Can you learn the flute by yourself?

[mamaMAMAma]

DD#1(10) is really interested in learning the flute. She plays the piano and the recorder. I'm wondering if she can pick up the flute using books/DVDs or if she would need lessons. Suggestions for a good quality beginner/intermediate flute welcome as well. Thanks!

[Vaske]

Flute fingering is very similar to recorder fingering, so she should be able to pick that up easily from a book--just look for one with a good fingering chart.

Flute embouchere is harder, it can be self-taught from books and videos, but I would suggest that you find multiple sources for her to learn this part, to help her sort out what the real essentials are. Books, DVDs, also try searching for free short instructional videos on Youtube. Lessons would certainly be helpful here, but I don't think they are essential.

The rest is just practice and experimenting with how to make the best tone.
A good flutist exercise is to make pouty fishy faces.

As for flutes, I currently have an old Artley that I like. If I had money, I would probably look at Yamahas first. I developed a dislike of Gemeinhardts for some reason, can't remember why. Probably almost any flute in working order will do for a beginner, since the sound depends so much more on the player than on the instrument.

[kittie313]

Originally Posted by mamaMAMAma

DD#1(10) is really interested in learning the flute. She plays the piano and the recorder. I'm wondering if she can pick up the flute using books/DVDs or if she would need lessons. Suggestions for a good quality beginner/intermediate flute welcome as well. Thanks!

Yes, a child who is motivated and has some musical background can pick it up on her own. I started on piano at almost 2yo then in 4th grade took violin at ps and in 8th grade I decided I wanted to play the flute. 15 days before school started, my dad took me to the music store and got me a Yamaha student model flute and a beginner's book. 10 days after school started I had to play for the teacher to get a seat placement and I was placed 4th chair. By the time I finished high school, I was 1st chair and pulling superior ratings in state solo competitions, and had been in the all-state honors band for 3 years straight. I got a scholorship to Juilliard (which I STUPIDLY turned down) and never had an actual lesson in my life on the flute. The only instruction I had was what my mother taught me of piano when I was a preschooler before their divorce (I was 4 1/2) and ps violin classes. I never played the recorder or another woodwind before (although I did do a year on the trumpet in 5th grade).

So yes, your 10yo dd can do it on her own, as I did it myself. If she is particularly motivated to excel musically, she could teach herself and do amazing things with it. I'd get her a book, a fingering chart, and a decent student model (I'm particular to Yamaha or, if you can afford it, I personally prefer Armstrong myself, but I'm not familiar with the student models, I am saving up for one of their professional instruments now)

[happysmileylady]

Sure, I taught myself the flute in 8th grade/into high school. It actually wasn't that hard, that was even back before you tube I just had a diagram set that actually came with my flute, and it was just a matter of matching the note on the music to the fingering on the chart...and practice of course. To me, learning to read sheet music was MUCH harder than learning to play the instrument.

[Lisa1970]

If she is in to it, which it sounds like she is.

My daughter self taught herself the viola. After a few months, I think maybe 5 or 6 months, maybe 7, we put her in lessons. She started there at where most kids in the public schools would have been at 4 yrs. So she clearly had no trouble self teaching. She had books from amazon and such.

I think if you want to enough, you can. Afterall, how did anyone learn anything 100 or more years ago?

Good luck! Your daughter sounds like such a sweet person!

[mamaMAMAma]

Thanks, everyone. I think I'll take dd#1 to a music store and have them show her some flutes and get her a book and dvd. How much should I spend on the flute? There seem to be fairly big range in prices. I'll definitely look at the yamahas.

[SophieAnn]

I had a piano background before learning flute in 7th grade, so I agree that with her music background she should be able to learn on her own.

When you're at the music store, hopefully someone at the store will show her how to put the flute together and also show her how to clean it. Those are 2 things that I think it's nice to have someone show you how to do.

[kittie313]

Originally Posted by SophieAnn

I had a piano background before learning flute in 7th grade, so I agree that with her music background she should be able to learn on her own.

When you're at the music store, hopefully someone at the store will show her how to put the flute together and also show her how to clean it. Those are 2 things that I think it's nice to have someone show you how to do.

Absolutely, I had totally forgotten about asking the music store to show her how to assemble and clean it. The one here when I was in 8th grade showed me that, along with how to make sound with it. I love our small local music store, the people working there love what they do and are excited to help people who are interested in music. Perhaps if the shop isn't too busy when you go, they could take a minute to also show her how to hold it properly and make sound with it (although one could just play around with it until they figure it out, it is similar to playing a pop bottle)

[PGTlatte]

I have played piano, flute, oboe, and now I am a violin student. Of the four instruments, I feel the flute was the least technical....there just weren't a ton of little technical things you need to do exactly right to play the flute well. If someone already knows enough music theory to read music, if they work through a good flute method training book, someone could self-teach. There are some mouth techniques with tonguing, slurring intervals, etc that I don't know if a book will cover and a teacher would be helpful for those. My teacher was a college student and she was very affordable. If there is a small college with a music dept near you, you might be able to find someone to meet with her once a month or so and address any questions she might have...or maybe someone at a music store would be able to do this. Of the four instruments I have played, flute required the least amount of oversight by a teacher to learn.

[EdnaMarie]

I can pick out tunes on the piano and am able to play nearly everything I memorized on flute, on the recorder, and it's been years since I played in orchestra. So I'm thinking she definitely can do it on her own. It's very easy to pick up and she could get a lesson or two to correct positioning and embouchere before she picks up really bad habits.

