When I first took up the flute, I didn't think I would need a teacher at all. I watched quite a few flute lessons on Youtube, and thought I'd manage with that. But I soon realized I was fooling myself and found an excellent flute teacher, Ra'anan Elon, and took lessons from him for a few years. However, Ra'anan left Israel to live in Germany with his spouse, and I didn't like taking lessons with him on Zoom. So I found another teacher, Michael Lukin and studied with him for two or three years.
Ra'anan is just a bit younger than I am, but Michael is young enough to be my son. That didn't get in the way of our lessons. We also became friends. Ra'anan was somewhat inhibiting as a teacher, though he worked me through the early stages of sound production brilliantly. Michael was encouraging and I enjoyed my lessons with him. He pretty much let me choose what to play. In addition to being an excellent musician, Michael also earned a doctorate in ethnomusicology, which is why he had to stop teaching me. He was awarded a prestigious and highly competitive research grant study of a corpus of Yiddish folksongs, to which he must devote full time. Since he knows Russian and Yiddish, and he is very musical, he's ideally situated to pursue this project. I imagine he hopes to get an academic position when he completes that project.
After Michael left me in the lurch (with my blessings, of course), I considered looking for another teacher but decided to go it on my own. After all, I've been taking music lessons since my childhood. I know what to do. Besides, I felt that I wanted to find my own musical direction and not be directed by a teacher. But I may have reached the end of my tether. I'm not sure which way to go.
Recently I've been in contact with two excellent flutists, Idit Shemer and Vladimir Silva. I'm a bit shy about working with either of them, because they're so much better than I can ever hope to be. I think I'll be more comfortable with Vladimir, so I set up an appointment with him so he can evaluate where I am and discuss a plan of study.
Just setting up the appointment has prompted me to think of my goals as a flutist and musician. First of all, I want to be as comfortable playing flute as I am playing saxophone (which I've kind of neglected in the past few years, because every time I pick up the instrument again, I'm satisfied with the way I play). Second, I want to reach beyond the material I've been playing, which is: baroque music (Handel sonatas, recently), Piazzolla tangos (which I play with a pianist friend), standards (I have been memorizing tunes and playing them in all twelve keys), and occasional bossa nova songs (Desafinado, Triste, Wave).
My main musical objective is to enjoy myself, but if I'm not playing as well as I ought to, I don't enjoy myself. Thus seeking a teacher!
