Music Lessons in El Paso, TX

Instruments: Flute Piccolo

What advice do you have about practicing effectively?
Don't be too impatient with yourself. A lot of students are tempted to play the music at performance tempo right out of the gate, but this leads to the development of bad habits. Students might end up learning a piece with wrong notes or bad timing because they practiced it incorrectly many times. Take the time to listen to the tone of each note and play passages slowly. Breaking the music into smaller chunks and tackling those parts individually before moving on to the next small chunk is also very effective. If you are able to play the music slowly and gradually increase your speed, your overall performance will be much better.

When will I start to see results?
This question is difficult for me to answer, simply because it is very dependent on what you expect and how you or your child learns. The time it takes to get to a certain level of playing depends on how much time is put into daily practice and how effective each practice session is. However, after the first lesson I have found that students are so excited to play that they are able to make a sound quite easily during their first lesson or, with practice over the week, their second lesson. Progress is not the same for everybody and it is all very dependent on the individual.

Did you have a teacher that inspired you to go into music? How did they inspire you?
My first flute teacher was my biggest role model and is the reason I decided to pursue music at the professional level. I started my studies with her when I was 8 years old and had no idea whether or not I would keep up with it. I was the type of child that would do something for a year and move on to something else that was more interesting to me. My teacher gave me something to look forward to every week. She focused on music that was fun as well as etudes and methods that would help with my technique. She would listen to me talk about my week and was personally invested in my growth as both a person and a musician. It is my goal to be that teacher to a student.

What do you think is the hardest thing to master on your instrument?
I have noticed with most students that their intonation and tone are one of the last things to develop. Most students learn to play flat and a lot of the reason is due to tone production. If they find that they have a more clear tone by rolling their flute in, they will start to play flat consistently. Playing flat will also train their ear to hear pitches flat. For this reason I view intonation and tone as concepts that are developed together and dependent on each other. If your intonation is off, your tone probably needs improvement, as well.

Do you use specific teaching methods or books? (Ex: Alfred, Bastion, Suzuki, Hal Leonard) Why did you choose them if you did?
The two method books that I find the most useful are the Rubank Method and Flute 101. These books start by teaching the students notes that are very easy to produce as a beginner and, in the case of Rubank, there is a fold-out fingering chart. These charts are great guides for beginners who may need to reference the fingerings often. I believe these books are better than beginning band methods due to the band methods teaching students a B-flat as their first note. I have seen students later on become confused between B-flat and B-natural given that they learned B-flat first.

What is your dream piece to perform and why?
This particular piece I have already performed, but the Zyman Sonata for Flute and Piano was an absolute dream piece for me. It was one of the pieces I played on my last recital of my master's degree and it was also the favorite of most attendees. Zyman includes fun rhythms and speedy runs that sound absolutely amazing when played correctly. It was also a great challenge to put the piece together with my pianist. The timing in the third movement was especially tricky in one spot, and when listening to my recording I was excited to hear how perfectly we managed to time it. I love to reminisce on that performance because I forgot about my nerves and just had fun.

What is your favorite style/genre of music to play and why?
I am a classical musician by training, but I like to delve into music that is contemporary. 20th century music plays with tonality in a way that the music of Bach or Mozart did not, as well as the multiple different time signatures that you find in a piece by composers such as Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev. The late Romantic period includes quite a few gems that I absolutely love performing, especially the music of Reinecke. There are so many hauntingly beautiful passages that bring me to tears playing them. My current goal is to peruse as much music by modern composers as possible.

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