Deciding to Learn to Play Flute
My Journey with Flute: Pilot Episode
How it all started:
It has been about three months and now I do not remember exactly why I decided to learn a musical instrument. Probably because I wanted to have a hobby. But I can tell why I chose flute (Indian bamboo flute, Hindustani Classical Flute or Bansuri to be exact).
A few years back, whenever I watched music concerts I was enchanted by the Violin and have been following some Violin players on YouTube. But as I was thinking of seriously learning some instrument, flute got my attention because I wanted something that required and improved my control over breathing ( I know learning to sing is the best way for it) because it would be a sort of meditation and I would improve my voice quality as a result of strengthened breathing.
Initial steps in the journey:
I went to the local music store and the only store I knew to sell musical instruments and selected a medium size flute (the one in title image). It was about 7 USD, so I did not think twice before buying it. It had ‘C white 1’ written on it which did not make much sense to me, so I asked the owner if it is good for beginners? To which he replied all the flutes they have are for beginners only.
I came home with the flute and tried playing, after few hours of efforts I was able to produce some sound out of it.
After that, for about two and a half months, spent more time on watching tutorials on YouTube and reading online than actually practicing.
Almost lost interest as I was stuck at one difficult point for beginners and not making any improvement.
The renewed interest:
One day as I was thinking about my life, I realized I was not going to make any progress this way, and decided to join music classes. Googled ‘flute classes near me’ and called a couple of those to find the perfect one for me about 5 kilometers away with weakly classes on Sundays and nominal monthly fee.
On my first-day the instructor told me that I will have to get a ‘G sharp’ flute, which is 1.5 times longer than my existing flute, as he taught using it and considered best beginner flute, also the C flute I had was too shrill (that I do agree).
Upgrading to a 24-inch flute from an 18-inch one was a painful process for my fingers, but I am getting used to it with time.
Current state and future plans:
I am able to play the basic notes when I am relaxed (not putting to much strain to play it right) and learned about Alankara in the class today, will be practicing it over the week.
I learned that it takes years to be able to reach the level where you can play with some audience. Only four people in my life (including my parents) know about my flute learning, as I think they will expect me to play some song as soon as they get to know. But I am here to enjoy the journey and not become a professional flute player.
Final words
I am planning to post a story monthly, which will be shorter than this one for sure, about my progress with more pictures and hopefully some audio recordings too.
I do not have a picture of my new flute, will keep one ready before the next story in the flute journey series.
Please let me know if you have some questions and want me to add something specific in my next posts about the flute.
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