I am going into eighth grade. I have been playing the violin (which has nothing to do with the flute or woodwind family) for five years and am considered advanced. Now I am at a school with no orchestra and so I decided to play flute in the band. How hard is the flute? How long does it usually take to get a nice feel and bearing for your flute? How long does it take to memorize the positions of your hands and the fingering chart? Dizzy with questions...

It depends how much you practice. As a beginner, no more than a half hour a day would be good. Then you should bring your time up from there as you progress. Practicing too much can do more harm than good.

Personally I had no problem with memorizing where to put my hands and learning the different fingerings. The hand position is pretty straight forward; just look at the flute, it`s not like you have many options. Otherwise you`d look pretty silly, which I think is obvious, for anyone, to see.

I wouldn`t worry about that. I think your main concern would be building up breath support, supporting your notes, and developing tone. All of this can be done through (boring!) long tones. Yes, they`ll bore you to tears, but everyone does them, even professionals who`ve played all their lives. Don`t let anyone tell you, "I don`t need to play long tones!" because it`s not true. It`s all completely worthwhile.

A good idea though would be to get a private teacher.

"...All of this can be done through (boring!) long tones. Yes, they`ll bore you to tears, but everyone does them, even professionals who`ve played all their lives..."

Personally, I disagree with this, but I suppose it depends on what exactly you mean by long notes.

The lung equipment can be developed by all manner of different activities, even blowing balloons.

The lip equipment can be developed by knowledge of what is necessary and attention to this during any note that is played.

"Long notes" is only ONE road to this development. A student COULD play long notes every day and actually make very little development if he/she had no particularl aim or mind-set DURING those long notes. And if the mind-set is appropriated, and applied during ALL notes, be they long or short, then all notes become a valuable learning exercise.

Go for it. Although ALL instruments are a challenge to play very well, a flute presents a lot fewer challenges than a violin. If you have `mastered` violin, then flute, by comparison, should be more of a breeze.

A good flute student has learnt 95% of the basics of all flute playing and is playing very satisfying music before the violin student has even got to third position.

I like what James Galway had to say about long tone.

"Long tones make you think about something else"
"If you learn anything from playing long tones, it was by accident"

I would like to think of long tones more along the lines of playing a note long enough for you be feel that it is centered and best it can be. So every piece you play can be a wonderful exercise in long tones when slowed down sufficiently for you to concentrate on the sound of each note.

I recommend playing from flute study books such as the Rubank music books as they are fairly well balanced in different exercises and music which won`t bore you and are a mix of easy-medium-hard stuff to get you on your way.

Most importantly... join a band/orchestra. If you read well you can join in and drop out of the music as necessary, it works wonders for learning a new instrument.

Hi! Just to say that there`s nothing boring about playing long notes. If you love developing a beautiful, resonant sound, then you should be pouring your heart and soul into the tones. If you`re not enjoy playing them, then you can`t be well.

Thanks! I have a private teacher now and am practicing about 45 minutes a day. Long tones...ah, here`s where the trouble comes in. I run out of breath, since I`m not used to "breathing" on the violin. All in all, I`m having a wonderful time. Our school has four levels of band. The teachers placed me in the third level instead of the beginning band because...I guess because they like me too much.