The Flute Suite Dr. Kathleen Weidenfeller

Here is part two of the wonderful conversation I had with Jaana Laasonen, flute teacher at the East-Helsinki Music Institute and developer of the Colour Flute method of early-instrumental teaching. 

2.10 Challenges in the Finnish instrumental education system
12.00 Our students are our best teachers
22.00 Solfege as a tool for musicianship and composition
27.00 The visual aspect of Kodaly

Jaana Laasonen is Lector of Flute at the East Helsinki Music Institute, and the creator of the ‘Colour Flute’ method, part of the 'Colourstrings' family: a method for beginning instrumentalists based on the theories and methods of Zoltan Kodaly. In this first part of our conversation, we talk about the importance of family and folk music in early instrumental education.
 You can find out more about the Colour Flute method here
2.25 Early musical experiences
9.51 Benefits of working with very young students
12.24 Connecting to Kodaly
22.34 Beginning with new flute students

Get a taste of the Young Flutist Festival (Nuori huilisti!) organized by the Finnish Flute Association in colaboration with the Juvenalia Music Institute in Espoo Finland.
I share clips of performances and behind the scenes comments from organizers and teachers. I hope you enjoy!!
@suomenhuiluseura
@nuorihuilisti

Here’s a conversation with the lovely Beatriz Machias: orchestral flutist, opera singer and founder of the Tampere Flute Festival here in Finland. In this episode, we talk about teaching, practicing, the possibilities that competition holds for young flutists – and especially being more than your flute!
 
·      1.41     How it all started!
·      6.15     Singing and flute playing
·      11.00   The Tampere Flute Festival
·      19.27   The importance of competitions and the upcoming Finnish Flute Association       competition
·      23.12   Practice and teaching
·      43.41   TFF 2024! 
For more information about Beatriz and the Tampere Flute Fest, follow:
@beatrizmaciasflutist 
@tampereflutefest
You can hear Dr. Pearson talk about the focal dystonia research I mention in
Episode 7 of The Flute Suite starting at 15.40
 

In this episode, I sit down with Annika Gummerus-Putkinen, flutist, composer, writer and teacher at the Pop & Jazz conservatory in Helsinki. We got to have a  wonderful converstaion about the similarities and differences between our approaches to introducing our students to improvisation, and the important role improvisation can play in teaching, and in life in general!
 Annika is one of the co-authors of the book Free your Playing! A guide to Improvisation
You can find Annika on Facebook and Linked In
 
I mention David Doland in this episode – check out his fantastic work on classical improvisation on his website
 
I also want to shout out to Sophie Dufeutrelle and thank her for an interesting conversation we had several years ago on the history of music education in France that has helped me to put the role of improvisation in Western art music into context. Some of those ideas come up in this conversation.
 
You can follow the Flute Suite on Instagram  and Facebook

Today I’m continuing my ’back to basics’ series by talking about how to use singing and playing in practice and teaching. Once again, I’ve created a companion video to go with this episode, where you can see and hear how I produce and use this effect. You can find the video here.
In the episode, I mention John Wion’s workbook entitled ‘Sing’, sold by Falls House Press and Theodore Presser.
I also talk about Mattias Ziegler, and you can learn more about him and his teaching at his website
 Also, for more information on how fixed mindsets affect learning, I suggest this article: 
Heimhovitz, Kyla, Carol S Dweck, 2017. The Origins of Children's Growth and Fixed Mindsets: New Research and a New Proposal, Child Development, 88(6), 1849–1859.
Again, I encourage you to share your clips of performances or practice sessions using singing + playing at #tfsbacktobasics or #tfsimprov2