Fan Mail

Throughout our first ten years of operation we have received tons of appreciation from you, and we are most grateful for that! Below we have collected some of the most interesting and inspiring messages, in the hope that your motivation and enthusiasm will inspire many other flutists. Thanks everybody for your support!

On your ten year anniversary I want to thank you for being there every day. I've written to you before to thank you and your contributors for such great music to play and practice. My daughter, who is 10 years old and a violin student, has also benefited from your pieces since she loves playing duets with her father. We live in a rural area on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, so good sheet music for any instrument is hard to find, but Flutetunes really helps fill in the gap. A big thank you for all of the effort that you put into your website, it's very much appreciated.

— James

I'm a flute player, I've been for more than 30 years, I discovered you some months ago, and I not only use your daily material every time I practice, but also I used it with my students oftenly. I think you've done a great thing, full of very important information for any flute player, full of tips, with a very interesting music to be read and played, plus advices in every item of the flute player. I use your material nearly every day, and the more I read your articles, the more I like your work and the way you do it. I'm just one of the hundreds and thousands flute players around the world, nevertheless, I feel a great admiration for you! Personally, I discovered a new world visiting your page every day in the last months. And I deeply thank you for the great thing you are doing!! And I'm quite sure I am not the only one!

— G.A.

Let me start off by saying thank you Flutetunes for being so incredible. The site is a constant source of motivation.

I remember wanting to play the flute 20+ years ago when in high school. I played Alto Sax and found myself somewhat frustrated that it didn't have the range for classical music. It seemed really suited for blues and jazz and I didn't particularly like jazz. To stay interested, I dabbled on every instrument I could get my hands on. Flute seemed like a natural second, but to be honest, I always felt some resistance from people around me. All our flutes were female and it seemed it wasn't something boys did, and never you mind all those famous male flutists.

20+ years later, September 2017, I decided to finally purchase a second-hand flute and learn. Coming from saxophone, the first 2 octaves felt like home already. Just the small matter of actually producing a sound! Somehow I stumbled onto Flutetunes and started playing Bach and Bizet and Mozart. All that music I wanted to play but doesn't work so great on the Sax. The arrangements are pristine — fresh clean digital PDF's. No shaded area typical of scanning a page with the binding intact. No dark spots or hairs or any artifacts at all — every note is completely clear and clean on the sheet. Oh, and I remember how fun it was to try a new etude on Saxophone and have no idea if I was playing it right. Now I can listen to it as I read the notes, refer to the MIDI as I practice, and after working on it for a bit, I can even play along with it. It's such a better way to learn, and there's always something new to play! I can't say enough good things about flutetunes.com.

Into my 2nd year on the flute now, and I've created a slew of videos out on Facebook from music from Flutetunes — I think I recorded everything you have from Carmen :) With a healthy dose of Quantz and E. Kohler mixed in. So much good music to play, at any given time I've got maybe a dozen pieces printed out that I'm working on and a dozen more bookmarked in my web browser that I haven't gotten to yet.

To close out, I want to again thank you for all your efforts. Safe to say, without Flutetunes I would not have progressed so far in such a short time, or worse, may have lacked the motivation to stick with it. The site makes all the difference.

— Ben

Congratulations on your 10th Anniversary.

What a fantastic site! I have been playing the flute for 55 years, but in the last two years I have lost a good bit of skill due to problems with my hands. I love to sight-read, so the “random” button is perfect for me as it encourages me to play when I become discouraged. What a wonderful sight for flutists of all levels...

I hope that you “hang around” for at least another 10 years!

— Jeryl

I just discovered flutetunes.com a few weeks ago and have become an addict!! I'm kind of twitchy all day until I've seen what the new tune is! I suppose I had my last flute lesson when I was 18. We have been working (literally) in the middle of Africa, for most of the last 16 years, in which time I had three kids and home-schooled them. Flute-playing came a long way down my priority list during most of that time, but more recently I got a better flute and began playing more.