[mamaMAMAma]

Terrific! DD#1 can play the piano and recorder by ear as well. She's really excited!

[tankgirl73]

Learning any musical instrument by yourself -- Well, yes and no. Yes, you can learn the fingerings, and the basic production of sound (usually). But what do you do when you get stuck? It's also very easy to inadvertently practice bad habits, things you just didn't realize you weren't supposed to do, or didn't realize you were even doing.

I am a music teacher by profession, full disclosure. But I do think that playing a musical instrument is one of the few things that really does benefit from having a coach. It's a practical skill and a physical skill rather than a purely academic one. Just like you wouldn't learn ballet or karate by yourself, you'll do better with some tutelage for tootling. Yes, you can learn the basics of ballet or karate from videos and books, but there's something really missing... you'll only get so much out of it. Or it will just take a lot longer to get there, because a video cannot look at you, diagnose the issue that you're having, and steer a new course of action based on your own particular strengths and weaknesses the way that an active, personal teacher can.

Having said this, I do fully acknowledge that a motivated and talented child CAN learn a heck of a lot by themselves. My son is one of them. Not interested in music lessons for years and years and years, only wanted to goof around... Finally he got a real electric guitar for Christmas 2 years ago, and soon after he got a tab book of songs from Guitar Hero. Just from that, he figured out how to read guitar tabs and how to play those songs. Add in lots of instructional youtube videos, and within a year he was playing Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn licks like an 11yo should not have been able to do!

BUT -- we didn't let him just sit there. At that point, we did get him some lessons. We did 6 weeks of coaching with a local renowned jazz guitarist. And he did a TON to help DS with some particular technical issues and gave him inspirations for where to go next with his work and investigations and experimentations.

A few months later, we started him on classical guitar lessons, which he's loving. These are ongoing on a regular basis.

Around that same time, he also started playing the drums. I gave him a quick runthrough of stick technique then got him a couple books/CDs and left him to it.

This summer, he started playing the saxophone. This is a different beast, because it's a wind instrument, like the flute. There is so much about embouchure that is unique to each individual, that a video just can't replicate. A video can tell you how you SHOULD be doing it, but cannot diagnose what you're doing wrong if you're not perfect from the start.

He started the sax at a beginner's band camp. One solid week of intensive coaching, and he's on his way! Now he's fine working on his own, AFTER he had had the initial startup to get the basic techniques down.

So, there's all the yesses and no's. In general, I do think that kids should get coaching for the FIRST phases of learning a new instrument, where it's really important to start good habits from the beginning that won't need to be un-learned and fixed later. I have personally had several piano students come to me who were "self-taught" -- and while they could play fairly well in certain ways, they had terrible problems in other areas.

Heck, I just remembered... when *I* was a kid, I self-taught myself on the piano at my grandmother's house since we didn't have one at our house until I was older and started lessons. I used an old beginner book that was there and worked my way through it. And yes, I did figure out quite a bit. But... while I'd learned to read middle C correctly, I had middle C as the WRONG NOTE on the piano. I had totally misunderstood that part! So every song that I played... I 'read' it correctly, but played it wrong! Then I had to UNlearn where I thought the notes were.

I was a smart kid and yes, talented. But one simple misunderstanding caused big problems.

Anyway... where was I? Right. A talented student can get lucky, and instinctively approach an instrument the correct way from the beginning. But they might not (for the longest time, the flute was the only instrument I had never managed to get a sound out of!)

So, I do recommend at least getting some lessons to get her started. Once she's got the basics, let her go on her own for awhile if she's not keen to continue the lessons or if finances are tight. Then see where it goes.

You might also look into local school band programs, believe it or not. It can totally depend on your district and even on individual schools, but I talked to a local middle school and my son will be joining their band program for the saxophone, and they're really happy to have him! Music is great by yourself, but so much MORE fun when in a group. (Most of the time heh)

There are also community bands, depending on where you live. My son does percussion in the official city band (which I direct, so no nepotism there heh...) and the local youth orchestra.

Well those are my thoughts. I don't want to devalue what anyone else here has said about their own experiences with self-learning a musical instrument... it's just that those are only the success stories. For each one of those, there are probably 10 stories where it did not work very well. Yes it CAN work just fine (as it did for my son and the guitar), but only when all the stars line up just right, in a manner of speaking.

(Oh and flute fingerings are only SIMILAR to recorder fingerings... they are actually much, much more complicated. It will certainly help that she knows them, of course, but even I find flute fingerings mind-boggling lol...)

[sapphire_chan]

plus side, flute, sax, oboe, and clarinet fingerings are similar enough that learning one is a huge jump on learning the others.

[PJsmomma]

I taught myself the flute after I was an advanced pianist.

I did just fine but the technique was definitely lacking. I could never get past having a "breath-ey" sound.

Having a teacher definitely helps do it right and points out things you'd never know you're doing wrong.

That doesn't mean she can't learn and have a wonderful time teaching herself.
If she really seems to have a knack for it you may want to consider lessons though.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by tankgirl73

(Oh and flute fingerings are only SIMILAR to recorder fingerings... they are actually much, much more complicated. It will certainly help that she knows them, of course, but even I find flute fingerings mind-boggling lol...)

since I started with clarinet, I find recorder fingerings weird as anything.

On topic, keep in mind that it's really hard to get to where solo pieces are fun, it's easy to play really fun stuff with a group.