No doubt, you've thought this at some point (we all have!):

Is Learning the Flute Easier as a Child?

"Oh, learning the flute would have been so much easier if I'd learnt it as a kid!"

Well, you're kind of right.

But you're kind of wrong too...

You, as an adult flute player, have a (very useful) skill that kids do not have.

I want to show you how you can take advantage of this in-built adult skill!

So I made you a little video.

Watch it here to learn how to exploit your in-built talent (that you DO have, whether you think so or not).

Jane xx

Is Learning the Flute Easier as a Child?

I am teaching the flute at a school in Sydney today. And I just had the greatest example in a student, Molly, why learning flute as a kid seems so much easier than when you're learning as an adult. She couldn't play her high notes and it was fixed in a flash. For an adult that often takes a lot longer than a flash to fix or it seems like a bigger drama in your head. 

Flute teaching at school

Stick around to the end of this video and I'll show you how you can improve your tone really quickly for free. Okay so I wanna tell you about this student, Molly, that I just taught. So this is my teaching room. So you can see the beautiful school chair and what do we have here, the beautiful school heater. 

Fix a student's high notes on the flute

So Molly came in this morning. Last year, she had been learning with a different teacher all year, and unfortunately she'd been accelerated through all the basics and she'd missed some things like how to play higher notes. So she has been learning with me for a few lessons and we are onto fixing her high notes.

The difference between a child and adult learner

Next week, I'm going to show you the part of what I showed her that fixed her high notes straight away. This video, I'm going to tell you about the difference between how a kid thinks and how an adult thinks and how you can use it to your advantage. So she came along and she was playing C major, and this is how she has been playing it.

Jana Cavanagh Flute School

Now, if you don't know me, you might not think that I can play the flute. So let me demonstrate about how it's supposed to sound. This is what I would want her to be sounding like. Now, what was so interesting about today with Molly? If she had been an adult, the adult would've been stressing to me about how they can't play high notes and they haven't been able to for weeks or months or whatever, which is fine. I know it's totally frustrating.

Adults are aware of what you can't do 

Watch the video next week, cuz I'll show you how to fix it. But what was so interesting, Molly, she doesn't seem to notice or care. She's a good student like she cares about things, but the big difference between her and you is you are an adult. You have years and years of experience as a human and you are - here's the big word aware of what you can't do.

Kids go with the flow when learning 

Kids just kind of go with the flow and it's not because they're more relaxed and it's not because they're not as smart. It's just because they've had less time as a human. They go with the flow. I fixed her high notes. She's on the right track now next week she'll be heaps better. And we'll just move on from there. She kind of doesn't give it much thought.

Adults are hyper aware 

The reason that adults get so stressed is because they are so hyper aware that, well, maybe not even hyper aware, they're just aware of all the things that they can't do because you've got a more developed intellect.

Adults can assess their own flute playing

I wanna teach you how to use this to your advantage. Okay? It's a good thing that you're an adult and that you're aware of what you can't do. The bad side is that it stresses you out and it becomes a big ordeal. The people who do my online courses, the flute courses know about how I get you to take advantage of being aware of all these things, because you can assess your own playing and become your own flute teacher.

Improvement instead of perfection

The instant solution for you now of being aware of all those things that you can't do for example, high notes - is to change the way that you assess yourself, whatever it is that you are working on. I wanna change the way that you measure your progress. I want you to find an improvement instead of aiming for perfection in a day where you want to be able to play all of your high notes easily. 

Control of flute embouchure

Well, I mean, they're very high notes. When I say high notes. I mean anything from E above To me, they're high notes because you need a different control of your embouchure when you're doing that. Next week's video, I'll show you more the solution for having that awareness of an adult of all these things you can't do is to change the way you measure your progress like I said.

One step at a time

When I show you the technique next week, you are going to start thinking about, instead of I can't play all my high notes, think, okay, I can play up to D easily. Maybe E flat, then E gets a bit hard. Definitely can't do F. Maybe that happens your one step at a time. Your one thing at a time is to, to is to improve that F that you can't do. If you can improve your F to be in control, you are on the right path. Next time you practice see if you can get up to an F sharp instead.

Work on one thing at a time

So one thing at a time, one step at a time, and once you can get one higher note, big tick to you. That is progress. Adults can be overwhelmed with the fact that they just can't do a whole lot of things. And when I say work on one thing at a time, I don't mean work on high notes for the next month. That's not what I mean. I mean, work on getting F for the next day. And that's your achievement.

Micro-improvements on the flute

This is the guaranteed way to improve, a guaranteed way to improve one step, another step, another step. And you know what happen. Soon, you'll have a hundred steps and you'll be heaps better. Somewhere where you would never have been able to get had you tried to do everything at once.

Free flute mini course

So congratulations on being a smart, aware adult human, but I'm also sorry that it causes you pain. So one thing at a time, one step at a time, and they all add up. I'm going to record another video right now about the technique that I showed Molly to get her high notes instantly. In the meantime, go to www.flute.school/free and go and check out how to quickly improve your tone on the flute, if you haven't already. And I will see you next week. Oh my God. Wait, I didn't tell you who I am. I'm Jane from the Flute Teacher School. See you next week.