This book is the heart and soul of my teaching, performing, and healing journey; all distilled into pages I hope you’ll find inspiring, empowering, and deeply human.

Meet Olivia, Kaitlyn, Nathan, Kaliopi, Alan, Grace and Alexis. These are students who I really connected with in so many ways and I invited to be with me for their degrees at UMICH SMTD. I'm so happy to see their lives unfold. They are distinctive and very much themselves. Go Blue Flutes!

I answer these 10 questions:

How do you deal with adrenaline during performance?

Do you get sweaty hands during a performance and what are some remedies?

What are some remedies for excess spit during performance?

Do you have any pre-performance rituals?

How should I warm up before a performance - Flute warmups, mind and body work?

How do I stop overthinking or hyper-fixating on perfection?

How do you keep up momentum when you’re close to a performance but exhausted?

In what ways can you practice to feel prepared “enough” for performances?

Does positive self-talk really work and when should we use it?

What do you think we need to give a significant experience to the public through our performance?

Alison Young is The Blissful Hiker, former professional flutist "The solo, female, middle-aged, titanium-reinforced, neurological-movement-disorder-manager, cancer-thriver and long-distance-backpacker, Blissful Hiker.

With over 12,000 miles logged as a backpacker on six continents and a background as a world class professional musician and nationally syndicated radio host, Alison Young offers a unique perspective with engaging programs that connect us with the natural world and ultimately help us grapple with life’s challenges.

Alison Young is an expert at reinvention as well as tapping into creativity for success."

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It's my 100th Episode so, in the spirit of moving us forward in our flute pedagogy, I'm asking how best I can serve our flute community. What is the future of elementary classical flute music? What will music students be playing when this generation of students are teaching? PorterFlute Pod producers Isabella Carucci and Ella Hursh are flutists creating the Flute Pedagogy Project and I asked them to be the co-hosts of this special anniversary podcast. Happy 100th episode! I'm so grateful for you!

Adam Eccleston talks all about his "wild and interesting journey as a musician, educator, radio host and a slew of other wonderful things..." and we share a lot of laughs.

I met Adam at ARIA Summer Academy 15 years ago ? at Mt. Holyoke College and he really had an impression on me. We've managed to keep in touch - I heard him on WQXR Radio in NYC and I just had to have him with me in the pod.  

This podcast features interviews with the newly minted Dr. Brandon Lepage whose DMA dissertation Queer Excellence through Musical Activism is one that propels us forward. His recitals surrounded the subjects of Flint, Michigan: Repertoire and Gun Violence: and LGBTQ+ representation in "flexible" instrumentation in chamber music for intermediate players . Also featured is Alexis Phinney, our new Graduate Student Instructor for 2024-25. She is the assistant for My Breathing Buddy studies and is focusing in on all the resources available to her. She cant' wait!

Meet Noniko, my UMICH SMTD alum I deem "My Disney Princess" destined for a life in film and music. She's a digital media specialist on the high seas, bringing her music to the expeditions to Antarctica. Listen in and learn about her path from Taiwan to Antarctica after I met her at age 15.

We loved our time as Fellows at Tanglewood! Alison Young (The Blissful Hiker) and Regina Helcher Yost (Charleston Symphony) are my guests in the pod as we remember the inspiring spirit of Leonard Bernstein from our time working with him in 1987. He has left an indelible impression upon our music making - and yes, we'll weigh in on Bradley Cooper and the movie, "Maestro"

How do others make it look so easy in their career and on stage? I delve into some of the reasons that might be behind some of that look of ease.