In summary, it turns out that early successes validated by those we look up to can have a big impact. This causes us to take on identities, at times subconsciously, such as “I am a flutist,” which in turn motivates deep observation of the highly successful examples of those in our chosen identity group so that we can be like them. This process is probably what results in what society generically calls “talent.” It is a process of mindset as much as it is anything innate or inborn.
   Consider other identities that might result in the attitude and behaviors of determination: I am a determined person. I am a hard worker. I am someone who has a wide variety of interests. I am detail-oriented. I am a life-long learner. I am a curious person. I am a listener. What else could you add to this list? It could go on forever, no doubt. Make a list of identities which resonate strongly with you. Having these firmly defined to yourself will bolster your sense of resilience, as what others say or think about you will cease to matter.
   For further study on the crossroads of talent, success, mindset and luck, I suggest reading Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers, research about the relative age effect, The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, Mindset by Carol Dweck, The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova, and similar books. I think you will find their insights invaluable to your own journey and when helping others with their journeys.

 
Secret Tip #2: We each have the unique privilege to choose our identities. Use this knowledge to your advantage to help focus your motivation. We need not be limited by what we were told about ourselves as young children, or what society or popular culture tells us we should think of ourselves. If you have control of your mindset, you will be in a position to take advantage of the situations and opportunities that luck provides.

3. Making Music is Not (Only) About You. The Three C’s of the Professional Artist.

“The miracle is this: the more we share the more we have.” – Leonard Nimoy (actor)

   I am one hundred percent certain that the primary reason I wanted to be a professional musician is because I wanted to play the music I felt in my heart. Years later, it is still the primary reason I take the flute out of its case every day. I did not truly care what effect my music had on other people and had little interest in changing anyone’s life with my music. It was really because for me, making music was about expressing my feelings and my own internal experience. It was how I could better know myself.
   Imagine, therefore, the rather large sense of disillusionment I faced not long after I began my job with the Minnesota Orchestra. It turns out that much of the job is being told to play music differently than I would choose to play it, or playing music that I would not normally choose to play, given my own tastes. I would notice that at times it was almost an emotionally empty or lonely experience, despite playing with 90 colleagues for an audience of 2000 people. Sometimes there was a great flute solo or fun flute part to play, but even in a Brahms symphony there are many more moments of the flute serving a functional role rather than having command of the emotional content of the piece. I had to come to terms with this realization: it’s not about me. At least, it’s not only about me.
   All professional artistic pursuits are ultimately an intersection of three elements that I call The Three C’s. Communication, Connection, and Community. Instrumental music as a vocation magnifies the need to act with intention regarding the Three C’s. Why? Because it is the most abstract of all the arts, lacking words and physical substance. Any Shakespeare play has clear messages and meanings as written by the playwright, articulated by actors, and given visual life via staging and production. Instrumental music is simply a collection of sounds intended by the composer, doled out over time, and granted inflection and intensity by a musician. Its meaning is ultimately an indistinct construct of the listener.
   We learn to play our instruments to the highest level so that we have the ability to communicate what is in our hearts and what the composer intends. We communicate in order to have a human connection with  fellow human beings and the world around us. Some say musical communication is a spiritual bridge all the way to the soul. These connections contribute to the well-being of our communities. These communities, in turn, provide the opportunities and support for music to be a viable profession and vocation.
   If you decide to make a serious go at a performing career, remember that jobs in the music field do not exist only to serve you and your needs. The relationships between artists and their communities are both reciprocal and symbiotic. Each need to contribute to the other’s health and wellbeing.

Secret Tip #3: Do you remember times when you have felt totally uplifted and transformed by a piece of music? When you perform, keep in mind that someone in the audience is experiencing your music in exactly that way, even if you feel otherwise. It truly is a form of magic. Let their joy be yours as well – sometimes this is just what you need uplift your resilience and emotional fulfillment.

4. You Will Have (at least) Two Jobs: Keeping Your Playing in Order and Keeping Your Business in Order

“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” – Duke Ellington (musician)

   You will be told truthfully many times that mastery of playing your instrument is imperative, and without it, success will elude you. Those voices are correct. What is said less often is that you will have to continue to devote regular time toward maintaining and improving that craft for the duration of your career. I used to think that once I got really good, that I would be able to maintain that ability with little continued effort. Not so. If you don’t use it, you will eventually lose it. Bad practicing habits, poor health, or inattention to good form has caused injuries and led to early endings of many promising musical careers. The best pros all develop good habits and routines to keep their playing in top form for decade after decade.
   I have also learned that the journey of improvement is never really over. That journey, for me, has been one of continually having greater and more refined awareness and control over the physical aspects of playing my instrument and the sounds that result. Many things that I did by feel, muscle memory, or instinct in the past, I can now very clearly describe and execute with an accurate sense of mind/body awareness. I am not sure anyone would say that I sounded worse in the past compared to now, but I take a lot of comfort in having a security and control over my playing that is the result of continued growth of awareness. This has also improved my confidence as a flutist over time.
   Going into music as a profession also means that you are now entering the business world. The skills you will need to navigate the music business are as important as how well you play your instrument. In fact, you are your own small business now; an entrepreneur some would say. This means every skill you possess, including how you play your instrument, are your products and services on offer. Ensure that these skills are competitive, because the music business is a competitive marketplace.
   Do you have skills as a writer, a composer or songwriter, or as an arranger? Do you have knowledge of recording equipment? Are you good at logistics and planning? Building websites? Are you interested in instrument repair or design? How about teaching? Can you play multiple instruments? If you have these skills or are at least casually interested in building these skills, any of them can be put to good use to earn  money while working toward a performing career. Cultivating skills like these, as well as others that may not even be music-related, will constitute the garden of your abilities. A healthy and beautiful garden has a wide variety of plants, even if some of them are more prominent than others. All of your skills can enhance your performing career and create rewarding opportunities you didn’t even realize were possible.
   The networks you build with fellow students and future colleagues are extremely important. Don’t make the mistake of being a practice room hermit. Opportunities will be painfully limited if no one knows who you are or what you are good at. This can be tough one for those of us in the club of the shy, of which I count myself a member. This is the time to push the boundaries of your comfort zones; any failures you may be afraid of in this area are not failures unless you retreat and choose not to learn from them.
   Businesses must be built on the foundation of solid and proven financial practices. When you get paid, be sure you pay yourself first. That means setting aside money for an emergency fund to get you through ups and downs, as well as for retirement. One dollar saved and invested in an index fund when you are twenty-two years old will be worth seventy-two dollars when you reach retirement age. Seek out information and advice about how retirement funds work and how financial security and independence are achieved. There are many books, websites, blogs, vlogs, podcasts and more that can shed light on these topics. Ask your colleagues in the middle and late stages of their careers how they set up good personal financial habits. Many small decisions, made wisely, accumulate over time to create a financially viable and perhaps even lucrative career.

