Five years ago, I put an ad in the paper and posted flyers on bulletin boards, advertising my services as a flute teacher. I prayed that at least a few adults would find their way to my studio. Although I adore children, I wanted a varied student population so that my teaching day would be interesting and stimulating. God answered my prayers in a big way. Since that time, I have always had between eight and fifteen adults in my studio. (Interestingly, the other full-time flute teacher in town, a well-established, excellent teacher, hardly gets any adults at all).
The children I taught would sometimes say, Do you teach a girl named Kathy? She’s in my class, or in my Brownie troupe or on my soccer team. I never heard comments like that from the grown-ups, and I began to realize how separate they were from each other. So I started an adult flute group, which began meeting three times a year. The group has been so popular that, by the students’ request, we now meet four times a year. We have an evening activity followed by time for refreshments and socializing. Becky came up with the name The Trill Seekers, and weve been seeking trills and thrills together ever since.
My adult students were shy about playing their flutes in public, so for our initial session I invited Brooks de Wetter-Smith, the flute professor from the university, to give a talk about flute repertoire and play for us. “I don’t know if I would’ve come that first time if I had to play in front of the others,” Jenifer told me. “It was much easier to be introduced to the group this way.”
For the second session, we played Christmas music in three-part harmony, as an ensemble, and no one had to solo. The third session became Duet Night, with the students playing duets, either with each other or with me. Gradually I coaxed them toward the fourth session, where they played solos with a piano accompanist.
When I recently asked the students how they’ve benefitted from participating in our group, the theme of performance anxiety came up in everyone’s response. “At first I was very nervous,” said Jenifer, “but now it’s fun. It was helpful to learn that other people get as nervous as I do, those who started as adults like me and those who’ve played for a long time. Every time we play in front of each other, I get less nervous. It really helps.”