How I Make the Most of Every Private Lesson
(and updates to my Substack!))
Happy first week of school to all of my American friends! (and second week of school for my friends back in Canada). I am so glad to be back at school; Having my school routine and lots of time each week dedicated to learning and improving is a lifestyle that really works well for me. I’m going to miss it when I graduate in 2026! (I guess I could get a doctorate, but we’ll see about that when we get there! Hahaha)
After six and a half years of music school, I’ve finally discovered a way to make the most out of every single private lesson (and masterclass, lecture, etc!) that I have. This system has completely transformed my ability to retain material from lesson to lesson, my ability to prepare new material faster and improve old material quicker, and it ensures that I don’t miss a single thing in my lessons. Since I learned how to do this, I also began requiring it from my own students, so I know that each word I say is heard. Here’s how I do it.
My private lessons used to look like something like this:
Show up 10 minutes early, wait for my lesson to begin. Go in, set out my prepared music, my notebook, and my pencil. Phone on silent (or not in the room). Begin lesson; How are you professor? Here’s how my practice went this week. Here’s what I want to work on today. Potentially ask some questions I’d been saving up for the week, hope I don’t forget any! While professor is explaining things to me or making changes to my music, constantly scribble down their words in my notebook or in my score. Oh my gosh I hope I get everything that they’re saying. Okay I just missed that last part because I was writing but hopefully I caught most of what’s important. Play again. Scribble down as many words as I can, make changes to score. Repeat until done. Leave. Practice as much as I can remember from the lesson throughout the week.
Now, this wasn’t incorrect for the most part. I remember so many of my lessons in my undergraduate and first graduate degree minute by minute; I had incredible teachers who I admired and who were extremely knowledgeable (Sharon Kahan, Susan Hoeppner, Nora Shulman) and I learned so much during those years. If the above scenario sounds exactly like you, don’t worry; there’s so much good there. Truth be told, I did a lot of things well during this time! A few big ones are:
Showing up to lessons early. Perhaps your professor will have a few extra moments; always be ready for an additional opportunity to learn. Perhaps you need to run to the bathroom beforehand, or you need a few minutes to get into the zone before you walk into your lesson. No matter the reason, standing outside your lesson for ten minutes is always better than running in right as your lesson begins, frazzled and frantically unpacking your instrument.
Showing up prepared. Now, I’m not perfect- I’m sure my professors over the years can recall a lesson or two that I bombed. Especially in undergrad, balancing your educational life can be really tricky, but if you are a student on the performance track, your lessons should be your top priority.
Being kind and respectful. Your professor is such an important person in your life; this is someone who hears you play each week, as vulnerable as that is, and works with you to help improve your music-making. They hear all the raw parts of yourself through your music and help you discover the curiosity that you need to dive deeper into your studying. This someone you should have utmost respect for! Be grateful when they are generous with their time, and never, EVER, waste it; be kind, courteous, professional, and respectful, and you will get much more out of your lessons than someone who is rude, unprepared, and unkind.
However, there was one huge problem that I was facing, which was that while I was clamouring to write down every one of my teacher’s precious words, I was actually missing things that they were saying. SO much is said in a 60 minute lesson, and we tend to miss a lot of it- maybe we are distracted, thinking about the repertoire we are playing, maybe we are nervous, maybe we are writing things down or trying to work out problems in our head. We can’t remember every single word said in every lesson! But, because I was so worried about missing things and paying attention for every single second, I wasn’t actually present for the discovery process, the moments of curiosity, and the moments of wonder in most of my lessons. Part of me wishes I could go back and watch them all over again as a third-party… I wonder the golden nuggets of information that I missed!
However, when I came to CMU, Professor Almarza detailed to me his style of lesson-taking that completely changed the lesson process for me. The trick is to record your entire lesson each week and then, following the lesson, listen to it completely (including listening to segments of you/your teacher playing, not just the discussions) and take highly detailed notes. In addition to making sure you mark up your scores with your teachers’ suggestions, (I like to have multiple copies of each score on my iPad so that I can keep my markings and my teacher’s markings separate- keeps things cleaner that way, and you know what is from your teacher, and what is from you) take notes on everything your teacher shares, from anecdotes, to metaphors, to information on time periods, styles, interpretation, sound, colour, etc. After you’ve done that, consider these questions when writing your lesson notes:
Am I applying feedback well in my lesson? After my teacher has suggested something, do I do it the next time I play? (or at all in the lesson?)
