Practice time

[sinebar]

What is the recomended practice time for a beginning flute player who will not be planning a carreer playing the flute. Just to be good enough to play in a community band.

[fluttiegurl]

That depends on what kind of time you have to dedicate to the flute. I know, quite vague. For most players who play for enjoyment, the best advice I can give is to make the best of your practice sessions. Instead of practicing for hours, specifically make it a point to practice what you need to work on the most. If you can do that every day, great! If you can't, which many players cannot because of work and other commitments, make sure you at least play every few days in order to keep up what you have learned.

[flutepicc06]

That's good advice for any player. Quality of practice always wins out over quantity, in my mind. My personal opinion on the matter is that you should plan to dedicate at least 20 minutes to half an hour to each practice session. Any less than that, and there's really not enough time to get anything substantial done, or even warm up fully.

[sinebar]

That's good advice for any player. Quality of practice always wins out over quantity, in my mind. My personal opinion on the matter is that you should plan to dedicate at least 20 minutes to half an hour to each practice session. Any less than that, and there's really not enough time to get anything substantial done, or even warm up fully.

Well I get at least an hour of accumilated time. I can only play for a few minutes at a time and then the notes start getting airy.

[fluteguy18]

That's good advice for any player. Quality of practice always wins out over quantity, in my mind. My personal opinion on the matter is that you should plan to dedicate at least 20 minutes to half an hour to each practice session. Any less than that, and there's really not enough time to get anything substantial done, or even warm up fully.

Definately quality over quantity. I myself try to get in about 2 hours a day [ not including ensembles], but that doesnt always happen.... so I make sure that the first things I tackle are the things I need to work on the most. I at least give myself 45minutes to practice [ in one sitting, working on various things] so that way, I know I can definately get SOMETHING done.

[flutepicc06]

That's good advice for any player. Quality of practice always wins out over quantity, in my mind. My personal opinion on the matter is that you should plan to dedicate at least 20 minutes to half an hour to each practice session. Any less than that, and there's really not enough time to get anything substantial done, or even warm up fully.

Definately quality over quantity. I myself try to get in about 2 hours a day [ not including ensembles], but that doesnt always happen.... so I make sure that the first things I tackle are the things I need to work on the most. I at least give myself 45minutes to practice [ in one sitting, working on various things] so that way, I know I can definately get SOMETHING done.

Yes, I usually practice in about 1 1/2 hour chunks for each session (maybe more or less depending on what I need to prepare), but the bare minimum would be about half an hour, just to get in some extra tone work before a lesson or something.

[flutepicc06]

That's good advice for any player. Quality of practice always wins out over quantity, in my mind. My personal opinion on the matter is that you should plan to dedicate at least 20 minutes to half an hour to each practice session. Any less than that, and there's really not enough time to get anything substantial done, or even warm up fully.

Well I get at least an hour of accumilated time. I can only play for a few minutes at a time and then the notes start getting airy.

I would suggest trying to play through the airiness. In a real performance situation, you can't just stop playing after a few minutes, and your tone can't improve if you're not playing. Each time you go back to the flute, especially at the very beginning, you're going to have to become accustomed to it again, so your few minutes are likely spent just getting adjusted and warming up, which are good, but need to be followed by additional exercises if you are to grow in your playing.

[sherbert789]

I never practice for longer than 30 minutes at once....unless it's really, really urgent. I lose focus after that amount of time, so there is no point. I just spread my practice time over the entire day.

[sinebar]

That's good advice for any player. Quality of practice always wins out over quantity, in my mind. My personal opinion on the matter is that you should plan to dedicate at least 20 minutes to half an hour to each practice session. Any less than that, and there's really not enough time to get anything substantial done, or even warm up fully.

Well I get at least an hour of accumilated time. I can only play for a few minutes at a time and then the notes start getting airy.

I would suggest trying to play through the airiness. In a real performance situation, you can't just stop playing after a few minutes, and your tone can't improve if you're not playing. Each time you go back to the flute, especially at the very beginning, you're going to have to become accustomed to it again, so your few minutes are likely spent just getting adjusted and warming up, which are good, but need to be followed by additional exercises if you are to grow in your playing.

