Flute Mom

The problem: I don’t know how well I play, objectively speaking. The solution: Ask an expert: Emily aka the Rebel Music Teacher. It’s been almost 25 years since I started playing so I was delighted to discover my old Rubank book among my etude books. I thought - maybe I can handle this? Maybe playing exercises from the Rubank book will allow me to perform a self-assessment? Maybe I can play better than a 7th grader? This book didn’t help me determine whether or not I play better than a 7th grader for a few reasons. First, there are no metronome markings so it’s hard to know if I am playing the exercises proficiently. In terms of music theory it’s far too elementary because I can count sixteenth notes and I know the difference between a slur and a tie. It’s been a fun book for sight-reading but to know how well I play, I will need to play for someone else (gulp). Enter Emily, aka, the Rebel Music Teacher . Emily is a music educator, blogger and parent. She has been a music teacher for o...

The problem:  I have no home for my flute within my home. The solution: Creating a dedicated practice space in a corner of my living room with a bookshelf, a mirror, a white board, and a combination lock. Ever since moving out of my parent’s house, I dreamed of having a flute room. Imagine a home office with scores instead of books, professional recording equipment, soundproofing, a mirror, a small desk, a wind-up metronome, several professional music stands, and an area rug to tie the room together.  I never got my flute room for several reasons: I stopped playing for years, my kids needed rooms to sleep in and, until recently,  I was never as organized as I wanted to be. But I think the greatest hurdle between me and the flute room-of-my-dreams is the cost of real estate. I live in Los Angeles and as of this writing a single-family home in my neighborhood costs about $813/square foot. I was able to accept the fact that I have no extra rooms in my small, urban dwelling b...