Please encourage me

[Finwe]

Hello, I've been playing flute for two years now and I can't believe how hard it is to learn.
Sometimes I play very good, or at least as good as I want to play and sometimes I can barely make a good sound out of it at all.

I've had two different teacher wich have been helpful but it hasn't helped me to keep a steady tone at all, it differs like two different worlds each day. It's so frustrating that I want to cry sometimes, I even gave up nicotine because of the flute, and all I want is to learn to play decent on it, not to show off, just for myself.

Can someone say something encouraging, I'm not normally a quitter, but this instrument is just too hard and I'm about to give up!

[Bo]

Hi, and welcome to Fluteland!

Don't give up!

Have you talked about your problem with your teacher? Does your problem also happen in front of him/her?

Maybe you can also post a video of your problem and some of our experts here will be able to help you.

But don't give up!

[fingerbun]

I'm a learner as well and have the same challenges. Every musician does.

Suggestions.

First, record yourself practicing (if your cellphone has a voice recorder it will do fine). At first it's confronting because you hear more mistakes, but over time you also have a record of how you are improving, that helps when you get discouraged. Remember, your ears are improving as well as your flute playing, so you will always hear things you are doing wrong.

Second, make sure your practice is routine and focussed. This is because you need to develop the muscles necessary to produce good tone, and you have to play regularly for that to happen.

If you are in a rut, change direction. I have accepted it will be a long time before my tone is consistently as good as I want, so I keep working on it but I also work on other things.

Think beyond just the playing. Frank Sinatra used to swim under water long distances because it forced him to learn breath control, which helped his singing. From what I can gather, tone in flute is all about breath control and shape of your mouth.

Working at it is all very well, but take time to do some stuff that is fun.

You can do it, you just have to persist.

[Phineas]

Hello, I've been playing flute for two years now and I can't believe how hard it is to learn.
Sometimes I play very good, or at least as good as I want to play and sometimes I can barely make a good sound out of it at all.

I've had two different teacher wich have been helpful but it hasn't helped me to keep a steady tone at all, it differs like two different worlds each day. It's so frustrating that I want to cry sometimes, I even gave up nicotine because of the flute, and all I want is to learn to play decent on it, not to show off, just for myself.

Can someone say something encouraging, I'm not normally a quitter, but this instrument is just too hard and I'm about to give up!

Well, before I would go forward with this, I would need to know a few things.

1. What kind of flute/headjoint are you playing on? Your headjoint cut may be an issue.

2. Is your flute in proper playing condition. I constantly run into students that complain about how hard it is to play. I find out later that their flute needed to be worked on. A leak, or a bad/missing spring in the right place can ruin your whole experience.

3. Your mental state while you play. The more self-conscious you are, the worse you will play. Maybe relaxing should be part of your practice routine.

4. How is your breathing? This is another thing that will work against you. I constantly run into students that want to play, do not like the way they sound, but refuse to practice their breathing. On top of a good embouchure, good consistent/controlled air flow is essential for producing a consistent sound.(Among other things)

5. Too high of an expectation? Over all, you have to be patient. You have only been playing for a couple of years. Tone is a life time process. Get use to it.

Over all, I think you are taking this whole flute thing much too seriously. Just keep playing, keep practicing, and mostly HAVE FUN. The more you play and have fun, the better you will get over time.

Stop trippin, have fun and play the d*** thang!

Phineas

[Feadóg Mhór]

Over the years I was an instructor (not music, but martial arts) I noticed something about the students. There was a point in their training where many would drop out, and this occurred around brown belt. When I started looking into this, I found that the early enthusiasm was gone because the novelty had worn off, but they thought that they should be much more skilled by this point in their training, and didn't see themselves as black belt material. In short, it wasn't "fun" any more. What I would do is have them watch a class of brand-new students, and get them to acknowledge that they had come a long way from where these students are now. Then I'd have them watch a master class, and get them to realize that each of these people were not only where you are now, but were also in that beginner class at one time. There is no reason that you can't be in that master class. Like anything else worth doing, it requires time on task.

I agree that flute is a difficult instrument. It can take time just to get a sound out of it. That's not a problem for, say, a piano player. Just push the right key, and you get a perfect note. I can't complete a B flat major scale because I can't quite get the high B flat, but what I do after a particularly discouraging practice session is to play something I like and know I can play well, so my practice ends on a high note, as it were. Then I'll watch someone like Galway play, and remind myself what is possible. Find the fun in the practice, and as you get better, you will find more that's fun.

