University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

“Taking up our flutes, let us throw off the constricting misnomer of monochrome and accept the challenge offered to us when the flute found its way into the horizontal position and the lips were discovered.” I was eighteen when I was first introduced to this wonderful pedagogical text written by the superb flutist and teacher Thomas Nyfenger. I immediately fell in love with Mr. Nyfenger’s fresh approach to playing and teaching the flute. He includes hilarious analogies and inspiring approaches to mastering the basic flute techniques. To this day I still revisit this text often and incorporate its insights into my teaching at Penn State.