Having lessons and visiting Alison Mitchell in Scotland was a wonderful experience, and also the first time I had been travelling by myself in Europe. Scotland was beautiful and Edinburgh was a charming city to me, with its old buildings and at its outskirts, rolling hills and grey sea. Seeing Alison onstage performing was very exciting and I loved her performance of the Ibert concerto with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She was totally in her element and it made me feel very privileged to have her teach me in a few private lessons.

During these lessons, we covered many aspects of flute technique and some of the repertoire I had learnt in the past year. We particularly focused on tone, and how to create a greater palette of sound, through lip flexibility exercises and developing support from the core. They definitely weren’t pretty scale exercises, in fact they sound quite ugly and required much concentration. One little flinch would set of a little bump in the tone or worse, my top lip would start quivering because the muscles were underdeveloped. We also discussed the tongue, the enemy of articulation. Without getting into too much detail, it is pretty hard to play loud with lots of air, and beginning with a light pianissimo tongue – it tends to want to ‘thwack!’ and stop the air creating a bulge. Luckily, Alison was quite understanding and patient. We covered some ideas in the French flute style with the Hue Fantaisie, and Mozart style in the Concerto in D, and she got me started on a practice plan with my score of the Ibert concerto. I was greatly encouraged by each lesson and at my hostel afterwards would practice until I could hear international students complaining about me upstairs.

On the last day Alison took me out for lunch, at a café near her house where we had big bowls of steaming soup. It was also the day of the Queen’s annual tea party in Edinburgh, and men were dressed in kilts and women in feathered hats and the streets were unusually lined with cars. We sat and talked for quite a long time, and then enjoyed dessert of cheesecake for me and a gluten free brownie for her. I really liked what she had to say about herself at my age, that she didn’t really worry about getting a job but only cared about getting as good as possible on the flute. I learnt that up until year 5 she was a four-times-a week ballerina and had secret ambitions to be a choreographer, but soon quit this hobby finding her passion in music. For Alison, the day she stops enjoying playing Beethoven 5 will be the day that she will consider other career options.

When I asked her about moving to Europe, she firstly warned that it is difficult to get a job in Europe unless you have a British passport, however not impossible; work permits are available on a short-term basis. Regarding studying for masters in Europe, she highly recommended having lessons with as many different people as possible and then also taking into consideration what sort of environment the country is like, and whether I like the culture. Playing flute has brought Alison to Switzerland, to Germany (where she learnt German), to London, back to Sydney to play with the SSO and Scotland. (What a life!) She studied in Switzerland and Scotland back when the dollar was very strong and back when European countries offered quite a few scholarships and grants.

Another thing she emphasized was the importance of having as many performance opportunities as possible, including competitions and if possible going overseas to try out different flute schools. She warned of biased adjudicators, teachers, musicians, biased about things as trivial as the school you come from or what teacher you had. Treat competitions as a platform to be heard, not the end of the world!

It was most important that I should use my own ears and body to decide what feels and sounds good for myself, and not fall into the trap of simply copying my teachers. This requires lots of listening, and paying close attention. By listening to as many different flute recordings as possible, I should be able to hone my own perception of what makes a nice tone and what I would like my tone to be like. At the crux of what she was trying to tell me was to not only rely on other people’s opinions and advice, but to be my own teacher and take responsibility for myself and my future. Though it was a bit daunting having Alison tell me all of this, being my mentor and all, it also made me feel that anything was possible if I put my heart and mind to it.

Five days later I left Edinburgh by train, but not before I made it to the top of Arthur’s seat in the nearly Holyrood park near Alison’s house. Inside I felt the great sensation of wanting to practice and knowing exactly how to go about it! These thoughts and ideas have sustained me as I have returned to my studies at the Con for semester 2. I am really thankful for the time and effort Alison has spent with me, and also to AWO for facilitating ongoing my connection with her as she returns back to Sydney soon for the nearing Zubin Mehta concerts in October!