Scroll down for PDF links to specific categories of charts:
- young beginners – in yellow
- Suzuki Book 1 – green
- open ended charts to fill in as you choose – blue
- metronome charts – purple
- double tongue and triple tongue charts to be used with Trevor Wye’s Articulation Book – purple
Practice charts can be a magic bullet for building your flute foundation and routing out the issues that stand between you and being a really excellent musician. They’re a way of labeling the exact steps you need to take in order to excel, and a way of monitoring that in a tangible and rewarding way.
For musicians of all levels, progress can sometimes seem highly subjective and hard to quanitify. Am I REALLY improving? Charts can help you SEE what’s getting better and what’s not.
Practice charts can help you measure consistency of practice – did I practice 3 days this week or 6 days? Was that just one day I missed? Consistency is the first thing to look at to improve your progress.
And that spot that I seem to keep getting wrong each time I play it – where is that spot anyway? Write down the spot your teacher mentions in the lesson. Be as specific as possible. OR route out the spot yourself – where EXACTLY is that place where I seem to get something wrong each time – which note, or combination of 2-3 notes? Then work on that spot every day – and write down the number of correct repetitions on the chart (more on this in other posts – link coming soon).
And why can’t I play this up to speed? Why don’t I ever seem to be able to play it faster? Try playing with a metronome chart. Start slowly – find a speed you know you can nail it. Make a mistake? Try a slower speed – or zero in on the place where the mistake is made. Write that spot down – maybe just 2 notes. Can you play those 2 notes with the metronome ticking at 60? Fantastic – write down the date that you nailed those 2 notes at 60 on the metronome chart. Then see if you can play 3-4 notes at 60. Write it down. Keep practicing those 2 notes until you can do them up to speed. Then do the 3-4 note section until you can do that up to speed. Then try the whole phrase – can you now do the whole phrase or the whole piece up to speed? No? Then try it at 60 and work it up. Then you can know exactly where to start your practice the next day and SEE your progress, so you don’t have to wonder!
Not all practice charts are for all people. Younger kids might like sticker charts. In the early years it can sometimes be hard to understand the point of consistent practice until you start experiencing the results for yourself. But seeing that you’ve gotten stickers on all the squares can sometimes be much more comprehensible than understanding that today’s practice will combine with all of your other practices to make it possible to play tunes you love.
For intermediate players, the thought of a metronome chart may not be your cup of tea. I would ask that you hold off judgment on that until you experience it! But at the same time, different personalities work better with different strategies. You may do better with a less structured approach, and that may be totally fine for you! But keep it in mind for when you really need to get something fast that you don’t feel is possible that fast. Metronome charts can work wonders!
For Suzuki Students:
Young Beginners
Pre-flute activities to check off each day, to get a young child ready to play the flute
For progressing young beginner flutists who have moved past preparatory exercises and on to the first note on the flute
Progressing Suzuki Book 1 Students
For more flexibility:
Flexible Charts
Looking for a more flexible chart? The first 2 are large enough for stickers or detailed notes, and list the general categories for each day’s practice.
Practice List, Landscape, Large Squares
And these are completely blank, other than the days of the week – just write in all the details of what you’re working on:
Blank Practice Chart, Medium Squares
Blank Practice Chart Small Squares Landscape
Blank Practice Chart, Portrait
For working up your speed:
Metronome Charts
This is where the serious work – AND the serious reward – begins!
The first one has large enough squares for stickers!
This one allows you to start really slowly, and go on to a second line to bring fully up to speed:
And on to Double Tonguing – to be used on any double tongued section of music with Trevor Wye’s Articulation Book, currently found in his Omnibus Edition Practice Book for the Flute; the first has just one chart, but you may have several spots in your music – so here’s one for 2 spots and another for 6 so you don’t have to keep flipping pages:
