“So what’s the deal with the flute, anyway?”">“So what’s the deal with the flute, anyway?”" />

Accompanying me on my upcoming trip to New York City to play at Carnegie Hall will be a very dear friend, my college roommate. We will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of our friendship this year and I had a milestone birthday a couple of months back, while she will mark that same milestone later this year. We decided that this would be a great opportunity to take a trip together and have some fun.

Some months ago, as we were cementing our plans, she asked me, “O.k., so what’s the deal with the flute, anyway?” I’ve gotten the same question from a good number of other folks.

To sum it up succinctly: Playing the flute is the achievement of a lifelong dream.

When it was time to start band in the fourth grade, I wanted to play the flute. Well, that’s not quite right. I longed to play the flute. Yearned. Dreamed. I begged my mother to let me take up the flute.

The answer? “No.”