Flute Lessons

Whether you’re preparing for a conservatory exam or playing just for fun, flute lessons give you the necessary skills to master your flute.

Your instructor will work with you on these major elements:

(Flute Lessons) 1st Step – Tone Quality:

The main element of flute. To develop a good tone quality, you’ll first work on tongue, lips, and mouth position.

Tongue: The default tongue position for playing the flute is unique: the tongue should ideally lie flat in the mouth, like a perfectly balanced floor. If that feels too stiff, think of your tongue like a cat lying relaxed on that floor. This is used for when you’re either resting, or when you’re opening your mouth wide to play loud. You don’t want to force the tongue to be flat, and add any tension, but it should allow the mouth to be very open inside.
Lips: lip position, AKA embouchure, is the most important element in learning the flute. Ideally, the corners of the mouth should be firm and spread, and the lips should point downward. You can read more about embouchure for the flute here.
Mouth: how open or closed your mouth is while playing the flute will have a profound impact on how your flute playing sounds. Your professional instructor will teach you different mouth shapes and openings to expand your range of capabilities.

(Flute Lessons) 2nd Step – Breathing and Air Flow:

After you’ve learned the basics of tone quality, mastering breathing and air flow will allow you to develop a steady sound. When you play the flute with too much air but not enough pressure, notes may sound weak and unclear. If you play with too much pressure but not enough air flow, the notes may not come out at all!

(Flute Lessons) 3rd Step – Building Musical Skills:

The ability to read music is important to a student’s progress. When your basic musical skills are developed, you can advance to much more challenging music in your flute lessons. We also offer composing lessons, for those that want to learn more advanced music theory and songwriting.

(Flute Lessons) 4th Step – Advanced Techniques:

For the flute, advanced techniques you will learn include the following:

Vibrato – a rapid, slight variation in pitch that comes from playing with ease
proper staccato – playing notes with sharp separation between them
legato – playing from note to note smoothly and with connection
double tongue – flipping the tongue back and forth – requires a great deal of stability to do well
glissando – a continuous slide up or down to connect notes
trills – this is the rapid fluctuation between two close-together notes during a sustain. These become more common in advanced pieces and etudes.

(Flute Lessons) 5th Step – Musicality:

As a student of Your Lessons Now, we want you to learn learn how to express yourself through your instrument, and that is the real music – adding the human element to your playing.