Starting Flute Lessons: Home Vs School

If you’re still at school and you decide you’d like to start playing the flute, you have an important decision to make which will certainly have an impact on how you develop in your playing: should you have your flute lessons at home or at school? At first glance, you may think that this is a relative non-issue and maybe that you’ll just go for whichever option is the cheaper but it is certainly worth making an informed decision so you give yourself the best chance to master the flute. Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of both options.

Reliability

Generally, if you decide to take your lessons at school, you can rely upon the fact that your teacher will be of a certain standard, will have had all appropriate checks carried out and will turn up on time and well prepared for your lessons. They have a vested interest in being the best teacher they can be because they are employed by the school and will have to meet a certain standard or will face being fired. If you decide to take your lessons at home, however, you will be taking more of a chance on the standard of the teacher as there will be no school to overlook them. It’s always best to choose a teacher who comes with plenty of teaching experience and has excellent word of mouth reviews rather than just opting for whoever has the cheaper rates.

Distractions

The downside of taking your flute lessons at school is that you will probably have to either skip class to attend or will need to take time out of your break or lunch times. This is particularly difficult for younger children who don’t necessarily have the discipline and motivation needed to ignore their friends playing football and go and sit in their music lesson for an hour. This is probably one of the biggest benefits to taking your lessons at home; you can undertake your lesson with no distraction from friends or classes and will be more likely to practice at home too.

Practicalities

There are a lot of practical issues to consider when you decide to take your lessons at home. Is your house big enough for your teacher to conduct an effective lesson with you and not get in anyone’s way? Do either of your parents work from home who would be unreasonably distracted by your music lessons? If the answer to either of these questions is “yes”, it will probably be more sensible to arrange to have your lessons at school where you won’t have to have a household upheaval in order to have a lesson. Just make sure that you put in appropriate time and energy into practicing!

There are lots of things to think about when you decide you’d like to start flute lessons and one of the most important is to decide whether you should be taught at home or at school. If you decide to opt for school lessons, make sure that you have the discipline to commit to your lessons and practice and if you opt for home lessons, make sure that you have the space and permission of your parents to do so!