Then I met a colleague who works in Kenya when she was visiting Cameroon (where we live) and played duets all week (!) and that inspired me to get on line, where I found flutetunes.com.

My music collection has been really limited because there's no way I can get new music from the middle of Africa, but since then, I've been re-inspired, and am SO enjoying playing again with all the new stuff I've found on your website. I've found an accompanist at last, and hope tomorrow to try out some of the music with her that I've downloaded. And I've started teaching the kid next door, and using some of the easy pieces I've found on Flutetunes.

So thanks! I think Flutetunes is amazing :-)

— Judith

My 13 year old daughter has just started playing the flute. Not only is your website a great resource for learning tools, the obvious care with which you maintain your website is something that I can say “these people love the flute so much that they spend a lot for their time sharing that love with people all over the world... and if you stick with it, you'll grow to love it that much as they do”.

That's hard to explain, but thanks for the hard work you put into this site. It's awesome!

— John

For a number of years, I've organized an occasional group of flute players at church. We call it a flute choir, but it's usually only 3-5 people: one or two junior high or high school kids and a few adults who occasionally dig out the flute and try to remember our fingerings. Rarely the same group twice.

Although we've purchased a couple of trio and quartet books, we frequently need something else to use as an introit or can't find quite the right piece to match the widely varying skill set of our group. Your site has been a wonderful place to find some nice, easy arrangements of hymn tunes and light classical pieces. As someone who is not a pianist and thus can't test out an arrangement on the piano, I really value the dependable high quality of your arrangements.

I just wanted to give you a big Thank You. Not only has your work enhanced our worship service, but by using your arrangements we've helped some adults to rediscover the joy of flute playing and have provided some kids with a different kind of ensemble experience.

— Fawn

I am an amateur recorder player living near Cape Town, South Africa, and I have just discovered your website. I am so thrilled with the quality and variety of music you publish. FOR FREE! And with accompaniment too! Most pieces are suitable for the more limited range of the recorder, and it forces me not just to stick to my comfort zone on the treble. Our currency is on the downward slide, so buying sheet music is not a viable option for most of us, but right now I feel as if I have discovered a gold mine. I will definitely let my recorder and flute playing buddies know. Thanks a million!

— Eva

I picked up flute just over a year ago, and as a part of learning, of course a lot of material and sheet music was needed. I only searched a little while on the web when I came across your site. It has been on my favorites page on my laptop ever since I found it. I really want to say that I am very grateful for what you guys do, and that you guys are doing an amazing job at it! It is because of your website that I shifted focuses from saxophone to flute, and I plan on going to college for flute now, thanks to you guys! You have inspired me to become a better flutist, instead of just having flute be a little experiment for me. Thank you guys so much, and please, keep doing what you do!

— Joel

I was a freshman in high school when I first learned about this site. A senior flute player told me about it, and I used it to sight-read pieces using the “random tune” button. I would also find pieces to play around the holidays when I was asked by family. I look at the flute tune of the day every day during free period. It has really helped me progress in my playing and it is my first source when searching for regular or trill fingerings. Now in tenth grade I have made District and Regional band for playing flute. I cannot thank this site enough, and I appreciate everything that you do for flute players.

— Abigail

I've started playing flute again after about 15 years away and discovered your site by chance while looking for anything flute-related on the internet (since the internet really didn't exist back when I started flute).

What an amazing surprise.

I also play saxophone and guitar. Sax players have NOTHING similar to this site, but what you have done even exceeds what is available to guitar players, whom I've always thought had the best support on-line.

I'm stunned at the availability of the accompaniment MP3s. What a work saver for rehearsal and what an incentive to record oneself.

Thank you so much. I have a feeling I'll be building up a very nice repertoire on flute in the next few years thanks to this site.

— Peter

I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate all you do for the flute community. I teach flute at Kansas State University. In my travels around the state, I know that many students don't have access to a great deal of sheet music and I feel good letting them know about flutetunes.com. My college students also use the site often for sight-reading practice or finding fun chamber works.

