Perfect flute playing

Perfect flute playing comes through practice, practice, and guess what else...

... right, practice!

Well, we can't be perfect, but we can get very close.

There's no way around putting in the hours. You can't be Professor Harold Hill and expect to perfect your flute playing through the Think Method.

So what are you going to do in those hours? Well, let's lay out a plan, based on your available time. Let's say you have one hour to practice the flute each day...

Long tones - 10 minutes
Flexibility exercises and studies - 10 minutes
Lesson book assignment - 15 minutes
Solo - 15 minutes
Duet and other ensemble material - 10 minutes

Get double the results by...

Including vibrato exercises with the long tone work
Practice an etude for flexibility
Concentrate on tone quality during your lesson assignment
Practice with your tuner on to check your intonation
Practice with a metronome.

And make it fun while you practice. Fire up SmartMusic on your computer and play along with the accompaniment. How great is it to play a Mozart Concerto along with an orchestra? Fabulous!

If the holidays are coming up, get some new sheet music for the season.

Christmas Favorites (Flute) Instrumental solo book (no accompaniment) for flute. Series: Hal Leonard Chart. 56 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (HL.843371)
See more info...

In addition to practicing flute technique, practice your performance skills, too. The more you play in front of others, the more comfortable you become with it.

Set up any type of performance situation you can. Church, school, your own house - any place will do.

Make it special by serving refreshments after your recital.

Check with nonprofit organizations in your community. Do they need some live music to make their meeting or event special?

As always, nursing homes are terrific places where you can share your musical skills with people who can rarely go anywhere to hear a performance.

And remember, here's the only guy with perfect flute playing...