One Week Scale Challenge!

Need a new way to practice your scales? Take advantage of my FREE One Week Scale Challenge!

Its easy to get your own free copy: go to my Contact page and send me a message! I’ll send you an email with a pdf attachment.

This challenge focuses on all major scales in two octaves. Play one exercise each day - each features a different note grouping for your scales.

I’ve notated them slurred, but you should also do different articulations (all tongued, different slur groupings, etc) after the first week.

If you want to stretch yourself with an extra challenge, do the same exercises in the harmonic minor.

Happy fluting!

Three challenges of virtual lessons (and how to turn them to your advantage!)

With all of the wonderful reasons why you should consider virtual lessons, it is also important to address some of the challenges that can come up.  Let’s face it - as teachers and as students, we are used to the idea of an in-person lesson. So while it is great to expand into virtual lessons, we also need to take the time to plan appropriately.  

I’ve identified three major challenges that can come up with virtual lessons, and three ways you can turn them to your advantage. 

Challenge #1: no (or poor) internet access. 

It can be a good practice to offer a two minute test call before starting a virtual lesson, to both confirm the connection and make sure the quality is workable for student and teacher.  This way, when its time for the virtual lesson, you can jump right in!  

If the connection isn’t good, then its time for some creativity.  Perhaps a couple of students can gather at one student’s house where there is a better connection. This is also a great opportunity for group lessons! Or perhaps they might be able to use the music room at school.  The end result isn’t to avoid virtual lessons, but to encourage creativity and partnerships. 

End advantage: Creativity and collaboration!

Challenge #2: sound distortion.  

Even with the best internet connection and a nice microphone, the sound quality can still be difficult to navigate via virtual lessons.  This is a great time to get your students to exaggerate their musicality!  Aspects such as dynamics, articulation, and general style won’t translate well due to the sound compression.  Getting that exaggeration will help your students with a wider range of expressivity. 

End advantage: expressive musicians!

Quick tip: use headphones to help cut down on feedback, and use a quiet room that is free from distractions and extraneous noises.

Challenge #3: limited view. 

 With a limited view from the webcam, it can be difficult to see as much as you would with an in-person lesson. This is one of the reasons I advocate for a blended learning approach (mixing in-person lessons with virtual lessons).  I like to have my camera set up so I can move around to show different parts of the flute, posture, and hand positioning, and ask for the student to do so as well. This has lead to some outside-the-box moments from myself and my students! 

End advantage: creative teaching and fun lessons!

I hope that by addressing these challenges of virtual lessons you feel more confident in offering or taking them.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on challenges and successes of virtual lessons!

Contact me so we can set up a virtual lesson - I would love to work with you!

Check in next time for something tiny!

Four Reasons (Plus a Bonus!) Why You Want Virtual Lessons

Hello friends! 

As announced last week, I am very excited to offer virtual lessons.  But I get this question all the time: why should I take virtual lessons? 

Before I dive into the why, let me be the first to advocate for finding a flute teacher in your area that you can study with in-person.  There are countless benefits to being in the same room as your teacher - you can learn so much from watching and listening, and they can correct issues that are difficult to diagnose otherwise.  

That being said, here are the four reasons why you want virtual lessons.

Connect with people anywhere in the world. I love all this wonderful technology we have that keeps us closer together.  Not only are we able to use it to keep in touch with our friends and family, but we can also use it to expand our networks, meet new people and get new ideas.  This applies to the flute! Want a lesson with someone in the next state? What about the next time zone? Even around the world? You can do it!  

Save on travel time. Living in Los Angeles, you become very aware of just how long it can take to get around! When you have a virtual lesson, it can be such a life-saver to the parents, students, and the teacher when that time is saved and that stress is completely eliminated by not needing to travel. 

Connect from the comfort of home. One thing I hear all the time in lessons is, “it sounded so much better when I practiced at home!” While performing in new places is a good skill to learn, having a lesson from the comfort of home can be a great way to remove some of that “new place” stress and really focus on the skills that need to be developed.  

Blended learning. I am a HUGE fan of this blended learning technique! Here’s what it looks like for one of my students:

        Week 1: in-person lesson in my studio 

        Weeks 2-3: virtual lesson using FaceTime 

        Repeat! 

This way, we get the benefits of the in-person lesson, and tend to focus more on posture, positioning, and general sound production.  But we also get the benefits of the virtual lessons, save on travel time and stress, and work on musicality, phrasing, and general technique! 

This is just one way that blended learning can work - other students of mine have a different schedule or set-up.  

Blended learning BONUS!  Make-up lessons! Having the option of virtual lessons makes make-up lessons so much easier to schedule, because it is such a time saver. Additionally, if a student is starting to feel sick, they can have a virtual lesson, and keep everyone more healthy! 

I hope you can see that virtual lessons can be a great tool.  If you have questions, comments or ideas, please let me know! 

 Check in next time when I discuss some of the difficulties of virtual lessons!

Don’t forget to contact me so we can set up a virtual lesson - I would love to work with you!

Happy fluting! 

Announcement: now offering virtual lessons!

Hello friends,

Welcome to my very first blog post! I have many great topics planned for this year, and can't wait to share them with you! 

For today, I am excited to announce that I am now offering virtual lessons! 

I love using great technology that can bring us together - especially when it involves music. In this age of increased connectivity, there is no reason to feel limited in who you can study with. With easy access to FaceTime, Skype, Google and more, we can be connected in a matter of minutes for a lesson or coaching.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be talking about the benefits and challenges of virtual lessons.  Check in next week to learn why you will want to take (or provide!) virtual lessons.  

Contact me  so we can set up a virtual lesson - I would love to work with you!