Researchers who study talent and expertise have come to an interesting conclusion: in short, talent doesn't exist. The old adage about it being 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration perhaps needs to crank perspiration up to 100%, and more specifically, the sweat of 10,000 hours of hard, focussed work. We flutists know a bit about doing that, I'd say! But let's do those hours with a happy heart, and with a flute that is the work of an expert artisan, who has put in his or her own 10,000 hours to gain true mastery of flute-building. That flute, for me, has always been a Powell. There are many to choose from, and all will give you that amazing sensation of never reaching the end of what you can imagine.

Galina at Powell, padding a flute with protective blue film