My experience figuring out practice routines for adult students
Vložit
- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- I practice on Twitch!
/ justanotherflautist
Online Lessons with me!
www.justanother...
*************
If you'd like to make a one-time donation, you can use the following link! Thank you so much!
paypal.me/Just...
******************
My vlog channel:
/ justanothervlaugist
My second channel (covers & performances):
/ justanotherflautist
******************
Website
www.justanother...
Instagram
/ justanotherflutist
:)
I was a horn player as a kid and it was not hard then to get in four hours a day of practice a day. Now that I am taking flute lessons at 59 I can just manage an hour a day. I just don't have the energy for more. You really summed up the problems adults have practicing perfectly.
Thank you for acknowledging that life happens! I am now 60, having experienced numerous life-challenges. Sometimes, music does take a back seat to real life commitments. That's just what happens in life. If I don't have enough time everyday, I choose to keep my tone in shape. Without sound we have nothing. Thank you for your motivational idea of a play-around-day on the flute. I wish I would have thought of this myself!
I am an adult coming back to playing, I was a conservatory college player in mh youth and then played in rock bands! I have had several years away due to caring for aging parents and my own rheumatoid arthritis and I simply cannot play for an hour a day. I may never get back to college scholarship form, but I am playing for me, to soothe my soul :)
I look forward to life as an adult but
it only seems to get harder and harder ;-;
Not as hard as playing the oboe!
It's worth it. It's all give and take. The joy of being independent trumps the drudgery of adult responsibilities for me. :)
I'm going to uni in September and I was really worried about my practice routine for the flute. This video was really helpful so thank you!
If you think it's crazy now, just wait until you have kids. When I got back into playing flute as a serious hobbiest, my wife was pregnant with our first. I was learning the Bach Sonata #2 then, and our son actually learned the piece in utero, especially the Siciliano movement. After he was born I could calm him down by playing that movement. I continued practicing 30 minutes each night after I put him down to sleep. Both our boys quickly got used to hearing me practice as they were falling asleep, as that was the only time I had to practice. Even when he was 16, our oldest said he enjoyed hearing it, as it felt like "home", plus he liked to laugh at my mistakes. I tell the college-age folks in the groups I play in that it takes significant effort to keep it up once you're an adult. Over the years, I've learned on my own what you mentioned in this video, so it rings very true to this adult. I'm now a regular in 5 groups (3 concert bands and two jazz big bands) playing flute/piccolo and various saxes. Practicing multiple instruments is even harder, I tend to schedule my practicing based on the rehearsals and performances coming up for the next two weeks, plus the things happening at work and with my family. Yes, I live by that calendar. Sorry for the length of this comment, but this video really hit home.
I may be a high schooler, but I’m a hecking busy one. I’ve been realizing that I’m having to do a lot more scheduling so that I don’t go insane. I normally just write in my planner to practice, but I never put down a time and I always seem to just push it down the line. So putting a time to it seems like a really good idea for me. Thank you for this video and you’re other ones such as the positive reframing. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. Even though you’re a flutist, you’re reaching so many more people than just that group, and it helps so much (I’m an oboist).
I'm glad this video helped! I've also had and have some high school students who work too! I'm hearing how crazy life is these days. You've got this. :)
As one of your adult students, I really appreciate that you get this about adults!
FWIW, a lot of the agony of scheduling practice as an adult learner is that I spend my entire work day under pressure of a variety of types, and to be honest, I don't want to take something I love (harp, flute, etc.) and turn it into yet one more opportunity to fail, fall behind, get flustered and overcommitted, and tell myself that I suck just like I am constantly doing at work.
My solution was a bit drastic: no lessons. No teachers. None. It's taken my overachieving type A brain a long time to get to this point, and oddly enough -- especially on the harp -- I've discovered that I'm smart enough to actually figure out how to solve problems that have dogged me for FIVE YEARS, once I'm not working so hard to gain someone else's approval.
I'm still thinking about this ... and I'm not sure how this will come across telling someone who makes her living as a teacher that I've decided to ditch lessons altogether. :-)
Yo, I totally get it. I have gotten this feeling from some of my former students, and I completely understand. It's reassuring to hear it so plainly, so thank you so much for spelling it out so clearly. I know I wasn't crazy to have felt this sentiment from them. :)
@@JustAnotherFlutist I think I'm finding that extremely knowledgeable people who can explain things are incredibly valuable, but not in the way they used to be where I want to apprentice myself to one and do everything they tell me to do. Anymore, what I seem to like to do is listen to a few of them and actively assemble a pedagogy that works for me. I'm treating "teachers" almost like a buffet, where I can choose what goes on my plate, test things out, and decide what works for me and for my hands. It's been strange lately ... I'm doing a lot of thinky thinking on this very topic recently and my thoughts on it are still taking shape.
