LFP 084 | How Much Time Should I Practice My Flute as a Beginner?

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LFP 084 | How Much Time Should I Practice My Flute as a Beginner?

Learn Flute Podcast SHOW NOTES:

In this episode, you will learn the answer to the question, “How much time should I practice my flute as a beginner?”.

This is the Learn Flute Podcast Episode 084.

Yeah!  The first one!!

You’ll learn:

What this podcast will be all about

  • Information on this podcast is supplemental to LearnFluteOnline.com
  • How riding a bike relates to flute playing
  • How much time a beginner flute player should spend practicing
  • What you should practice as a beginner flutist
  • What you can look forward to learning from listening

Learn Flute Podcast 084

Press the Play Button to Listen Now:

Podcast Transcript

How much time should you put into flute practicing each day? If you’re a beginner, and are just getting going, you may be wondering what is appropriate and what will maximize your efforts. I’m Rebecca Fuller, the expert and instructor at Learn Flute Online dot com, and today we’ll be answering this exact question as well as giving seven specifics you can do to ensure your success as you practice. This is episode eighty four!

I received a super nice letter from one of my beginner flute students where she lets me know that she’s an adult and wants to maximize her efforts as she begins learning how to play the flute. In this podcast I’ll be going through what I told her in my reply as well as getting very specific as to what exactly to practice. Let’s go!

Everyone has a different idea of appropriate time-commitment towards a new hobby or skill, and most think that the more time you can spend the more the skill will be learned. This can be true and not true at the same time. Let me explain:

If I wanted to learn say, how to ride a bike, then I could expect that jumping on and trying over and over will help me eventually get balance to the point where I can ride with no problem, right? Right. –Sort of. This is only assuming that the bike is rideable in the first place, with no flat tires or broken chains on it. And, it’s also assuming that the rider has the correct idea of how and where to sit and that the feet are doing the pedaling instead of the hands for example. Haha, I know this sounds like I’m making a silly joke of it, but I’m quite serious. Everyone has probably seen someone ride a bike, so there’s not a lot of technical know-how to it, but there is definite know-how. And, we can take a lesson from this as we learn to play the flute.

Assuming that like the bicycle, our instrument is in proper working condition, we are ready to jump on and start riding. Yay! But, wait. How and where should I sit on it? Haha, I mean, where do I put my hands?

Spending hours and hours trying to play the flute without any proper direction is kind of a futile effort.

So, once I give my newbie students clear and concise directions, I advise them to start with about 20 minutes twice per day.

Now as soon as I said that, some of you may have groaned a little in your heads and thought, “I’m way too excited about this new fun shiny toy to just hold it for only twenty minutes twice per day”. And, I totally get it.

It’s possible you have an hour set aside. That’s great! But, as a beginner, I still suggest you split this time up into two segments per day for a few weeks. This will help build muscle memory that is desperately needed, and keep you from hitting the saturated wall.

You’ll be much more effective taking bite-sized skills, focusing on them each exclusively, and then giving it a rest for a few hours before doing it all again. And again and again.

You see, adults have this thing with being able to understand directions easily and perfectly. It’s another thing to have these same bodies follow the instructions without hiccups. What’s understood in the mind sometimes doesn’t happen with the body. We just need time and perfect repetition to continue on a nice upward learning curve.

Now on the other hand, if two shorter practices per day aren’t possible, then I’d go for a solid twenty five to thirty minutes of focused practice just as an example. Stop before you feel tired of it though. That’s key to keeping your enthusiasm for the next session.

Okay, ready to learn the schedule of what you should do during these beginner practice sessions? Great.

Take notes, and make yourself a schedule you can post somewhere you look at it all the time:

Number one: after taking out your flute and putting it together to the stage of the lessons you are on, you’ll want to work on something that resembles a tone study. This means you’re simply working on sound and tone production.. No tunes yet. And if you’re in the lessons here at Learn Flute Online I give you those specific studies to use.

Number two: once you’re past the first few days or weeks, you can start working on your scales. Scales are more important than you can ever imagine, so input this into your mind now whether you understand why or not… then carry on.

Number three will be a few minutes studying the written music. You’ll notice I said, “studying” the music instead of “playing” the music. Make sure the studying comes before the playing. You’ll cut years off of your learning time if you get this skill right from the beginning.

Number four will be to play through any and all pieces you’ve ever learned before. Yup! You heard it right. Replaying the tunes you already feel knowledgeable on will not only keep them polished, but will solidify the skills you already had to learn to play them. It’s a win-win!

Number five is to take a few concentrated minutes to work on your new material. The key word here is ‘concentrated’. Focus on the new parts, and take small bites.

Number six will be for you to play whatever the heck you want to for a bit. And round it out with number seven which is to clean and put your flute away in its case for the time being until your next practice session.

Did you take notes? That’s it in a nutshell!

Well, thanks again for joining us today. I hope you’ve already had time to come into the membership area at LearnFluteOnline.com for a lesson this week. I promise it’ll be totally worth it. That’s why I’m mentioning it here.

You’re awesome, and I appreciate you all for your willingness and teachability.

We’re all going to be quite the good flute players very soon!!

As always, leave your comments or questions here because I love to read them, I love to help you all learn to the best of your abilities.

See you later!

Thank you for Tuning In!

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Today we answered the question of “How much time should I practice my flute as a beginner?” Glad you were here. Join us for the next episode.

Have any questions? Comment below and I will help you out.

Rebecca FullerRebecca Fuller
Get Flutie with us! Learn and enjoy every musical minute.

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