Ellen B  
Instruments: Flute, Music
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Blues, Folk, R&B, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Salsa, Showtunes, Spirituals, Reggae, Merengue, Latin Jazz, Swing, New Age, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul

I have been teaching the flute on and off over the past ten years when my full-time career has permitted. I have worked with children, teenagers and adults. I am encouraging, fun, supportive and patient while also challenging my students to give their personal best to their music studies. Like any instrument, the flute requires consistent regular practice in order to gain foundational skills and to progress. I spend time learning about each student’s musical goals, favorite styles of music and available time to practice so that I can tailor lessons accordingly. While providing fundamentals of flute technique, I also introduce listening, ear training, basic theory, reading, rhythmic study, improvisation strategies and musicality into lessons, according to the student’s level and interests.

For beginning students, I focus on fundamentals of tone production, embouchure (mouth position), hand position, posture, breath control, articulation and other aspects of technique needed to get started. I introduce the fingering chart, and teach scales and simple melodies as soon as possible, so that students can become excited about actually making music! With intermediate and more advanced players, we continue building upon the basics (adding exercises for intonation, dynamics, finger dexterity, vibrato, interpretation, etc.) while also tailoring lessons to the student’s goals. I involve my students in selecting pieces that will engage and motivate them to love what they are practicing. For those students studying improvisation, I present basic theory, scale types, melodic and rhythmic motifs, phrasing, playing over chord progressions and other aspects of musicianship. It's exciting when a student applies these building blocks and begins to express his/her own musical voice! Along with all these technical elements of study, I want my students to experience the ‘big picture’. Through listening, I introduce musicians (flutists and other instrumentalists), musical genres and compositions that will expand a student's musical horizons and provide inspiration.