So many people harbor a dream to play an instrument and find meaningful joy in this expressive art form. For many, this dream seems daunting and unattainable.
Perhaps you are just starting out? Perhaps you are picking up the instrument again after many years? Perhaps you just need something to help keep you going? Either way, welcome to your online practice and learning space.
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I played a lot when I was younger, I then stopped for many years. When I started to play again having a family, a job and everything, my biggest worry was not ever being able to play as well then qhen I was younger, not be able to catch up!
IF you decide to do another episode I wonder if you have heard of Peter Tietze ( sic? I doubt I have the spelling right). He was the first virtuoso flutist I heard live and perhaps had the most beautiful tone of any flutist I have heard either live, on records or in movies with the possible exception of Galway.
Im 47 years. There is a voice keeps on telling me you'll never play fast. And People wont likd to hear me.... it really frustuate me when i cant play fhe note fast.... the voices telling me see i told you....
You know what’s interesting…I’ve been telling myself that since high school. And, when I was around 23 I remember thinking so often: you’re too old, there are younger people that are better. You’ve hit your limit, you’re done. The truth about the lies we tell ourselves are not often the opposite of the lie though. We think the answer is to tell ourselves: you will play fast, others will hear you. When really, the truth we have to tell ourselves is: you don’t and can’t know if that is true or not but, does it really matter? So what if I never play at breakneck speed? Is that all there is to playing? What if I just calmly and consistently keep doing the right things, enjoy the journey, share my music regardless of what others think and just see what happens. I have found holding on to that really more constructive, and, surprise surprise, my fingers did get faster and I’m still improving well into my 30s. I suspect I’ll still be improving into my 70s 😁😁😁but, it’s challenging to shift your thinking!
When I was studying to earn my degree at university, I earned extra money by being a tutor for the music department. One of my charges was an 83 year old woman who was taking classes to eventually earn her Bachelors degree in vocal performance; And she got it!! Now, I tell all of my students (and even their parents) it's NEVER too late. If you have a passion for doing something, then do it!!
I’m not a flutist but a pianist thinking about teaching again, and this was super informative! I would agree with all of this! The students who aren’t a blank slate, who are skilled in some things but missing critical foundations, are sometimes difficult to manage. I hate to disappoint them by going back to basics because they often are accustomed to brute forcing repertoire that is not suitable for their needs, but preventing future injury or even larger disappointment is much better
I can so relate to the challenge of having this conversation with students. It can seem so discouraging to them but as the teacher you know it’s the equivalent of eating their vegetables!
I appreciate your videos. I am an adult beginner, only starting 4 years ago at the age of 72 (with a teacher). I had doubts for about the first 3 months since I found it difficult to form an embouchure to produce any consistent sound, lol🙂. But I persevered and steadily improved. I’m now 76 and loving this instrument. My embouchure has greatly improved, I’m a definite advanced intermediate, and recently purchased a beautiful flute with a gorgeous tone. I watch your videos periodically and always find them very helpful.
I have a seven measure solo from the end of night on Bald Mountain, how do I get through my nerves because I’m not a soloist at most part and I’m playing in a community band
Ooo! Tough one. My best suggestion is practice playing it for others. Pull aside a friend, the mailman, your colleagues, anyone who will listen. Put yourself into a situation where you are nervous enough times so you can practice knowing you will get through it, despite mistakes and nerves. P.S mistakes may happen and they are ok!
I haven't played my flute since high school 33 years ago. I picked it back up back in April. Your #3 got me!!! I hurt my right shoulder!!! Also I remember what I sounded like. But I'm having a hard time getting my tongue to double tongue. I know how but can't get my tongue to work. That goes along with my fingers!! I know how to play it but my fingers don't want to move. I have the way it is to play in my mind. But my body doesn't want to work. So I had to start in the elementary books at the beginning. Now I'm in the intermediate books. I also explored in the etudes that you can get free on the internet. I guess I'm coming along ok and slowly.