Then, a couple of years from now, someone will come on the board looking for encouragement, and you can tell them how you almost quit, but now are glad you didn't, and here's how you did it...

[fluttiegurl]

Well said.

[Finwe]

Thank you everyone for your advices and uplifting words. Things have been a little better lately so I am thankful that I pushed through.

1. What kind of flute/headjoint are you playing on? Your headjoint cut may be an issue.

2. Is your flute in proper playing condition. I constantly run into students that complain about how hard it is to play. I find out later that their flute needed to be worked on. A leak, or a bad/missing spring in the right place can ruin your whole experience.

3. Your mental state while you play. The more self-conscious you are, the worse you will play. Maybe relaxing should be part of your practice routine.

4. How is your breathing? This is another thing that will work against you. I constantly run into students that want to play, do not like the way they sound, but refuse to practice their breathing. On top of a good embouchure, good consistent/controlled air flow is essential for producing a consistent sound.(Among other things)

5. Too high of an expectation? Over all, you have to be patient. You have only been playing for a couple of years. Tone is a life time process. Get use to it.
Phineas

1/2. It's a Yamaha and my second flute since the other one broke, it's in used condition, however but on good days it sounds awesome so i suspect that it's in an OK condition, although i haven't had it checked.

4. I like to think that my breathing is alright. I started to run as an excercise at the same time as I picked up the flute, and, as mentioned, I stopped using nicotine, everything to build better lungs and improve my breathing and lung capacity. And I always try to keep my breathing in mind when I play, doing breathing excercises and so on.

5. That might be the case. I started to play guitar about 8 years ago and improved at a steady pace, playing jazz and fusion, learning music theory and training my ear, but with the flute it turned out to be a whole other thing, not learning at a steady pace at all, just going one step forward and two steps backward each session.

[Phineas]

Thank you everyone for your advices and uplifting words. Things have been a little better lately so I am thankful that I pushed through.

1/2. It's a Yamaha and my second flute since the other one broke, it's in used condition, however but on good days it sounds awesome so i suspect that it's in an OK condition, although i haven't had it checked.

4. I like to think that my breathing is alright. I started to run as an excercise at the same time as I picked up the flute, and, as mentioned, I stopped using nicotine, everything to build better lungs and improve my breathing and lung capacity. And I always try to keep my breathing in mind when I play, doing breathing excercises and so on.

5. That might be the case. I started to play guitar about 8 years ago and improved at a steady pace, playing jazz and fusion, learning music theory and training my ear, but with the flute it turned out to be a whole other thing, not learning at a steady pace at all, just going one step forward and two steps backward each session.

Well, I would get your flute checked.

2. Running will not help your lung capacity. I am talking about doing breathing exercises. Learning how to control your air fluow, and hold enough air in your lungs. Maybe that is a part of your issue. Try looking on Youtube or you can check this site out.

http://www.jennifercluff.com/breathe.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRuw95OQ ... re=related

Playing a wind instrument is also more of a physical thing than playing a stringed instrument. I use to play gigs totally sick on guitar and no one heard the difference. The minute you sinuses get clogged, your flute gig will become very challenging.


3. I started playing stringed instruments, including Guitar(15+years) before I started playing flute. Flute is a totally different animal to learn. With stringed instruments, sounds are based on your fingers, and patterns. You memorize the patterns in one position, you can play the same exact pattern in many different keys. On wind instruments, there is not such thing as a resuable finger pattern. You have to play different fingerings for every key you play in, even different octaves in the same key. This is why it is important to use a different approach. Instead of memorizing patterns, you are going to have to memorize the sounds. Take one tune/piece, and learn it in as many keys as you can. If you use this method, eventually your fingers will know what your mind wants the flute to sound like. If that makes any sense. Not only will this help your flute playing, it will enhance your guitar playing as well. When I practice scales, I do them chromatically(Cmaj, C#/Dbmaj, etc....) I tell my students to memorize all of their scales at the same time. Not to be concerned about sharps and flats, just how the scales sound and if they sound right. Students who do this progress very quickly. In a short time, they will not be thinking about fingering, just play the music.

Sorry, you are just going to have to tough it out. You stick with it, and before you know it you will hear yourself and go WOW!

Phineas