The Role of Flute Lessons in Music Education and School Bands
Private music education plays a key role in music education and school bands, helping to elevate programs, build skills, and ultimately set the stage for what musical education should look like. Music education in school is so important and cannot be understated in terms of building a positive learning environment in schools, fostering higher education, and many other soft skills that stand under the surface of traditional education. In this article, we will focus on the importance of private flute lessons in traditional music education and how it will elevate your playing, your ability to integrate into your band seamlessly, and how taking private lessons will open musical opportunities that simply don’t exist in the traditional large school education.
The Benefits of Learning the Flute
Cognitive Benefits
Learning the flute builds cognitive skills such as memory, concentration, and problem-solving, but it also builds emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills. The NIH has spoken highly of the benefits of learning a musical instrument, and flute is a great option for that reason. As a result, there are links to higher levels of performance in other academic subjects specifically due to the improved focus, concentration, and critical thinking skills. Musicians often demonstrate better grades and better understanding, and there’s a distinct link between musicians and future doctors.
Physical and Motor Skill Development
Playing the flute requires precise finger movements, breath control, and coordination. Starting from a young age, this can help build these fine motor movements, but even as you age, it can make these small movements easier and less likely to deteriorate with time. Breath control positively impacts exercise abilities, mental health, and overall health. Beyond music-related activities, your body will thank you for learning an instrument.
Expressive Outlet and Emotional Development
Musicians are often noted to have higher levels of emotional intelligence, as they learn early on how to interact as a group and team while simultaneously learning how to express themselves creatively.
In my classroom, students learn breathing exercises, they learn to tell stories with their flute playing, and they learn how to be resilient through challenges by persevering through tough times, knowing they will forever get better. Soft skills like this are important for development in school, in social settings, and in their careers later on. Young musicians learn so much just by pushing through the difficult times in their musical journeys. With that, music requires succinctness in the breath and tension relief in the body, therefore it teaches young musicians how to control their bodies and minds on a deeper level. Giving students an artistic outlet with physical advantages can teach the most soft skills in the shortest amount of time, so I, for one, am a fan.
As an example, student A - we will call her Madeline - began lessons while struggling with anxiety and ADHD. She hyperventilated constantly. But with time and training, we learned to harness our breath and control it, taking deep, diaphragmatic breaths only when we wanted to, learning to focus through a meditation-like process. This helped not just with learning to play flute, but it also helped her express herself when she wasn’t sure how she felt, allowing her to name her feelings with “colors” that we use in flute playing. It helped with coming down from anxiety using the breath and coming back to earth and it also helped her learn to focus when her brain was just too loud.
The Flute’s Role in School Bands
Melodic Beauty and Lead Role
Flute is often featured as a melodic centerpiece in school band. Because the tone is bright and airy, it helps to create a balanced ensemble and brings happiness and energy to the ensemble as a whole. Often, marching bands utilize piccolo for this same reason, as it tends to cut through and shimmer on top of the band.
The sound of the flute carries a unique significance in creating a balanced ensemble. Its clear and pure tones often serve as a guiding light for other instruments to tune and align with. The flute's ability to blend seamlessly with a variety of musical elements allows it to act as a bridge between different sections of the ensemble, fostering cohesion and unity. Furthermore, the flute's wide range and dynamic capabilities enable it to adapt to different musical styles and textures, adding depth and color to the overall sound. In this way, the flute's sound plays a critical role in shaping the ensemble's balance and harmony, ultimately contributing to a rich and cohesive musical experience for both performers and listeners alike.
Collaboration and Teamwork
Even through flute often has leading parts and solos in bands, there are lots of moments in which it provides harmonic elements and support to other instruments and parts of the band. With that in mind, being a part of a band builds teamwork. Often, band members are more likely to understand how to create a cohesive unit and work well in team-oriented spaces later on, which is a highly sought-after quality in the workforce. Students learn to value the importance of their individual contribution while also learning to blend and create something bigger. Being in band is a great way to teach students these valuable skills.
Flute Lessons: Learning Beyond the Classroom
Specialized Instruction
While band teaches important elements of being a musician and playing as a team, individualized instruction is important to becoming a much more competent musician and being able to execute these technical and musical passages correctly. An experienced instructor will build a curriculum that is tailored around the student’s strengths and weaknesses in order to round out their musical experience.
Private lessons help students grow at their own pace but can help build students’ skills faster than without. Often, students in my classroom well surpass their peers who don’t take lessons. Many of my middle school students are playing high school-level repertoire because with the coaching of a private teacher, they’re able to understand concepts faster and push through repertoire at a higher level than those that learn only in band class. Individualized attention is important in a musical setting, and while students can learn a lot in band, they can learn much more and become better players faster through private lessons.
Solo Performances and Competitions
Flute lessons prepare students for solo performances and competitions, often encouraging students to participate in auditions that the general public may not know about as well as creating performance opportunities through recitals.
Not only does participating in these solo performances help with the musical aspect of playing, but it also helps in other areas of life such as public speaking, general assertiveness, and generally being in the limelight. Performing doesn’t come naturally for everyone, so students often get to work on those skills in lessons and learn valuable skills for dealing with anxiety.
Students of mine have competed in many different auditions and public performances, but we always discuss how we can walk in, do our best, and walk out happy no matter what the outcome is. We learn to reframe negative thoughts, breathing exercises, and we also learn to prepare meticulously ahead of a performance so that we can put our best foot forward.
Final Thoughts
There are many physical, cognitive, and emotional benefits to learning flute, especially playing in a band or orchestra. Students who participate in band or orchestra often demonstrate emotional intelligence and team building alongside their musical skills. That said, private lessons can help them thrive in their musical education and are extremely important when it comes to continuing their musical education. Finding a good teacher who will tailor your lessons to your individual needs will help you grow as a musician, learn to be better during performances, and will help you learn to be a better team member or even leader, as they can give you feedback on how to interact with your peers in a kind and professional way.
I would encourage anyone who wants to learn flute and play in band to begin taking private lessons and honing those skills with a teacher.
If you would like to learn about online flute lessons with me, click here to learn more or reach out! I offer a free 30-minute trial lesson to make sure it would be a great fit!
