Flute Re-discovery – Part 4
Re-beginner flutists. These are folk who once played flute in high school, or as a child, and would like to return to the instrument for the love of it.
In part 1 we listed the steps which will ease your return to fluting. Now let’s start to look at these in more detail. Here’s a breakdown of why each step is important:
7. Listen to flute recordings/go to live flute concerts
A lot of us try and learn in a vacuum, which may be fine if you’re studying vacuum cleaners, but does not work so well when you’re studying music which needs to be heard to be understood. Find out about local concerts of all kinds, and whether or not there are any flute-specific events you can attend. Listen to a lot more music than you do now. There are free online flute CD bits and MP3s to listen to that will instantly inspire you. Use your ears to enthrall and engage you in joining in.
Follow a flute learning system with progressive skill increases.
There are more and more fun flute books coming out every day. Some of them have playalong CDs, some of them have pictures, diagrams, snippets of music to try, and a lot of them have step by step lessons. Get your private flute teachers input on the best flute books that are currently available, and sort through some of the lists of recommended flute methods and flute books online. There are also a handful of free flute exercises and solos online that you can download and check out.
That way, if it’s a rainy day, and you want to progress on your own, you’ll have all the materials at hand to make some musical breakthroughs.
Now you’re cooking!
These things are all aided and abetted by the enthusiasm that comes from being with like-minded allies. Go for it.
More next week on the flute.