LFP 050 | What I Learned at the National Flute Convention

Well hello again this is episode number fifty of the Learn Flute Podcast. I’m Rebecca Fuller, and I am here to take the guess work out of learning how to play the flute. Are you ready for yet another cool subject today? I hope so, because here it comes. Today, I’m going to take you on a little journey through what I learned at the National Flute Convention this year.

Let’s get started!

Hi again, it’s me Rebecca, the expert at Learn Flute Online which is a fancy cool website I built to help you learn how to play the flute really really well. There’s a lot to it, and I’m happy to show you what I’ve learned, what I teach, and how you can make this journey even more easy and fun!

Speaking of fun, I took one of my college-aged flute students with me to San Diego this past month to partake in the flute excitement of the National Flute Convention. Now, I’ve been to this convention many times, and each time I go I like to take someone I’ve been teaching for a few years. This is especially fun for me because I get to watch their eyes literally light up with the same kind of expressions you’d see on a little kid on Christmas morning. I’ll explain why:

Well first of all I should explain that there are many things and different mini-events that go on at a flute convention- and I’m pretty sure it would be impossible for me to talk about it all right here on a podcast- because it takes years to pull something like this off, and each person there has taken probably an entire lifetime honing their craft in order to be either a presenter, clinician, distributor, instrument maker, or even a enter-er in the competitions that also go on there.

But, today I want to talk specifically about the eye-candy that is so generously displayed at a convention like this. It’s amazing to see all of the things brought to an expo. The hall is always really, really large- for example, if you’ve ever been to Las Vegas to the Cesar’s Hotel, you understand how large it is, right? 

For those of you who’ve never seen it, just imagine ceilings that are two or three stories high and pillars and columns like were back in the (what we think of as) greek architecture days- each room they have there is giganto. And, the flute expo fills one entire convention hall. So, it’s pretty big.

Well this year we were in California, in San Diego and flute vendors and makers of all-things-flute arrive in style and put on a show for us. It’s amazing!

So, the first moment we arrived in San Diego was full of flute fun, and as we walked into the expo center, my student I had with me had a hard time keeping her jaw closed- there were so, so many pretty, ..and shiny! Flutes all on display. It only took her a second to realize that she was actually ALLOWED to touch and play them all.

It’s true! Isn’t that fun?

We saw flutes of every make and model, as well as rare-breeds that some people had either made themselves as a novelty item for aesthetics, or had a special craftsman create just the right new little ‘tweak’ to make a certain flute resonate better or even have bigger, clearer tone. I was especially impressed with some of this year’s inventions.

If you’re a part of the membership area at Learn Flute Online dot com, then I’ll be showing you specifically some of what I learned, so I’m glad you’ll be there to learn and see with the rest of us. It’ll be cool. I’ll send those out on the email.

I know this is a podcast, so you can’t actually visually see anything, but I want to put a thought into your mind right now so you can participate with your imagination.

First, think of the word ‘creativity’, and realize that probably some musicians are among the most creative in the world. I know that music opens up a part of our brains that otherwise would be closed off for an entire lifetime without it.

Well anyway, have you ever seen any artwork along the druid style? I’m talking about a painting that’s set in a forest of knotty twisted looking wooden branches with haunting or beautiful faces carved into it- and little woodland nymphs and flowers peeking around every corner. Can you picture this yet?

Well, the most imaginative- and can I say ‘someone with a serious amount of patience and time on their hands’ created a line of golden, and other precious metal flutes with every single key sculpted in this style. Every key was either a flower or a face or well I can’t even describe it. I’ll be sending it out on email to those students in the membership area. I hope you can visualize that in your mind even right now. It really was amazing!

If you are a part of the Gold Level or the Intermediate Plus levels you’re going to, or at the time you are hearing this, perhaps you’ve already received it. I really want you to see it- because it was just SO beautiful!

Now, I’ll tell you that I hovered over these flutes for a few minutes first, taking pictures and ooing and ahhing for a while before I was suddenly struck with an ‘awe’ for the incredible gift of creativity this person or maybe this team of people had, and that they took it and spent soooo much time making something very beautiful – and functional, I might add. We- my student and I actually played these flutes! And, they played marvelously.

I did take a close-up look of the price-tags, and whew- although it was upwards in the forty to a hundred thousand dollar range, (depending on the certain one) I couldn’t even figure out how you could actually put a price-tag on this kind of art. 

Not only did it give you a visual feast, but it also was capable of creating new beauty every single day by being able to be used as a real instrument in an artist’s hands – or in this case, a musician’s hands. It was like being double artistic I could say. Think about that for a second, will ya?!

Well, I just whipped this podcast out in no time because this is so much fun to talk about! I’m glad you’re here to enjoy these ideas with me. I’d love to chat more with you- in fact, if you’ve already listened to more of these audios, you’ll already have realized that we talk about quite an array of subjects here. I give teaching tips that help you not only with your technique and skill on the flute, but also your mindset, and how to wrap around what needs to be done. 

We also tackle motivation, and inspiration- which are all key elements to becoming a good musician. It’s all part of it, and I’m happy to be a part of your journey.

It’s fun that you can go through the lesson modules inside the membership area in the order I have set for you- because there’s a definite systematic way to learn how to play the flute and have it feel easy and fun. So, I’m glad you’re learning that. And… the best part of it all is that you can learn from the comfort of your own home, on your own schedule. Love it!

Let’s chat more next time.

Leave me a comment here, and let’s keep the conversation going- because it’s a good one for sure!

I’m not sure how many of these audios I’ll be putting out, so let me know if you love them!

Bye ‘ya’ll!