Hello!

I have just had a flute lesson, it was ok-bordering-on-bad. I am having a few lessons in the summer to keep me on my toes, the first was just appalling, I got out of the lesson and just cried, the second was amazing, and today's was meh.

I just find that how my lesson goes hugely affects how I feel about the flute, and not just in the aftermath of the lesson, but until the next one too. In those 3 lessons we've worked on things I have not kept so good, and I just have a huge list of things I need to work on. It's like as I get better I find it harder to get better.

One of my biggest fears is that I'll go back to uni, and come back with a lot of problems. I've worked so hard to get my playing to where it is, and I just hate my inconsistency at the moment.

I have similar inconsistencies with piano and that's with more regular lessons than you are managing I think.
Feels particularly bad when I don't feel it was so good a lesson as I only have one a fortnight now.
I keep on trying to find the answer... I'm told that it's partly a concentration thing.

I'm the same with violin. I practise and practise and think wow wait till i show my teacher how much i've improved Get to my lesson and it sounds rubbish and i think 'wow, i'm actually quite bad...' ! I get it with flute too but more so with violin

I think this is a common problem that every now and then we get to a point where things get harder and we can't get past it for a while. I know over the few years that I have been learning that I will suddenly get to a point where I feel that it is all just too hard and then suddenly I overcome it and I am ok for a while and then get to the point of not progressing again. Things just get harder that it isn't so easy to move on so quickly as when you first start to learn.

Try going back to basics and give yourself the confidence again at just what you can do. I find that when I go back to earlier pieces I can see just how far I have come and then go back to where I am at and the hurdle doesn't seem so hard to get over.

ET

It doesn't happen when I am at uni as much. But I think that was because of the different ways I was taught. I am now more aware of what I have to do.

This sounds as though the problem isn't so much inconsistency, as greater awareness of the faults in your playing. I think that's very normal, and if you can stay positive your playing should improve a lot, because you're now noticing more what needs to be worked on. Try not to worry about coming back from uni with a lot of problems; if you keep practising and are aware of your faults you won't go too far wrong.

When you first start learning an instrument, you think grade 8 is an unreachable pinnacle, but it's like climbing a mountain - as you reach the first peak you realise there are more peaks to come. It's after grade 8 that you realise the enormous gulf between your playing and that of the professionals, and it's bound to be hard to bridge that gap.

The main thing is to stay confident, accept that there is a lot to work on, and set yourself small, achievable goals for each week. Don't look at the big picture too often, just bear it in mind. When you hit a ceiling on one imperfection, do some work on another for a while. Keep practising, keep having occasional lessons to assess your progress, and above all keep enjoying your flute playing.

I always feel that I play rubbish in my lessons too. I'm trying to take the attitude that if I played perfectly, there would be nothing for my teacher to talk about, so no point having a lesson!

I always find that i can do something quite well in the lesson such as a piece or a scale or simple managing some tricky fingerings.

I am fine for the first few trys at home but near when the next lesson comes up I seem unable to do it for some strange reason.

When it took me 4 lessons to master spicatto bowing I was starting to think I would never be able to manage it! I almost started to think I had reached the peak of my ability on the violin. However since then I have improved so I know all is well. I did have a loss of confidence over that period.

I think if you do something hard and it takes several lessons to get right you may think becuase you are taking so long you must be rubbish at the instrument causing loss of confidence.

I think most people reach a point where they think they are going backwards instead of forwards. At the moment I cannot co-ordinate my fingers for the life of me and my technique is absolute rubbish and I start to wonder why I should continue.

When I get moments like that, I stop and remember that I wanted to learn an instrument because of a love of music, so I go back to an easier piece of music and play it for fun. At the moment on the flute, my tonguing has gone to pot because I'm still trying to get used to playing the high notes and my fingers seem to be 10 seconds behind my brain. So at the moment, I'm breaking my exam pieces down into little bits that I need to work on, e.g. I'll practise tonguing until I produce a really crisp, clear note and then I stop my practise for the day, ending on a good note (no pun intended!!).

Please don't be too hard on yourself, everyone has off days and some lessons go better than others. If you think you've had a bad lesson, play an earlier piece and you'll notice just how far you've come since you started.

My teacher often says a similar thing (ie if I could play as well as him I wouldn't be coming for a lesson).

He also once said that he spends so much time praising his young beginners (because he wants to motivate them to learn to play) that he finds it a nice change to be able to get straight into working on technique with his older/more advanced students. He said when I have the impression I can't do anything right that I should remind myself that it is an achievement just to be playing at the level I am.

Wow, thanks for all these replies, I must have missed them when they first got posted.

You all post a lot of sense. Today, I am feeling a bit apprehensive about playing, but I do want to play. I am away until Monday, so going to have a relaxing time, come back, have a good practice session before my next lesson on Tuesday.