Does my playing in my lesson sound how it did in the practice room? If not, what is different (better/worse)? If worse, do I need to change my practice/lesson preparation to reflect what isn’t working? What can I try that might help?
Am I asking quality questions in my lesson?
All of these things can help you evaluate if you are making the most of your lessons. Plus, you don’t miss a single word from your professor.
At CMU, we also add two more categories to our notes, in addition to the notes we take from our lesson recordings:
What I Worked on This Week
Questions/Comments/Concerns
These categories are both for you, and for your professor. At CMU, we send Professor Almarza our lesson notes before each lesson and he looks over them to know what we practiced during the week and if we have any Qs/Cs going into our lesson. However, these categories can still be useful to you even if you don’t have a system with your professor like this.
For the What I Worked on This Week category, I put in what I practiced and the progress I made in as much detail as possible. While this is helpful for my teacher to see, it’s also very helpful for me- It’s similar to practice journalling, but extra helpful, because you can see your professor’s comments from your lesson that week right above. This is a great way to evaluate if what you are practicing during the week is relevant to the feedback you are receiving in your lessons, and a great way to make sure you don’t miss any assignments from your professor.
Your Questions, Comments, and Concerns category is a great place to write anything that maybe didn’t make sense, or that you need further clarification on at your next lesson. Bring your questions on a sheet of paper so you can ask them, or email your professor if it’s more urgent.
This system has completely transformed my learning, and made me so much more active in my learning process! Knowing that the lesson is being recorded and that I don’t have to frantically take notes has allowed me to be much more present and curious in the lesson room. This is something you can do with masterclasses that you play in as well, or lectures that you feel you need the extra tool. Every few weeks, I also sit in on my colleague’s lessons, and I follow this same system; I also do the same with chamber music coaching’s, mock auditions, etc. Something to note is you must check with everyone in the room to make sure they’re okay with you recording before you do it! I just record the audio, but I know some colleagues at other schools also record video- so that can be something you can consider as well. Again, never forget to get your professor’s permission before recording lessons (same thing with coaches, fellow performers, guest artists, etc.) Over the holiday break, I started going back through masterclasses that I recorded from 2-3 years ago and taking notes on them. It’s incredible the things that went completely over my head at the time that, upon my second listen, are so useful! What a shame it would have been if I never listened back… I’d miss so much information!
If this system at all interests you, give it a try (with your teacher’s permission!).
An update to my Substack:
I am so excited to be growing my Substack and to be investing in sharing my learning and thoughts as a musician on a completely new platform. From Instagram, to Youtube, to Substack, I’m so glad that you’re here and interested in what I have to say. THANK YOU!
This year (2025), I am going to be sharing much more on Substack- EVERY Wednesday and Friday at 12pm EST (just in time for your afternoon practice session).
On Wednesdays, I am going to be publishing my lesson notes summary from the week for you to read through as a paid subscription. Everything I practiced, how I practiced it, what I learned and took from my lessons the week before, how I implemented it, and more! You can have access to my lesson notes every week for a subscription of only $6 dollars a month (works out to only $1.50 dollars for each week of lesson notes… about 3-4 pages every week!)
On Fridays, I will be sharing more of my life as a musician, my favourite podcasts for musicians, my must-have items for musicians, things I’ve learned about gigging over the years, how I grew on social media, etc. etc! These posts will be available to all free and paid subscribers every week :)
I am SO excited to begin sharing what I’ve learned as a music student on Substack, and thank you so much for joining me!
You can become a paid-subscriber to support my work on Substack (and help me out as a grad-student!!) here:
Thank you so much for your support, XOXO, and #gopractice!!!
Love,
Gill Flutes