ASSIGNMENT 3 : the 4 first lessons of a student

your Pupil is 8 years old, she adores the flute because her friend at school is playing it. She likes K3 and a lot of popular songs, she is very active and has a short concentration period. She finds it difficult to make any sound out of the flute. Her parents don't have any idea what it means to have instrumental lessons and how to support their daughter.

LESSON 1

For the first lesson, we have to discover each other. I ask the parents if I can be alone with the girl. First I will present myself and then ask her about her life : What do you like ? In which school degree are you ? What kind of music do you like ? Why do you like the flute ? I will play a little bit very quickly to show her the sound (even if she knows it because of the friend) and to make the lesson more attractive.

Then we sit both on chairs and I show her how to sit in a good position : sitting up straight on the chairs, the feet parallel on the floor, shoulders low, let back relax, head relaxed.

Then I ask, do you know the difference between a violin and a flute ? Or a piano and a clarinet ? -> flute and clarinet needs to BLOW to make a sound. Then do you know what do we need to BLOW ? -> we need AIR. Then, what do you have to do to have a lot of air in your lungs ? -> a GOOD BREATH

Then l ask her to imitate me : empty the lungs maximum and then stop (Count 1 2 3) then breaaath. Then again we blow (counting 1 2 3 4 5 6), stop ( count 1 2 3) then breath.

Then I show her the flute and the 3 parts and I explain and show how to put the 3 pieces together and I give the name (It is like a body ! you have the head, the body and the foot !) Then we take only the head and I blow and I show her how to blow first without the head. Just imitate the blowing. Then I put my hand in front of her face and ask her to make me feel the air. If it works good we do with the head. (She finds it difficult to make any sound out of the flute). -> we will do little exercises

Exercises :

- Put my hand in front of her face and ask her to blow strongly and I have to feel it- I put a cigarette paper in front and she has to make it move

Then we try again.

Lesson ending, the parents can come back and I will explain to them the exercises and I tell tehm that she has to do a bit of this every day, even 10min . I ask them to bring for her a book with paper to write the homework etc

Homework : do the breathing exercises and blow using your reflect in the mirror, try to blow straight and with direction. Try with the head joint.

LESSON 2

First I ask how she is, how was her day, if she practiced flute a lot this week and if it is getting better.

Then we sit, careful with the position.

Then we do a bit again of blowing and breathing exercises together. Empty the lungs maximum and then stop (Count 1 2 3) then breaaath. Then again we blow (counting 1 2 3 4 5 6), stop ( count 1 2 3) then breath. After we do : empty the lungs, take a gooood and large breath and then blow with direction like if you blow in the straw.

We do a little break (if she blows and breath a lot and too much then she will feel sick !) So I ask her if she could make sound with the flute and if she wants to try again, we talk a bit.

Then we do again the exercises of blowing and giving direction to the air : blow and I fell it in my hand, make the cigarette paper move.

Then we try again with the head joint. I ask her to do long sound with the head joint. Then put the finger inside and do funny sound. I ask her to imitate a bird, the wind, the rain, etc and we make stories.

I write in a paper the name of the things that she imitates : wind (blow a lot and move the finger inside), the bird (make short sound staccato and if possible high), the rain (use the hand and do “taptaptaptaptap” on the tube)

Then end of the lesson, I explain to the parents what we did and how she can practice.

Homework : breathing and blowing exersices + long sound with head joint + imitate the sound of the story

LESSON 3

First I ask how she is, how was her day, if she practiced flute a lot this week, if she invented more stories.

Then we sit (careful position) and we do some breathing blowing exercises and we take the head joint and we make sound. Long notes. We try first without hand, then I show her how to put the hand on the tube and then it make a lower sound. We try and if it works then I show her how to do a higher sound with the hand on the tube. So we have 3 registers, low medium and high. I do the different registers and I ask her to close her eyes and to recognize. Then we do the opposite, I close my eyes and she does it.

Then I tell a new story and we imitate the sounds of wind, rain, storm, bird, etc

Homework : breathing exercises + long notes with 3 registers + create a story, write it in your book and do the sounds

LESSON 4

First little talk, how are you , how was the day, did you play everyday a lot of flute ? did you create an amazing story with amazing sounds ?

Then we sit, we do one time a breathing/blowing exercise , we do long notes on the 3 registers.

She shows me her story, I ask her to read it. We invent sounds together .

Then I ask her, do you want to try the entire flute ??! We take the 3 pieces, I show her how to put it in 1 piece. I show her how to hold the flute : Careful with the position, no tension, careful with shoulders, hands, and then we try. I show her a G.

Lesson ending. I write in the book the homeworks and some tips for the flute position.