Sounds of the Season: Why Online Flute Lessons Are the Ideal Holiday Surprise
Online Flute Lessons for the Holidays?
As we all well know, this time of year brings forth many holidays where gift-giving is a tradition. It’s important to know that no matter the gift, your thinking about a person enough to get, make, or do something for someone is the most important thing. It doesn’t matter how much money or time you spend on something, your love is what matters, even if you’re unable to procure a gift for a person.
That said, gifts of physical items are popular, as they can be put under the tree and wrapped up in fun paper. But, have you ever considered unconventional gifts such as experiences and acts of service? They take up no space, they won’t be forgotten, and often their impact is much longer-lasting than the traditional toys and gadgets that most people receive for the holidays.
In this article, we will discuss online flute lessons and how they’re an unconventional, but ideal holiday surprise for a flutist in your life.
The Gift of Music
For time out of mind, we’ve gifted music in the form of CDs, concert tickets, instruments, and more through the holidays. Not only are these things long-lasting gifts, but particularly when it comes to instruments, they can build a meaningful connection with music, which builds life skills and has tons of cognitive benefits.
Emotionally, music can help build an outlet for a person that you care about to channel their inner world into. Playing a musical instrument is a great and healthy way to deal with emotions and build emotional intelligence through musical expression.
The flute, as an instrument, is unique in its ability to express emotions through tone color, articulation, and unique pieces of music. It’s a beautiful and versatile instrument, but I don’t have to tell you that - that’s why you’re here! Online flute lessons are a great way to express your care for a flutist by providing them with a unique and ever-lasting gift.
Convenience and Flexibility
Online flute lessons are unique in that often they’re more convenient for both beginner and experienced players alike. They can often be planned during a normal time that you’d be practicing and there’s no travel involved, so there’s no need to coordinate in the same way you would need to for traditional music lessons. It’s not only convenient for adults, but particularly for children who are reliant on parents that may be working or tending to other life requirements like cooking dinner, cleaning house, or helping other children with homework. Online lessons can easily be scheduled on a recurring basis so that they’re at a predictable time on a predictable platform with no stress of traffic or having to walk through a music store and spend more money while you wait for your student to be finished.
It’s also important to note that online flute lessons are more accessible than traditional lessons to many. For instance, where I grew up, there wasn’t an experienced flute teacher within an hour's radius of where I lived, and it was very difficult to connect with them. Now, with the internet, you can easily connect with experienced teachers who work well for your style of learning and connect to their schedule with virtually the click of a button. So, if you don’t have qualified music teachers nearby, online is a great option to find someone who will work well for you or your flutist. Online flute lessons can work well for nearly all ages and skill levels with the right teacher.
Personalized Learning Experience
Personalized instruction > YouTube videos. Personalized instruction > Band class. Personalized instruction > Self-teaching. I don’t say this lightly. During my first 5 years playing the flute, I was self-taught. It wasn’t until I was getting private lessons for the first time that I realized my teacher was having to correct bad habits that I had taught myself or had learned from flutists around me in band class. My band director, while amazing, wasn’t a flutist. He played trumpet, so his knowledge of the nuances of trumpet was vast but was lacking in the flute department. This is why private lessons are so important. One of the first things that I do with new students is examine their hand position and correct it. We do this to avoid long-term pain and injury and to give flutists the ability to play faster and more fluidly. That said, students each have their own strengths, so personally tailoring lesson plans to students is important because each student needs and is striving for something different.
Take Wendy, for instance, an online student of mine. Her goal was to get back into flute playing after a many-year hiatus as an outlet for her mental health. She wanted to channel mindfulness and play pieces she loved while improving her tone with the hopes of eventually playing with an ensemble. So, we tailored her curriculum, allowing her to explore composers that she loves, eventually settling on some Beeftink pieces to play, and even exploring the alto flute, while also adding in some technical exercises, etudes, and tone work. We also spent lots of time talking about how flute can be a meditation for her.
Alissa, however, has plans to study flute in college. So, we’re working through standard repertoire, putting even more focus on fundamentals and scale technique as well as tone development. We make a point to work diligently through etudes and technique exercises, and the standards are certainly much higher for her practice regimen.
Each learner requires something different, so it’s important to have a teacher who will tailor your learning experience to your needs. Often, you can find that through online flute lessons.
Fostering a Lifelong Passion
The gift of online flute lessons can spark inspiration for years to come. Not only do you have an expert in the field to guide you, but they’re also there to inspire you. Music lessons don’t leave someone quickly. I remember every music teacher I’ve ever worked with, and the things they said to me stick with me not just in music, but in life. Those teachers built a passion for music in me by introducing me to new music, concepts, and lifestyles as a musician.
There’s so much potential for personal growth with music and flute lessons, as they help build confidence, emotional intelligence, creativity, and self-expression through learning an instrument. Not only do you learn valuable soft-skills, but also hard research and critical thinking skills as you learn how to apply historical concepts to your flute playing and musical interpretation. Online flute lessons can help teach you to do all of those things.
Greg, an online flute student, learned to channel his embouchure and build out his tone, but he also learned how to apply historical concepts to the music he was playing. There’s a difference between playing a Baroque piece vs. playing an Impressionist era piece, and learning the “why” behind those different types of interpretations and applying it directly to his own interpretations of these pieces was a key aspect of his growth as a flutist.
Nora has learned to channel much of her emotions into playing flute. She’s learning to take up space with her flute playing and to be loud and opinionated with her music playing. We do this by asking questions, by requesting her input, and by giving her opportunities to perform in front of her peers. Her confidence is growing by leaps and bounds, which is one concept on a long list of skills that music lessons help build.
The Joy of Progress
There’s nothing like the sense of accomplishment that comes from musical progress. Finishing a piece or mastering a scale, making progress towards a goal - all of these things bring such a sense of gratification to musicians. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever experienced, and I would say that’s the feeling most musicians have. Playing the flute can be a transformative journey, bringing you into your own as a human, and giving you an outlet and a way to be emotionally in tune with yourself. There are so many cognitive and emotional benefits to learning the flute, including heightened attention span, greater short-term and long-term memory, and heightened fluency in reading. If you’d like to read more about the cognitive benefits of flute playing, read this.
Final Thoughts
Online flute lessons are an incredible gift for the holidays. They’re an experience that will live with the recipient forever, so they make the most thoughtful and ideal holiday surprise. Gifting a flutist with the ability to work with a professional and build their lifelong love of music, build their skills, and build their cognitive functions all at the same time is one of the greatest ways to show someone that you care.
I would encourage you to consider the gift of music for your loved ones this holiday season, and consider taking advantage of my holiday specials, including 30% off monthly tuition for the first 3 months of lessons, 20% off of drop-in lessons, and BOGO Buy 2 months of lessons, get 1 FREE (Black Friday and Cyber Monday only). If you’re interested in these specials or signing a loved one (or yourself) up for online flute lessons this holiday season, click here to reach out to me and get started!