I know that it must be a labor of love to maintain the website, thank you so much for doing it!

— Karen

I have been playing the flute since 1968. There are not enough words to thank you for this website. I love it! I love all the music and I play 2 hours a day with Flutetunes. It's a lot of fun! Thank you again,

— Tammy

I just found this site today. I really just want to say how fantastic I think it is.

I am a flute teacher, I have a few pupils who aren't very well off and I feel really bad constantly asking their parents to buy them books — when these kids are great, and need lots of variety and things to play. It's really hard (financially) building up a stock of music when you're young and just beginning but have a huge thirst for playing.

So I just wanted to say, thanks, well done, wish I'd thought of it... just in case you need to hear it, you're doing a brilliant thing.

— Jo

Hi, my name is Cassie and I'm in 11th grade. I discovered this website four years ago, but it wasn't until two years ago that I really discovered everything it had to offer. I was struggling to get into All District band, and in particular my sight-reading was lacking in my overall score. It was at this point I started using Flutetunes every day, and I would go onto the website and sight-read the Tune of the Day. This gave me a more applicable and useful learning experience than a randomly generated exercise did. After doing this and other exercises for a year, my score improved by 20 points and I got into the band, a success which I attribute a large portion of to this website. I still use the website every day to sight-read the Tune of the Day and also to look for any other pieces I might be working on. Congratulations on 10 years!

— Cassie

This website has reinvigorated my love for flute. I haven't picked mine up since high school (10+ years). Thank you so much for making it so easy to get back into the groove.

— Isha

I just want to thank you for all the scores for flute. I am a young Belgian flute teacher, and I was thinking about editing myself the etudes, scales, pieces that I generally give to my students, because I think that the price of music scores is often too expensive. But I realised that it would be a huge job, and that I would spend years to achieve my goal. Now that I have discovered your site, it will be easier to give my students what they need, freely. Encore merci!

— Fabien

Thank you so much for this website! It is really great! Thanks to you, I don't have to stop playing flute only because I cannot attend any classes or because I cannot find any sheets. The sheets collection here is just amazing!

— anonymous

I'm 14 years old and I've been learning the flute for 5 years. In that time I've taken my grade 2, 3 and 4, in which I have either passed with merit or distinction. I've found that when you practise and learn for an exam, stress and over-practise can take away some of the joy from the process and the pieces. That's why I love being able to come on Flutetunes, browse and find songs/compositions I have or haven't heard of before, print them off, and start learning them within minutes. It takes my mind off my grades but at the same time it helps me with my sight-reading, theory and skill. It has helped me to understand and play my exam pieces better and, when I get frustrated with playing, I use these to calm myself and my fingers down. They also serve well as a warm-up/down and the different time/key signatures have improved my ability. My brother stumbled across the site when he was trying to find Super Mario Bros. for me to play on my flute. I didn't hold up much hope, as all sites I've seen are selling music, not showing it. However, I was pleasantly surprised when he came across this. At first, I found it too good to be true, and I thought that there must have been a catch — but there wasn't! Since then, I've printed out dozens of sheet music and I usually find that once I come on here, it's hard to stop! I love it that I can listen to the pieces first with the recordings and the brief history that comes with each composition. I am also delighted to learn that instrumentals and "flute and bass" are also available, as my father, who plays the double-bass, is keen to play some pieces with me. I've told as many flute friends about this site as I can, and they couldn't believe it either. Keep up the good work, as I'll be using Flutetunes for years to come!

— Ellie

THANK YOU for this website! To be frank, it is TOP QUALITY. Highly organized. Good interface. Nice themes/pictures/backgrounds. MP3s! Sheets! MIDIs! Background information on every song. And so many other details. It's amazing such a good site is free.

It's very rare to find such a useful, and solid site like this. Also, the arrangements are excellent! I will be picking one of my Solo & Ensemble Solos from your list :D

Good job, and thanks again!

