I can't believe those words came out of my mouth yesterday...but they did.
I went to a master class yesterday and she helped us with our regional etudes(which I must say are completely ridiculous this year with those stupid random 32nd notes flying about) and there were about 15-20 flutists(flautists)who were at high school.well they were all extremely good and I just wanted to die cause I hardly knew any of the 3 etudes >_<
well the flute instructor was beyond amazing and they(all of the teachers) did a concert and I still wanted to die...
so I think I want to give up on music or go to bassoon since I know I'll never make it on flute..

:[ or I can just practice my little butt off for the rest of my life!

Well that is a downer huh You can keep working really hard at it like you said, or still play as a serious hobby and take something else up in college. The demands on college bound flutist seem to be getting harder and harder these days. I wish I could tell you more, but it is your decision of which path you think would be best suited for you. Good luck with it Cheyenne.

Well, the point of music is to express yourself or a composer's creation artistically through sound and in your case, through your chosen instrument.


That being said, I feel your pain on one side but on the other:

":[ or I can just practice my little butt off for the rest of my life!
"
ummmm....
Welcome to reality ;-) you mean that you've yet to start doing that?
I think that my reality started in earnest somewhere after the first month of college and my teacher said for me to practice 4-6 hours EVERY DAY. After I realized that he wasn't kidding (that took about 1/2 of a nanosecond.) and eventually after the pain of loosing a certain amount of my youthful freedom passed (And brain cells that had been happily lost in a certain measure of dissipation were replenished in my cranium -don't ask), I found that 8 hours a day was not enough practicing to satisfy my desire (and yes addiction) to practice my flute. BTW for you upgraders...My weapon of choice in college ended up being a Gemeinhardt 3SB. I literally wore it out. Don't judge the flute, the choices were fewer in those days. I think it was either a new Haynes (Couldn't afford it at the momentand glad that I didn't) and an already worn out Bonneville. (Now I really should have bought that one, for sure.)but I digress...

So you wrote,
"so I think I want to give up on music or go to bassoon since I know I'll never make it on flute"

How DO you know this to be true unless you try?
and I mean, !!Really Try!!...

If you don't really try, you may spend a lifetime wondering if you had tried that you could have been a decent flutist or you could have enjoyed the peasure of teaching the flute music to hundreds of wonderful young students.

That being said, the real kicker for music majors isn't so much their major instrument in college, for us flutes it can be the need to have a certain amount of skill with piano and music theory. Those two subjects are needed and they don't sink into our brains very quickly.

So is it the angelic sounds of the flute, Cheyenne? or are you going to take up the daily whittling of Faggoto (It. for Bassoon) reeds awaiting your one big (and infamous) solo in the slow mvt. of Haydn's Symphony #93? Actually, I do think that the Bassoon sounds kinda cool. [B-)

To each person their own answer but I have long ago decided that it's
flutes-4ever for my life. Actually, I think that the flute picked me. Or to put it more accurately, The flute seduced me. (Def. Seduce: to win over; attract; entice) Best of luck either way to you in your choice. But in your choice simply try to be your best at whatever you choose to do. Just remember that being your best may involve more work and dedication than you may be imagining at the moment.

What's the point of Music?

Let me answer with a couple other questions...

Why do people climb mountains?
What's the point of mountains?

Joe B

Also, every insturment is going to be difficult. Think...college and pro bassoonist usually say they spend about half their practice time making reeds . And they also have horrible excerpts and pieces. You really have to find an instrument that speaks to you. I could not be myself with out my flute. It is my voice. I go to it in anger, happiness, sadness...etc. It completely enriches my life...so much that my husband and I had to have the discussion (we are both musicians) of do we do what we do (teach privately and gig) and not have children OR does one of us switch up jobs...he decide he was willing to sacrife what he does and go back to school for a music ed degree...me, not so much. But, it works out since he is going to change jobs. But, that is how much it means to me.

Why? I don't really know. It is part of my soul.

JoeB,

I just can't help myself...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzmBUQ3wPyo

<Added>

"What's the point of mountains?"

or the hills are alive....

go to bassoon?

ill stick to the flute where i have less than half a million thumb keys, thank you very much

but hey, im sure that you have something when playing flute that they dont have (such as musicality). so what? they have fast fingers? you may have the best vibrato there.

dont give up. just look at it as a learning experience and better yourself from it

good luck!

as anyone attends classes and master classes where talented young people perform, one will often feel jealous and overwhelmed by their abiility, especially their technical ability. However, you should feel inspired by this, it should make you go home and work harder. After all, they attained their ability through hard work, talent and practice, they are not magicians.

When I host my seminar in VT next summer, I want everyone to go away feeling inspired to improve and work harder.

The tears are welling up in my eyes bilbo..

One good youtube deserves another:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz-UvQYAmbg

Joe B

That's all I ever do is practice!every day it's over 4 hours and I often skip doing my homework!
on the weekends it's from when I wake up(10ish)towhen my mom comes home(4)

plus bassoon is cool

In reference to the bassoon, it is an awesome instrument. I remember joining city band this summer and the other two bassoonists were really, really, REALLY good. They could sight-read all the new pieces (well, that's pretty much the only way to learn in city band), and I seriously considered giving up music entirely -- And it was all Bernstein's fault... ! Actually, after a while, I was dying of anticipation for our concert; the opening piece: Bernstein's Candide Overture. Anyway, I also play piano, and when I see other people playing rapid chromatic passages or making huge octave leaps, it can be pretty daunting. I took this sort of thing really hard plenty of times, but I realized that I'm doing the best that I can and that I might as well enjoy it while I can. I can play some more advanced pieces, but, being left-handed, it limits some of the things I can play (even simple pieces). I guess what I'm trying to say is try, do the best you can, have fun while your doing it, and everything will turn out for the better. It may sound like simple, unhelpful advice, but its true. Take a look at what you have done in the past and compare it to what you are currently doing... You may be surprised...

do you practice or play? you need to practice thoughtfully and correctly..how long do you spend on tone exercises and scales and technique exercises and arpeggios and 3rds, etc, how much time on etudes?? Do you practice the easy parts of pieces, or the hard parts? Do you go over things slowly or quickly?

I practice most mornings for 2 hours, only scales, tone exercises and technique exercises...

Praciticing is as much about quality and quantity

Patrick is very correct.

In case you don't have this going for you.....
How you practice is as much important as how loooong you practice.

Focus on doing things correctly with much self-reflection on your quality. Don't accept slop and at th same time think, I'll put a mental note on that mistake and fix that later the next time I play it. Try to fix things when you play them and fix them with great conviction so that the fix lasts.

Train yourself to do it accurately and cleanly. Galway says to learn to play it so that it sounds beautiful and easy.

The other thing is that certain things about our playing mature at different times with different people. Your accuracy or your musicality may come later as you gain more life experiences and knowledge.

How ever you shake it, it's about your dedication to the music, the instrument and all. I think too that most everybody goes through down times.



<Added>

Also from Galway just today:

"Awarness and investigation applied to the task in hand, always is the road to
success."

I've always said never to give up,but I'm going to be a hypocrite and tell myself to...
it may knock some sense into me....

Personally for me ... since I know an eighth grader who's at the same level as me if not higher (and I'm above average ... not pure genius, but above average for my age) and I had a disappointing audition result for an honor band (mine was 99.9% right and I didn't even make an alternate! I don't even know where I placed) ... as much as I'd love to be a professional flutist in an orchestra, I can't. That's why I want to be a music teacher - to share the love of music to everyone, because music is so important to me ... and who knows? Maybe I'll inspire someone.