I just wanted to comment on what a Godsend these online lessons are for me. I am 46 years old and just decided in the past couple of months that I MUST play the flute.
I almost didnt try it because I have alot of handicaps that will make it more difficult. But having the online lessons on here is already making this dream come true for me. After just a couple days, I now know that I can do this. It will take more practice and more effort, but I can do this
I couldn't do it as a child because I have pretty severe dyslexia and just mastering that in normal schoolwork was more than enough of a challenge. I sat in music classes feeling like the teacher was speaking a language that I was incapable of understanding. Since any symbol with any curvature to it was backwards to me, notes were impossible to comprehend.
I still have no ability to deal with direction, or to know left from right in a spontaneous manner the way most people do, but with great effort, I can memorize things correctly. It takes me much longer than most people tho and I am sure it would frustrate the crap out of any music teacher LOL. Of course back in my school days, they didn’t even have the word. My 2nd grade teacher freaked out at my parents for not having broken me of ambidexterity. She said that allowing me to write with both hands would forever screw up my brain. I guess they had seen the effects of dyslexia back then, but didn’t know what caused it.
I bought a flute recently and planned to not contact a private teacher until I had made some real progress. I will require an enormous amount of patience, and more money than I have in order to learn solely from a live teacher.
I'm glad I signed up here before I saw all of the negative comments about it here in the forums. I wonder how many folks who don't approve have actually paid the money and done the courses before judging them as ineffective? There are intermediate lessons on the site who's titles you can't even see if you aren’t a full member. You would never know they exist ( tho they do let you see all the video lessons available).
Because really, can anyone even have an opinion on it if they haven’t taken them or even laid eyes on them before? Even a music teacher can’t say if they haven’t seen the whole course.
I was so excited to virtually meet Boglarka on the videos, and was so comfortable with her presentation style, that I whipped through the first 12 beginner videos in one day. That included doing all the required practicing. ( not working atm helps heh)
All of the tools and lessons here are making a huge difference for me. I had to do the ones on positioning numerous times before I could get it right, but now it's so simple and automatic.
I do have to put a full length mirror behind me, and face it while it reflects the video back to me reversed, but it is like not having this handicap when I do it that way.
I also have a degenerative deformity in the index finger of my left hand. It causes the finger to progressively rotate ( slowly over the years) counterclockwise. It is currently turned about 25 degrees. This causes an unusual spread in the fingers when they are bent. So far the only issue I see with it is that I am unable to get my left hand's pinkie on any key of the flute. It is a good 1/4-1/2 inch below the instrument with no way to reach it without contorting the whole hand in a way that I think will make playing difficult. Hopefully I will not need to use that finger much.
Other than that, arthritis is the only other obstacle I was worried about( LOL you must be thinking " geeze lady, give it up"). I have been practicing for 15-20 minutes once every two hours. And so far, it has been fine. If nothing else, It may keep me from stiffening up the hands because if I don’t keep them relaxed on the flute, no doubt I will end up with pain. See that, this one is actually an advantage LOL.
I'm not playing any songs yet, but I am doing well at making decent sounding notes ( tho they are far from "good") and increasing my breath by practicing so frequently each day. I have memorized the keys for a few notes and been able to get my fingers to make the necessary changes in time. Breath is still an issue for making fluid note changes tho.
But anyway, I am thrilled with these online courses. I've not only gotten more than my money's worth out of them already, but when you consider how many times I will be repeating them, (since repetition of instruction will be much more necessary for me) I have probably just saved myself about enough money to pay for the better flute that I expect to be needing in the next year or two heh. I just couldn’t afford a good one right now.
I am not just going to play the flute. I am going to play the flute beautifully
I am so excited.