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First Flute

Frequently Asked Questions


Yes. The Foundations series is designed for students and flute lovers of all levels, whether studying with or without a teacher. Learning the basic techniques of playing the flute, such as creating a beautiful sound and holding the instrument correctly can be very challenging. If you have never had or do not have regular lessons with a flute teacher, this series, with its demonstrations from Sir James himself, is a perfect guide for showing you everything you need to know about playing the flute.

Definitely. The Foundations series is designed for students of all levels. While the first few lessons are very basic, the principles taught here provide a solid foundation, which Sir James feels is often overlooked. Throughout this course you will learn how to cultivate a good practice routine, create a beautiful sound, improve your technical facility, develop a soft touch on your flute, and perform your favorite pieces with confidence. These are the same basic principles that Sir James teaches in his masterclasses for advanced students and professional flutists.

The benefit of having this online series is that you can work at your own pace, when you want, with your flute in hand! You can repeat the lessons and practice sessions with Sir James as many times as you wish.

Added benefits include 53 pages of downloadable and printable exercises and your own personally-designed fingering chart, all written by Sir James, and over 30 performances by Sir James and pianist Michael McHale of standard flute repertoire in concert.

The series is designed to motivate and support student and teacher. First Flute’s instant access to learning and practice sessions with Sir James online is an indispensable tool for students and complements the teacher’s role. Not only will this add to the student’s skill, but also add to his or her commitment and preparation for weekly lessons with their teacher.

Yes. First Flute makes a wonderful gift. In the early lessons of this series, Sir James demonstrates everything you need to know about your flute, from how to blow your flute, put it together, hold it, learn to read music and play your first few notes. He even takes the student into their own practice room session and works with them through the new exercises. Your granddaughter can even play her first duet with Sir James!

Yes. The First Flute team is working on expanding to advanced exercises, techniques, masterclasses and more. Along with additional performances by Sir James, these new features will focus on bringing your technique to the next level, including Sir James’ method of studying works from the standard repertoire. If you would like to be notified when the advanced features are launched, please sign up on our mailing list here.

Yes. If you would like to purchase First Flute as a gift, simply email us at support@firstflute.com and we will take care of the details.

$99 is equivalent to approximately €75 or £65. Before processing your payment within our system, PayPal will inform you of your exact subscription amount in your local currency.

Like an annual subscription to a magazine or newspaper, you will have full access to all the lessons of this series for one year.

All videos on FirstFlute.com are designed and built exclusively for our members. The exercises and the fingering chart can be downloaded, but the lessons can only be viewed online.

If you have lost or cannot remember your password, please go here to reset your password.

If you cannot remember your username, you can retrieve your username by resetting your password here. But before doing this, first try entering the email connected to your account as your username.

All FirstFlute.com videos are optimized for web viewing and have HTML5 video support. Please make sure you have the latest version of your browser installed.

If both the video and audio stall while you are viewing, you are most likely experiencing issues with your internet connection. If the video stalls but the audio is fine, you are most likely experiencing issues related to your computer's hardware and/or software configuration.

Tips:

  • Are you running other bandwidth heavy programs while watching videos on FirstFlute? Try closing other programs to improve your CPU speed.
  • Perform Speed Test: The videos on FirstFlute.com require approximately 1.5 mb/s download speed in order to stream properly. To check your connection, please go to www.speedtest.net and click “Begin Test.” This will tell you whether or not your computer’s Internet connection is fast enough to handle the videos.
  • Perform a Traceroute: If you receive an output with 13 or more hops, the problem is most likely related to how your ISP is routing your computer's requests to FirstFlute. Unfortunately, FirstFlute is unable to fix this problem — you can try contacting your ISP's support desk to request help. If you receive an output with 1-12 hops, the issue is probably not related to your ISP.

Please email us at support@firstflute.com and provide us with the details of the problem, and we will do our best to resolve your registration issues in a timely manner.

Please email us at support@firstflute.com for assistance.

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