I am excited and happy today. I had a 40-minute phone call from Ian Anderson and he has agreed to be our ‘Artist of the Year’! This is a new venture for Flutewise and I know it will be very motivating for all our members.

‘Who is Ian Anderson?’ I hear some younger flute players ask. He is a member of the rock band, Jethro Tull and is famous for playing his flute while standing on one leg.

Now you all know I always only want to give you good role models and standing on one leg is certainly not conducive to good flute playing, so why am I so excited? Well I’ve known Ian Anderson and his work for a long time and I hold him in the highest esteem as a musician, which is probably much more important than any skill in flute playing. Almost anyone can learn to play the flute, but it’s how you use it what matters. I have very fond memories of many workshops where I’ve given people Bach’s Bourree to learn and then I’ve played them the Jethro Tull recording. The reaction has always been electric.

Now we have the opportunity to get to know Ian and the band by having articles in our magazine and going along to their concerts. We are even going to have some pre-concert events with them. How cool is that?! And who knows, he might like us so much, he might pop along to one of our courses and say hello.

If you want to learn more about Ian and Jethro Tull you can visit www.j-tull.com

Let me know what you think.