Welcome back! That is so wonderful. I think my best advice to students restarting is to just build it up again slowly. It’s so tempting to go back to how you used to play and think you can get to that level again quickly. But, so often it’s worth starting from the beginning and treating yourself as a beginner. After all, you are most likely a completely different person. Take care of that precious body and patience! You will get there!
I love your videos Tatiana. I am 82 and taught myself to play flute from listening to recordings. When I began lessons I discovered I had to learn to count the notes and my flute teacher had me clap each note measure. Thank you for all your tips and advice.
Love your flute teacher! You are lucky that you have a teacher who makes you do that because so many don’t bother 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 I think you are amazing! Enjoy every moment with your flute!
@@TheFlutePractice Ah yes, but because I taught myself by ear, I find I need to know what the music is saying, and still play much better if I hear the music first. It is a different way of learning I suppose, but because I am not playing for an orchestra, or professionally, I can improvise too and my teacher loves this as it always sounds like part of the composition. but I do love your videos and take them to heart. Also Lance Suzuki.
Absolutely! Although, you will be amazed how much of this applies to advanced students too. So often, I come back down to fundamentals with students who are having issues and it solves the problems.
I am 27 y.o. and your beginner videos is very helpful to me. I hope i can join the zoom workshop. I already try to sign in to that link, and there is nothing email confirmation to my inbox😢
Thank you so much for a video for us beginner adults! Your video about stretches before fluting has been a huge help. My teacher challenged me to stop furrowing my brow when I flute in the mirror. You are on target as usual! Thank you, thank you!!!
@@TheFlutePracticedo you have any advice on how to promote good air flow? My adult student has a tendency to close her lips just a little too much and it cuts off her sound. When she gets her lips open a little more, she has a really nice, powerful beginner sound. Telling her to imagine saying “Tooo” while playing has for sure helped, but her lips will slowly close as she plays. I also know she has had a rough time with her health in the past (I won’t disclose details. But the long and short is that it’s really hard to have good health care in the US without a really realllyy good job). I can tell she has the sound production in her, she played from middle school through highschool before she stopped for a long time. Sorry if that’s a very detailed question, it’s just stressful as a young teacher that I know she has the ability in her, but I just don’t know exactly how to get it out of her. Ya know?
I can so relate! It takes time to figure these things out and a lot of trial and error to find your own personal bag of teaching tricks. So it sounds like she may be pinching her embouchure. This could be the lips but also (and they so often work together!) the throat and jaw. I have found asking students to soften their cheeks, or think of space between their back teeth to be really helpful (I usually try one cue or idea at a time and see if it helps). It will also really help her to understand that the sound is created by the moving air and not her embouchure. When students 'try' to get sound out of their embouchure they usually end up squeezing and unnecessarily tight. Hope one of those things can help! You sound like a wonderful teacher so keep up the great work!
@@TheFlutePractice thank you so much! I’m excited to try this advice with her! And thank you! I’m new to professional lessons teaching (I’ve taught friends and done subbing for a few years in college) so that means a lot to me.
@@talonander1914 I have almost the opposite problem as an adult. I keep my jaw very low and it's really difficult to press my lips together. I end up loosing a lot of air, but at least my tone is nice. Sometimes it clicks and I get superhuman endurance, but that's like once a week.
I am 59 and currently learning flute and saxophone. I can't think of any other time in my life when I would have had the time, resources and patience that I have now.
Err uuhhhh I was trying out the flute (I’ve never played any instrument before) today at my trial and I instantly knew what to do and figured out my breathing almost perfectly since the flute I was using wasn’t mine I couldnt use the keys but I’m looking forward to start on 9/30!
Learning and refining your flute playing is the perfect food for your brain as you age. And joining an ensemble as I recently have done adds to the social benefit of making music. ❤️
Started last year - mid 40's, took 2 hrs just to get any sort of sound out of a student Flute. Now 12 mths into it with an open hole proessional Flute, inline G, no High E assist of any kind - loving it! and still learning more all the time. Never too old.
