I know I've posted a couple threads before on similar subjects, but I just feel the need to vent. Ever since I've gotten this music, i've practiced at least an hour a day (on average about 5 days a week), and I have all the notes down, but I can't seem to play the whole sheet at a constant speed! The easy parts are fine, and I'll miss a note here and there, but when I get to the hard part and try to play it at the same tempo, my fingers seem to get tied up and if I miss a note in the phrase I screw up all the notes afterwards. I'm talking about screwing up at slower than practice tempo and my teacher is telling me to speed it up & have it at performance tempo in less than 3 weeks. This is for district band, and I'm feeling really rushed.. I'm starting to dread practicing because I get so frustrated! What do yall suggest?

Concentrate on only one phrase at a time, don't try the whole piece all the way through. Take one phrase until you can feel it and don't have to think about the notes anymore. Relax and I know this is hard.. but try not too think too much. Try listening to a recording of another flutist to give yourself inspiration and motivation. Also, if you haven't already, voice your concerns to your teacher. I hope that helps. I am sure that Chris will have some good advice.

Chris has some advice...How good it is, he doesn't know. Remember that if you can't play it perfectly, you shouldn't be going on. You can practice all you want, but if you keep practicing mistakes, you're just ingraining them deeper into your memory. You probably know by now what your trouble spots are, so rather than playing the whole piece through, work on the hard spots at a tempo slow enough that you can play it perfectly. If it's not perfect, slow it down some more, and try again. Once you get it perfect, put the met up a click and go through that passage. If that works, keep speeding it up. If not, keep working it at the slow tempo until you have it down. Eventually you will be able to speed it up to performance tempo (or close to it), but for now, take it down a notch. Kara's advice about taking one phrase at a time was dead on. You might also learn the phrase backwards (start with the last note of the phrase, and add the note before it, and then the one before that, etc.), or using dotted rhythms (if it's straight sixteenths, play it as if it were a dotted eighth sixteenth figure repeated over and over. Then reverse it so that it's a sixteenth, dotted eighth). Also, be sure you're letting the most difficult part (which is not necessarily the same thing as the part with the most notes) set the tempo. If you have to play the whole thing a bit more slowly than is indicated to keep the tempo steady when it gets to the hard parts, do so. A clean, but slightly under-tempo performance will go over much better than a mangled, but very fast rendition. When you start to get frustrated, take a break from that piece and come back to it later. You might literally put your flute away, or just whip out a little ditty to break the monotony, but don't let the frustration get to you. As you've noticed, that only does bad things to your playing. Also, realize that one mistake doesn't warrant others. If you miss a note, so be it. You can always go back and clean that run up, but don't let it get you frazzled to the point that you miss the rest of the run too. I don't know how long you've had this piece, but for auditions, you should start preparing early so that you're not in a run up to the day trying to get the piece under your fingers. It's always better to be prepared too early, rather than not prepared when the day comes. I hope some of that's helpful.

If you are playing everything all the way through each time, you are probably not using your time efficiently. Most musicians have problems with part of a piece, not the entire piece.

Work on a section at a time, say 1/4 of the piece, and play it slowly without stopping, then do that for the entire piece.