The most important thing concerning learning to play is first off, don’t expect great results immediately. Find a teacher who is patient and encouraging. Buy an inexpensive instrument. You can now find usable beginner flutes for less than $300.00. Listen to the worlds great flutists on CD and video. Utube is now a great source for getting your feet wet. Listen to Julius Baker recordings, and Jean Pierre Rampal recordings, Paul Fried and James Galway recordings and other flutists whose playing you admire.

Pick one of these flutists or learn from all of them, and you won’t go wrong. When I first started my father had me listen to Julius Baker recordings for hours on end. He wanted me to try to get that very special sound that Baker had in my ear. He encouraged me to play right along with the Baker recording of the Bach Sonatas and others we could find.

Later, when i was at Juilliard and studying with Baker, I loved going to hear Jean Pierre Rampal play at his sold out concerts at Carnegie Hall. It was always my goal to incorporate Bakers sound with the excitement of Rampal’s playing. Listening to Rampal play all the Bach Sonatas in one concert was and still is an amazing feat to me.

Playing the flute gives a musician a chance to do it all. You can be in a great orchestra and have the opportunity to play the music of the greatest composers who’ve ever lived. To me there is so much joy and great pleasure in being in middle of a great orchestra playing the music of Beethoven – Brahms – Mozart et. al.

Given the chance to live again, I would again be a musician, and probably a flutist because in addition to playing in orchestras, there is also a great repertoire of solo literature. You can concentrate on jazz and become a great jazz flutist. There are wonderful chamber music works. Flutists can play and be heard in all styles of music and around the world the flute is a mainstay in all musical cultures. The crucial element for a beginner, is to listen to great players, and strive to incorporate that special sound and excitement into your playing.