Thank you Tatiana, for everything you do. You were one of the YT Flutists whom convinced me to pursue taking it up after having a slight interest in doing so since school days. To clarify something, and you might be interested to know... the reason I went with an inline-G when upgrading, was that I felt the offset-G on the student Flute was pushing that side of my hand downwards and resulted in not supporting the instrument properly. It was visibly noticable in the mirror that I was holding the Flute up with a 'cacky hand'. I wondered if an inline-G would be more suitable to correct the deformation, and got into the habbit of stretching my ring finger upwards and pressing the G key literally at the Y-arm. It seemed to improve my playing and I set out to find a suitable upgrade. Not that many to come by any more these days, but my local technician remembered having an old one buried in the loft somewhere. It took a few weeks for him to find it and it was not playable at the time. I was able to hold the instrument and it felt comfortable. I took a leap of faith and made the expensive purchase prior to the technician completely re-building it. I did the cold turkey thing with the open holes, and found that the difficulty of playing a higher grade instrument actually forced me to work harder, especially for high E and above, and also the foot notes are less forgiving when it comes to embouchure. I had to forbid myself from playing a student Flute as I couldn"t play the professional one after doing so lol. Do I regret my purchase??... nope, I absolutely love ol' Mate Mr Florencio (he's quite old btw... about 55 years vintage)
@@feliciapeach love this! And well done for making this assessment. My former teacher insisted inline was better for hand position so I think there may be something to that! And ah! How cool that I helped inspire you to start 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼Which video inspired you most? (If you remember!)
Thank you so much! I am 52 years old and started when I turned 50. I feel so frustrated at times that I am not learning quicker and felt like an idiot being outperformed by children half my size. Thank you for the encouragement!
Pleasure! It’s funny because I felt like this at 23 🙈🙈 my mom always used to tell us: there will always be someone better than you and always someone worse than you. It’s the nature of things. It was a reminder to just stay on our path.
69 now, having returned to the flute a year ago. I would suggest that our brain benefits more from learning and playing music than any other mental exercise I have done in recent years.
thank you sosososo so muchh i've been playing flute since last august-ish but i lost motivation to keep playing after some stuff happened. i started practicing again yesterday, after a 2 month break, and i rlly needed this vid bc my new flute isn't broken in yet and i have an audition tmr
i just started learning the flute and i love it for all the reasons you shared. mostly i just love the sound and how simple and beautiful the instrument is.
where did you manage find music that is playing except for flute? i can seem to find one where ill only playing the flute and the rest of the instruments will be playing along with me. (sorry if that didn't make any sense)
I played this off Tomplay. The links are in the description. It’s a paid for product but I LOVE it and use it with all my students! So many pieces of music there. But you can also buy it individually
Hi! Thanks for your video, Do you think that harmonic exercises should be the first thing to practice as a really beginner player? Just dedicate time everyday to achieve this? Thanks for your response
Hey! I don’t think so, no. It can be practiced as soon as the basic tone is established but I would not obsess over it. It’s part of the picture at the beginning, not the full story. Later it becomes a hugely valuable tool as we find the nuance of tone and embouchure!
I’m going to audition for a high school of the arts with a very small acceptance rate and will be required to sight read for my application. This helps a lot <33
I did the first two : stance and singing/playing, and got an immediate result. Thank you. The annoying thing is that I tried the singing/playing years ago when I watched your earlier video, and got an immediate result. So why did I ever stop doing it??? I’m crazy.
I tell my students: I say things over and over so that eventually my voice becomes that annoying voice inside your head telling you what to do. It’s human, we forget! My teacher would tell me things over and over and over, poor soul, and I would listen only years later 🤦🏻♀️
I listened carefully and I noticed a small difference. This is an unexpected result. But the difference didn't seem positive at all to me. I distinctly heard a sort of parasitic vibration added to the high notes, dirtying the purity of the sound on the forte. As if it becomes more hoarse or distorted. I'd love to investigate why!
