Trevor Wye was a freelance orchestral and chamber music player on the London scene for many years and has made several solo recordings, but it is his teaching for which he is best known.Formerly a professor at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and for 21 years at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, he now runs his own Flute Studio in Kent, offering a seven-month postgraduate course with the theme ‘the flute and nothing but the flute’. Trevor’s famous Practice Books have sold around one million copies, not only in English, but ten other languages as well.

At 15, I remember wondering which of these paths I should follow: fine art school, a tool and die making apprenticeship with Air New Zealand, or continuing with my flute. I was reasonably good at drawing/painting, I loved crafty things like sewing, I enjoyed tinkering with gadgets and working on flutes, and I loved playing. The flute won out, mostly because I understood that success as an instrumentalist is somewhat related to building on one’s connections with other musicians. I was doing well enough in that aspect that it made sense to keep trying that path first.

As a musician and flutist, I have been fortunate to have enjoyed the wide variety of careers that music offers. I had the honor of studying with Murray Panitz while obtaining the Master of Music degree from Temple University. At that time I was a frequent substitute in the Philadelphia Orchestra and an active freelance flutist in the Mid Atlantic region.

My interest in photography began while I was still at school – my father had always been a keen amateur, and when, at the age of 16 or 17, I had the opportunity to do a year’s dark room course, I jumped at it. ended up setting up a dark room at home and spent many hours with my hands in the chemicals creating prints. At that time, I was particularly focussed on working towards a career as a flute player, so photography was never more than a hobby. However, I loved it, and went out to take pictures as often as I could.

As a young performer, I practised a lot (6–10 hours a day), which was highly productive in some ways, but also rather unhealthy because I developed tendonitis. As a result I had to find other ways to get and stay in shape in order to prevent the tendonitis from coming back.

A life well lived is a life of multiple interests, intertwining pathways, a woven texture of knowledge, experiences, and the pursuit of excellence. If I look back on the 44 years I’ve played the flute, I don’t view music alone as a direct pathway to the person I’ve become. Instead, I see a kaleidoscope of areas that have colored my experience. Everything I do influences my flute playing. Everything I am informs my musicality and my ability to be expressive. I believe all musicians should develop interests in other fields, not only to inform and expand their playing, but also to have a more full experience of life to share with others.

During my associations with Australian flute players over the past thirty years I have picked up an ongoing vibe that there are really only three options for those seeking a career as a flautist: for the most gifted and talented, there is the solo career; the next most prestigious pathway is the orchestral career; and for those who don’t make either of those there is teaching. However, there is another option….

I decided to major in music after making New Jersey All State Band, and thought that if I could make this band, I might have a chance at making a career in music. The thought of not having music as a major part of my life after graduating high school was unthinkable!

At 17, I clearly remember sitting in my guidance counselor’s office and being told, based on all the standardized school tests, that I showed promise in both math and science and therefore I should study physics in college. I said I preferred music, and was immediately lectured on the dreary statistical improbabilities of having a career in music.