— Yoshi

I'd just like to tell you guys how AWESOME this website is! I'm a sophomore in high school, and I've currently been playing for 5 years. This website is great- I love how all the resources are there for you! Especially the glossary, metronome, and fingerings. My favorite part is the MP3. I was never properly taught to count, so it's awesome to have the MP3. (I can't seem to stop using the word awesome!) Thank you for being so great!

— Mary

I just wanted to congratulate you all for this wonderful site! It is my favorite site for browsing new pieces to practice. Everything is so organized, easy to find, new music every day... it must be a lot of work and I thought I should let you guys know how important your work is for music students and players out there. A big thank you!

— Isabelle

I just want to say thank you for this great service! You give me and my students an easy access to classical works that we would not have access to otherwise. You do the world of classical flute music a service and keep the youth interested in the cultural heritage.

— Jon

Congratulations on the anniversary!

You have done a fantastic job for the worldwide community of flute players/learners/teachers. It's so beautiful that you do all this for free, as the quality of your website and the range of tools and resources you offer equal paysites. Many thanks for that!

So, here is my story! The beginning is kinda saddish, but it has a happy ending.

I had a few flute lessons at age 11, but I quickly had to stop, due to major issues occurring in my family, so, sadly, music could no longer be a priority.

From this time I only remember a few things, one of them was me almost collapsing during one of my first flute lessons (oxygen shortage!), and another one was the music theory teacher telling me in front of all the other kids that it was wrong for me to learn flute as it was a women's instrument (I was a boy), and that it only suited effeminate men.

Since then, I have spent three decades feeling sorry for myself for 1) not playing flute, 2) probably not having the talent for it, and 3) having missed the opportunity to learn it as a kid.

Last summer, at age 40, I can't explain why, I planned to start to take accordion lessons in September, and a few days after having made this decision, I somehow got obsessed by the idea of buying a flute. I did it a few days later: a plastic flute for kids, and I followed the manufacturer's method, designed for kids. Just like picking it where I left it 30 years ago.

And it worked! A few weeks later, I was able to play simple melodies like “Twinkle twinkle” or “London Bridge”. What a joy, what a feeling of victory on the past and what I thought was fate!

Those weeks were very strange, almost magic. I often had daydreams, like I were 11 years old again, expecting to meet classmates after lunch, etc. Playing flute had always been inside me. It was just sleeping for about 30 years.

Those were some of the most beautiful months of my life. From then on, I knew it was possible. I bought a proper flute, subscribed to a series of videos lessons, and here comes Flutetunes.

I am hard-working, but I am not disciplined. Playing the childish melodies of the classes quickly bored and annoyed me. I just wanted to play the music I love, even though I know that it is not rational from a music education point of view.

With Flutetunes, I could explore on my own, experience on my own. As the tunes are also classified by difficulty level, and one can listen to an MP3 sample of each and any of them, a whole new world opened to me, with hundreds of “easy” tunes to discover and enjoy! Thanks for that! Not to mention the printable sheet music!

Quickly, it was not enough for me. I am now starting to practise among the intermediate tunes (which I find still very challenging, but I know it's possible!). I am currently working on different themes of “The Nutcracker”. There is so much to explore on Flutetunes!

8 months ago, when I started, my goal was to be able to play Bach's “Badinerie” within one year. I work on it every single day, it's very challenging.

But the magic of flute learning, and this will be the end of my story, is that you discover that with stubborn practice, what seemed “impossible” quickly becomes “very difficult”, then “very difficult” becomes “difficult”, etc. And at the end of the day, every music dream seems to be possible. The secret is a combination of practice, motivation and faith. Flutetunes supports the first two things, the last one is inside you.

Flautist-wannabes of any age, don't hesitate any longer, you have already been waiting for too long!

Thank you girls and guys, and long life to Flutetunes.com! Lots of love,

— Adrien, The Netherlands