Hey,

I`m in need of advice on what to practice and for how long. Right now i`m practicing for about 4 1/2 hours a day since it`s summer but i would like it to be 6 hours a day. I`m wondering what are your practice schedules so I can get a feel for how long to practice and things. Thanks a lot!

Scott, why should we bother answering another one of your questions on this board since you have been so rude to others on here?
Changing your name won`t help either.
Good luck kid.

Umm... yes, he has been rather rude in some of his posts. Maybe if you tried to be nicer to others, they might respond to your post.

hi my name is sara i learn my fluet for abouy 6 hours a day just do the simpel stuff and then try some other stuff like playing a song hope you like it love sara

Well if you aren`t going to give me any advice then there is no need to respond to my post now is there. I do not remember one time that I was "mean" to someone. But whatever I guess I wont bother coming to this message board anyways because about 99% of the people on here are inexperienced, immature, and really have no decent advice.

Hi, I would reccomend practising a bit in the morning, the afternoon and evening, also take breaks or you`ll end up thinking of playing the flute as a chore. I made that mistake and ended up not practising at all because I got borad of playing the flute.

Bye! Bye! Can`t say we will miss you.

my best advice is...don`t overdo it! practice for an hour and then take a twenty minute break for your fingers, wrists, back, and shoulders. i used to practice for hours on end without breaks and developed a wrist injury! so, please, take breaks! you should always start with breathing exercises. then spend some time tuning your flute...you know, checking each note and making sure it`s in tune...followed by longtones. James Galway has an excellent longtones exercise that i really recommend...it makes them less boring (he has a cite...can`t remember it...) after the longtones, work on your tone some more by practicing scales...i use the Taffanel et Gaubert Grands Exercices Journaliers de Mecanisme. i would then recommend sight-reading for about an hour. even though most musicians hate doing it, it is the thing that improoves their playing the most. only after finishing with these warm-ups are you really ready to start practicing whichever piece you are working on. always start by making sure you know every rythm. then, run through the piece once (not necessarily at tempo and play all the cadenzas as if they weren`t cadenzas [you can play with them after you get the notes perfect]), making a mental note of any mistakes made. after a break, go back and find those spots that are more difficult and play them deathly slow, allowing your fingers to adjust to the patterns of the notes. you may want to find the skeleton of the piece (the inner-melody) if the piece is a stream of running notes. always do research on the composer and the history of the piece and listen to a recording if one is available. this will help you understand the style, tempo, and any rythms that might be confusing. only once your fingers are used to the piece can you begin to bring it up to tempo.
good luck and best wishes for your music,
Katherine