I started flute lessons with Albert in 1940 in Philadelphia, In later years I came to Aspen several summers for "check ups." We kept in touch through the years and I was fortunate to get the recordings presented here from him and Mary. I also crashed at their house in Houston when I gave some lectures at Rice.

Albert was a very kind and generous person and very friendly and approachable. His playing is an outstanding example of the highest possible standards of excellance. I hope these recordings will help keep his name amd memory alive.

Many flutists have heard about his emphasis on intonation and "piccolo whistles", but I'd like to mention some principles. as I remember them, that he stressed to me about flute sound production. I've not seen these items talked about elsewhere.

In general, play with minimal amount of air. Tipton called this "economy of air." He meant a fine stream of air moving at high velocity using a small lip aperture. For loud playing, more air and a larger aperture is used to keep the same velocity. For soft playing a very small aperture is required to keep up the air velocity.

For a fixed covering of the embouchure, the head joint should be pulled out so far that one is playing the flute as sharply as possible to get the correct pitch. (This makes for high velocity playing). Play from a high position to maximize the distance from lip orifice to the striking edge of the embouchure. The errors in the flute scale are corrected by turning the flute (covering more or less). The amount of general covering is an individual choice.