So what is the cause of the airiness? I can't figure out if it's embouchure fatigue or moisture accumilation in the flute. I swab it but that doesn't work as well as resting for 5 min or so. After about an hour though even resting doesn't work and I have to come back to it the next day. I'm assuming this will get better with time because my endurance has gradually improved since I stated playing the flute.

[flutepicc06]

Well I get at least an hour of accumilated time. I can only play for a few minutes at a time and then the notes start getting airy.

I would suggest trying to play through the airiness. In a real performance situation, you can't just stop playing after a few minutes, and your tone can't improve if you're not playing. Each time you go back to the flute, especially at the very beginning, you're going to have to become accustomed to it again, so your few minutes are likely spent just getting adjusted and warming up, which are good, but need to be followed by additional exercises if you are to grow in your playing.

So what is the cause of the airiness? I can't figure out if it's embouchure fatigue or moisture accumilation in the flute. I swab it but that doesn't work as well as resting for 5 min or so. After about an hour though even resting doesn't work and I have to come back to it the next day. I'm assuming this will get better with time because my endurance has gradually improved since I stated playing the flute.

Moisture almost certainly is not the cause of the airiness, unless there is a burr in the embouchure hole where it could collect. There's really no way to tell what the problem may be without looking the flute over and observing your playing, though. Something like the headjoint cork being loose could cause it, but it might also be a bit of soldering that's come undone, or a pad that has shifted, or pads swelling (and thus changing how they seal) due to moisture or any number of other things. It may also be something on your end...Perhaps you're using too much air or blowing a bit too high, or your lip's natural shape allow some air to escape where you don't want it. There may be excess tension in your embouchure that causes you to tire very quickly and eliminating it could solve the problem...There's really no telling through the net. Are you working with a teacher? I know you had your flute worked on recently, but perhaps your tech missed something. It might be worthwhile to get a second opinion to see if there's anything yet amiss with the flute itself.

[MISHUGINA]

regading the argument about practice time, consistency is definitely most important. 20 mins a day, 7 days a week is better than 2 hours for just few days a week.

[remnantpark]

I would suggest trying to play through the airiness. In a real performance situation, you can't just stop playing after a few minutes, and your tone can't improve if you're not playing. Each time you go back to the flute, especially at the very beginning, you're going to have to become accustomed to it again, so your few minutes are likely spent just getting adjusted and warming up, which are good, but need to be followed by additional exercises if you are to grow in your playing.

So what is the cause of the airiness? I can't figure out if it's embouchure fatigue or moisture accumilation in the flute. I swab it but that doesn't work as well as resting for 5 min or so. After about an hour though even resting doesn't work and I have to come back to it the next day. I'm assuming this will get better with time because my endurance has gradually improved since I stated playing the flute.

Moisture almost certainly is not the cause of the airiness, unless there is a burr in the embouchure hole where it could collect. There's really no way to tell what the problem may be without looking the flute over and observing your playing, though. Something like the headjoint cork being loose could cause it, but it might also be a bit of soldering that's come undone, or a pad that has shifted, or pads swelling (and thus changing how they seal) due to moisture or any number of other things. It may also be something on your end...Perhaps you're using too much air or blowing a bit too high, or your lip's natural shape allow some air to escape where you don't want it. There may be excess tension in your embouchure that causes you to tire very quickly and eliminating it could solve the problem...There's really no telling through the net. Are you working with a teacher? I know you had your flute worked on recently, but perhaps your tech missed something. It might be worthwhile to get a second opinion to see if there's anything yet amiss with the flute itself.

Yeah, that's a problem I have sometimes. I don't know if it's me or the flute but I never get consistent results/clues, I men consisten results like:
Although the flute is moist, I can play very clearly and loudly. But sometimes, I sound too soft. It's not airy but just abit soft. Not a lot of people can hear it, but I could and that bugs me.
And also, I may play for an hour and I can sound as clear as I was the first time. But one day, it just may happen that I play just the first few notes of my practice and the next notes get a bit fuzzy. sometimes, I may penetrate the fuzziness as practice goes along, but not often.
But I do know that whenenver I pick up my flute all warm, the notes sound a bit soft, there are a couple of times when there is no difference.
It is quite confusing, because the results get switchy. Actually, 80% of the time, I don' sound fuzzy or soft but there might be a few days a week or after a while that I may have trouble with the fuzziness.