There is hardly a flute player in the United Kingdom or America, who doesn’t owe a great deal to Geoffrey Gilbert for his teaching, his playing, or his influence in one way or the other.
—Trevor Wye
—Trevor Wye
A sneak peak of cover art in progress, by award-winning illustrator Gary Kelley (garykelleystudio.com)
Author’s notes from the new Preface:
With Geoffrey Gilbert’s untimely death in May of 1989, I recognized the importance of sharing the work—to pass on his teaching and to honor his memory. With overwhelming encouragement from colleagues and Gilbert students, the first edition of The Gilbert Legacy: Methods, Exercises, and Techniques for the Flutist was published in 1990.
In 2021, as work for this fourth printing progressed, it became clear that major revisions were needed—editing, updating—essentially a facelift for a book that took shape between 1982 and 1987. My primary goal in producing this “revised and expanded” edition of The Gilbert Legacy has been to complete and update information about Gilbert’s professional life and teaching.
New and amended materials found in the front of this book include the dedication, an epigraph, two Forewords—the first from Monya Gilbert and the second from Trevor Wye, a Preface, and a revised Introduction.
Chapter 1, "The Life of Geoffrey Gilbert," broadens the scope of the biographical information about Gilbert’s life with attention to recent research. Chapter 2, originally entitled “Introduction to Geoffrey Gilbert’s Teaching," has been expanded under a new heading, "Geoffrey Gilbert’s Approach to Teaching: A Philosophy of Compassion." All new material pertaining to Gilbert’s teaching concepts, methods, and practice techniques are presented in additional Appendices in this edition.
The Gilbert Legacy provides a compendium of information suited to intermediate and advanced players seeking a natural and logical approach to playing the flute. Gilbert’s core fundamentals have proven beneficial to flutists of all ages. His concise explanations along with his positive and insightful pedagogy are effective for all flutists who wish to improve. Through further preservation and clarification of Geoffrey Gilbert’s teaching methods, this new edition of The Gilbert Legacy continues to sustain his enduring legacy.
—Angeleita Floyd, November 2022