What you say about adult, wow, obviates the difficulty with my parent's idea that music is just a hobby; mon dieux! were that true for me, but with my Ascendant in Libra and the ruler of that sign in the 5th house music is a primary means of making money for me. Nearing 50 years old I'm still single with two guitars, acoustic and electric, and two flutes, bamboo and C foot nickel alloy plated student flute, ideal for my outdoor lifestyle and my hand strength: I like the percussion sounds I can get from tapping the keys on the metal flute, and the holes on the bamboo. Silver alloys await my finding of a home indoors, my flute discipline escalated from encountering your pointing 'self taught' flutists to the Trevor Wye books. I found the Tone book shortly thereafter at a local music store and wow! Droning and toning is a long practiced thing for me with didgeridoo circular breathing taken in as early as my twenties in the 90's. Same with bamboo flute, then metal ca. 2018, but I stayed at jam level until encountering your vids and taking on the T.W. method, where droning the low register is the beginning exercise! It's the same with vocal discipline; train the chest voice first, then the head voice has a basis to expand. Now I realize the deep natural structure of harmonic vibrations; train the low notes first cause they have all the harmonics therein. The Tone book illuminated for me for the first time the structure of the harmonic pattern; root to octave; up a fifth from that; up an octave from that and then that is the one of the one three five pattern of the basic structure of chords on the guitar and piano, my native instruments before I took on flutes. Drums too, thus the percussion aspect of tapping the keys and holes. What you say about adult stuff; my calling as a musician obviates why I have thus far thwarted taking on wife and children, or a 40 hr per week day job. I tried to start that in my younger years and it was taken from me by traumas not of my ego's choosing. My soul calls me to a path where sound discipline is taken beyond where a mere hobbyist can take it; my voice shimmers and thunders from whispers, bird whistles, and squeaks to strong presence and tone from bass to soprano in the Classical way, with sound effects beyond what that cage allows like Tuvan and Tibetan style droning. My flute is taking off like a bird of paradise with focused discipline in the direction of the nuances of the metal keyed version sourced from French architects of sound, oh la la. My adult cannot abide a mere casual approach to the disciplines of music. A rare bird am I.
Self taught in quotes cause we humans are never islands or rocks as the Paul Simon tune once crooned. The shape of the keys on the metal flute have taught me much about how to shape the sounds. The trill keys, play with them and find out what they do. Then I value input from more experienced players of my various instruments as the details obscured by my devils of ignorance can be illuminated thereby. Thus thank you dear devotee of the flute as focus, from a general musician called to lead a band a play a cluster of instruments, thus the long decades of training required for my devotion. Your signals helped me elevate the flute to the level of my more experienced things, and thank you for that. Trevor Wye is a hoot with his wit and humor!
Congratulations on your wedding!
Its great that the student knows which topics are coming up each week in your rotational teaching. That’s fantastic. I was always trying to keep all the balls in the air to equal level and I couldn’t go ‘deep’ so easily in any of it. If I did focus on a particular area it would turn out that wasn’t the focus for that lesson and I’d be all rubbish and unprepared in the one that did crop up!
Great advice, just wish my teacher would watch your videos! I manage to get 3 half hour + practice slots in a week and I have to schedule them in. But even then it’s a struggle! Still my teacher feels I should do more. I would but I don’t think my family/neighbours would appreciate me practicing top notes at 8pm!!
Thank you for recognising there is a difference between teaching adults and children. So frustrating to be treated like a child as an adult.
Hi Joanna, how do you find new and challenging music without over challenging ur self? How do you find music to practice that betters you as a player? Also, I love ur videos, and I got into playing the flute bc of ur videos. You inspired me ❤️
Hi! I love you! Your videos are the best over the internet, you have a cute humor and you deliver good information! I play the violin but I really like the flute :)
Hey, thanks so much, that's really sweet of you
And here I am looking to add another practice block in my day on top of my 7-9 pm fluting session...
I'm just a tad dysfunctional in my adulting :D
I totally agree with procrastination days and just dedicating those sessions to being silly with the flute and having fun - else, why bother?
I mean, even professional singers sing into shampoo bottle microphones, right?
I am an adult, 49 years old now. I definitely could not schedule practice because free time comes up at different times throughout the day. Every day without fail, I can get at the very least, 30 minutes in. Usually I practice an hour, and on some days I can go two hours across four different sessions. I have found, however, that there are diminishing returns for me. Going longer than an hour does not usually yield results like a good hour session does. Plus the material is coming easier to me now, so super long practice sessions aren’t as necessary.
From Gary Shocker's Teaching & Tips:
Practice no more than 45 minutes at a time. Once physical sensation is dulled bad habits are set. Physical sensitivity is much more important than blind repetition which only causes stiffness.
I think you're experiencing good advice, first hand!
@@bonilynt.3468
Yes, I am finding 45 minutes a good time period.
I am 47, and teaching myself, and have been studying this year also.
This is an awesome explanation of the thought process for adult students! This has been super helpful. Thank you!
Hi Joanna, can you make a video about being in Youth Symphonies?
I just auditioned into GTCYS and got into Symphony (Highest of 9 orchestras). I found out I beat out a senior who was in it for a number of years and I just joined for my first year as a Junior (11th Grade). I'm worried that I won't be able to make friends and that I won't be as good as the other bassoonists. Symphony is also going to Southern Italy and if I can't make friends in rehearsal how am I going to spend 12 days in a foreign country with them? I also fear that I actually didn't deserve my spot even though I worked extremely hard. My teacher and his friend was the adjudicator so this is why.
In one of your videos, you mentioned that you were in IB. Was your personal project tied to music? What was it?
I have tried to schedule practice but I always seem to do it for a day or two and then it falls through. I keep my clarinet and flute out on a stand in a protected area so that I can just pick them up and have a blow when I have a free moment.
Pretty much like myself. Using a metal clarinet with a synthetic reed allows me to be less careful with swabbing, so the thought of having to spend time for aftercare doesn't keep me from picking it up for just a few minutes if I for example just want to try an alternative fingering.
Hey, Joanna! I am wondering if you can share your experience teaching via Skype/Twitch and what are the benefits and drawbracks of each. Thank you for your videos!
Why do not you make a comparison of your piccolo with a $ 99 Amazon piccolo?
Flute is so small you can take it anywhere. People usually get one hour for lunch if they have an office job. If you eat your lunch at your desk: bam! One hour practice.