I’m thankful for each of my flute teachers who were so influential in my progress. Our lives are like a quilt or tapestry. Each person, or in this case – teacher, adds something to make the quilt or tapestry of our musicality and our lives more colorful and interesting and beautiful. I’ve learned something from each teacher I’ve had, whether it’s one lesson in a masterclass setting or years of study with that person. Here is a highlight of my prominent teachers that I studied with for months and years.
Aside from my elementary school band teacher, I considered Mrs. McAllister my first flute teacher. I studied with her in Junior High and High School. She was very punctual with lessons and had an extremely kind personality. Her husband, now the late Bob McAllister, was a trombone teacher. There would often be flute lessons on one side of the house and trombone lessons on the other side.
Mrs. McAllister took me from playing intermediate level music to college level repertoire. She taught me vibrato, helped build my confidence, encouraged me to attend summer music camps, and provided performance opportunities which led me to soloing with ensembles and earning flute scholarships for college.
My first two years of college I studied with Jilene Burger at Ricks College, which is now called BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho. Jilene was so supportive while I learned how to adjust to college life. While studying with her, I learned how to practice more and studied a lot of solo repertoire such as the Handel and Bach Sonatas, Mozart Concerti, French and Contemporary flute music and other repertoire which would later help me as a teacher. She lined me up with a local junior high where I started teaching the flute students after school.
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