Secret Tip #4: Systems are better than goals. Although goals are important and can keep you moving in the right direction, it is the systems you put in place in support of your goals, such as a practice plan or a budget, that will actually get you there (or not, if the system is not functional). Take the time to ensure you have systems in place that work for you and are scaled correctly to your goals.

5. Music Degrees Often Lead to Viable and Rewarding Non-Performance Careers.

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” – Douglas Adams (author)

   When I entered music school, I was certain that I wanted one thing and one thing only: to get into a big-time symphony orchestra – or, at least one that paid enough so I had something resembling financial security. Voila! It happened! Consider me a prime success story. Dreams really can come true. What that leaves out is that it took me 11 years and dozens of auditions from starting school to actually landing that job. There were many times during those 11 years that my career path nearly shifted course entirely. Like most currently active professional musicians, I spent time in my early career doing other full-time or part-time jobs either outside the profession or in related fields to make ends meet before I could make a stable living from musical pursuits only. Any of those other jobs could have easily led to a different career path. One of those paths nearly led me to hang up the flute altogether. Shortly before I won my position with the Minnesota Orchestra, I had decided that I was only going to keep taking orchestra auditions for one more year before putting aside that game and focusing solely on a freelance career. My life would look very different than it does now. But you know what? I would still be happy. I would still consider myself to be a success if I had ended up with a primarily freelance career. The most important thing I learned in those 11 years was that there are many paths to happiness, success, and a rewarding life.
   If you go into music school, give yourself permission in advance to change your goals. Be honest with yourself that what you value now and who you are now will not be the same in two years, in five years, and definitely not in ten years. You don’t even have to become a professional musician if you have a music degree or multiple music degrees. I have friends who became successful doctors, lawyers, architects, real-estate agents and more after getting a music degree. Music still enriches their lives, and they play a fundamental role in the interdependent ecosystem of artist and community relationships.
   I have seen many, many musicians take advantage of the cultivated and broad skill set I talked about earlier which led them to careers in the music industry at large that they absolutely love. One is a terrific flutist but has also been the recording engineer for Grammy award-winning albums. Another is the primary headjoint maker at a major American flute company. Others have started their own music publishing houses, music schools, become contractors, created their own concert series, entered arts management, and more. There are dozens of career paths out there for those with music degrees, and you just might find yourself making a rewarding difference in the world in a way you did not expect.

Secret Tip #5: Becoming a strong performing artist should be your primary focus in school, but don’t let it become so consuming that you don’t nurture other equally necessary aspects of yourself. Remember to give time to other needs, interests, and abilities. What you learn will enrich your music making and give added life, vibrancy and personality to your performances.

6. It doesn’t have to be fun, but it should be satisfying

“I can do hard things. Doing hard things has intrinsic value and will make me a better person, even if I fail.” – Brandon Sanderson (author)

   I love reading books and am a big fan of science fiction and fantasy in particular. One of my favorite authors is Brandon Sanderson. The above quote, as well as the title of this section, is taken from advice he offers to aspiring writers. He was referring to the process of becoming a professional novelist, as most people who try their hand at that do not succeed. I think it equally applicable to the process of trying to become a professional musician. Not everyone will succeed, but to define success that narrowly is to miss the point.
   A popular saying goes that if you love your work, you will never work a day in your life. There is wisdom here, but I think it risks giving the wrong impression. There is a perception that a job in music is all fun all the time. As someone who has a great job, I can tell you that sometimes a job is still, well…a job. Music is an amazing art form, but the music business is complicated. I often spend hours and hours practicing music that I did not choose to play and that I find little connection with. A lot of that practice is not fun. Workplace politics and dysfunctional relationships with colleagues can diminish enjoyment in any working environment.
   What then do I find satisfying about my work? I find satisfaction from doing something that I am good at while getting paid a living wage. I find satisfaction from playing my part to create beautiful music. I find satisfaction in promoting a meaningful and regenerative art form to our community. I find satisfaction in working with the staff and board members of the Minnesota Orchestra so that its mission grows in significant ways in our community. I find satisfaction in having time to devote to my other interests, creative and otherwise. I find satisfaction in the balance of my life.
   In other words, seek to build a balanced career. What that means for each person will be different. I daresay that you will ultimately find balance to be satisfying (harmonious, to turn a phrase), and that will allow your work and your life to be fun.

Secret Tip #6: Learn from the other creative arts. Watch or attend masterclasses by accomplished professionals from other artistic fields to study how they master their crafts, such as acting, dance, architecture, creative writing, and the visual arts. You will find there are many parallels to music that can help you on your musical journey.

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