How to Organize Your Flute Music

Dear Flute Lovers,
It's that time of year; everyone is asking what to bring to their fall flute lessons, and is sorting through piles of flute sheet music, wondering how to organize it. I've had some questions about this by email from my own students, and so I'll tell you all I know. :>)

1. The Big Flute Binder

Firstly, do you have a flute binder? These three-ringers are very useful things to have.
All your current flute music all in one place?
Only one flute book to put into your bag (along with your flute and your flute swab) and you're out the door?
Oh wow, you say. Well,

 Voila, the simplest way to keep everything in one place.

(click on picture to enlarge).

If you can find the three-ring binders that are about 1-inch wide at the spine, and have two interior pockets, buy five of them. They will take you through the next two decades of flutey business.

Note the tabs. Note the pockets. (Note that you cannot have a flimsy music stand to hold a full binder....)

And those readers who are well informed-about-office-supply-equipment and all its oddities, will mention at this point that for a three-hole binder, you need a three-hole punch and access to a photocopier in order to have working copies of all your music all in one binder, but I swear the binder system really works! 

Just find that dern three hole punch, and your life will be simplified. All your beautifully new fresh published sheetmusic will stay safely out of the rain, at home on your shelves, for reference, while you write all over your photocopies, and create a working book of all that you're working on in lessons. No time wasted. See what you think. Bit brilliant. :>)

2. Storing Your Flute Music

At home on your bookshelf, the easiest way to store flute music is in cardboard, upright file folders (buy four pack of file folders at stationary store and unorigami them). The easiest way to catagorize flute sheetmusic is:

Love it
Might be useful
Hate it (also known as 'Yuckeroo-holiday').

(click on picture to enlarge).

Lay all your music out on a bed or table, and put it in those three piles. Then transfer them to the upright boxes. Again; Voila.
Sorted.

And you'll notice after ten years that you almost never need to look at the "Yuckola" file, and that you'll seldom need the "might be useful" file, (unless you get a new ensemble or a new gig, or a new outlook.)

But the "love it" file boxes, they'll start to grow.

Put them on the easiest place to reach on your bookshelf.
If you get too many, subdivide them again (see 3 below).

And put the unloved music in the hard to reach place in the dark end of the shelf; be ergonomic. :>)

You'll soon find it easy to put music back where it goes if there are only three categories, plus, you'll know which file box you're looking for when you're in a rush to find something. Love and hate are easy to remember.

3. Sorting Sheetmusic By Category

If you own a large amount of sheetmusic, and you find at least half of it lovable and/or useful, you may want to buy a few more file boxes, and put it into standard categories. I still put the "love it" music on the right hand side of each file box, so I don't have to look very far when I'm looking up solos or etudes that are always fave-raves. The right hand side of the box is easiest to reach for if you're right handed. If you're left handed, or have another system, put the best loved music where it's easiest to reach.

(click on picture to enlarge).

If you have a gigantic sheetmusic collection (as do flute teachers) you will eventually have all these categories in your WALL of sheetmusic.

Solos - Etudes - Ensemble

With subcategories: 

Solo: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern (fave ones on "easy to reach" side)

Etudes: By level of difficulty (fave ones on one side)

Technique Books: sorted by usefulness (good ones on one side)

Ensemble Music: Duets, Trios, Quartets, Choir, Orchestral, Band, Woodwind Chamber Music, String and Flute Chamber Music, Pop/Folk Band Music etc.

(click on picture of all categories, to enlarge).

And there's no reason not to design your own categories. I know I did. They grow as does your career as a performer.

My main concern is being able to find exactly what I'm looking for extremely quickly, with zero frustration. But that's just me. :>)


4. Getting the Right Music To Your Lesson

Getting the particular solos, duets and etudes that you need for each lesson can be made easiest by the big flute binder (no. 1 above), with its tab markers so you can flip to what you need on the music stand without having to hunt for anything.

Flip to your duet, flip to your etude; flip to your scales.
Fabulouso. And they tell flutists, "Don't be Flip"....ha!

But if you prefer, you can buy or find an old-school over-sized music folder, and use that instead.

Here's your big black folder and notebook on its way to your flute lesson, showing the music you're currently playing, the flute in its case,  and the notebook most students use to write down their lesson pointers.  Put all this in a bag the night before. Note the pencil. Very zen. Note the pencil.

(click on picture to enlarge).

The "Flute Lessons Notebook" is something that I, as the teacher, use to write down everything I'm telling the student. Other teachers have the students write things down so that they re-phrase them to suit themselves. The student then uses those notes (and sketches) during the week for their practicing, and then write down questions they come up with during their practice. When the student starts lessons with the notebook with them, they can ask the questions that pertain to this past week's practice, right at the start of the lesson, so they don't forget, and the teacher can write the answers during warm-ups.

It's just a spiral ring pad, but it's a lifetime of memories for what that teacher taught you, when you look back. Ask anyone who has one. It's like a photo album of what you learned.
If you have a binder, just put lined paper into the back for the teacher to write on, if needed.

Notebooks rock. Over-sized fake leatherette brass-reinforced music folders rock.

And...not forgetting your flute and the correct sheetmusic when you get to your lesson also, bigtime, rocks.

5. Keeping the Binder Updated: emptying it of last year's stuff

                                                    

(click on picture to enlarge).

When you finish with a piece or an etude, you can take it out of the binder, or folder, and re-sort it back onto your book shelves. See above picture.
That way your binder will only have your current materials in it, and not be over-stuffed.

Binders For All Occasions:

You can also have a separate binder or music folder for a particular weekly rehearsal or group that you belong to, so that all you need for those occasions is in its own folder or binder. For example, I was in a "Cello, Flute, Piano Trio", and had a separate binder and over-size folder for those rehearsals.
Then I knew I had everything for that group when I arrived.

Or for performing gigs, I put the whole show in a binder specific to that gig. Those are the occasions where I need to walk on with a plain binder under one arm, and place it on a stand and start to play. I have the entire program in order already, page turns secured, no fussing with music at all, just open the gig-binder and play the show. So soothing.

6. All Flute Related Equipment; At Home, and At Lesson.

Here's a basic view of all the stuff you need for flute lessons, both at home, and when you travel to your lessons.

At home:
Flute with cleaning rod or cleaning swab.
Music stand (Manhasset tall black ones are best for heavy binders, wind storms and dogs with huge wagging tails, like Labradors.)
Flute Sheetmusic
You may also add:
The Tuning CD (disc or mp3s)
A Metronome w or w/o Tuner (inexpensive is fine.)

(click on picture to enlarge).

At your flute lesson:
Flute with cleaning rod or cleaning swab.
Big Flute Binder with blank paper and pencil
or Music Folder with Pencil and Notebook.

I find a picture says a thousand words, and also is a simple way to picture how you can quickly get organized for September's lessons.
If you have any questions, use the comment button. Love to know other systems that people use too.

Enjoy the colourful life of being an organized flutist who knows where their sheetmusic is. :>)
Wish they sold "cover-pocketed one-inch navy binders, sprial notebooks,  three hole punches and over-sized music folders with pencil pocket and sharpener' as a starter packet for music students.

Best, Jen