Questions from beginner flute players

Hi Jen, its me again! Thanks for the answer! I think I was ahead of myself by asking that question (of how to tune a flute)... gosh.
Ive only had 2 lessons and none now, and sort of teaching myself for awhile while settling into my new place. I'm actually struggling to produce a tone with the headjoint alone, especially the covered-lower tone. I'd find it and loose it almost instantly!
This got me wondering... do all students/beginners find it hard to produce a tone ? If so, usually how many lessons/weeks/months does it take for them to produce and sustain a tone (with practice, of course) ? Or, do they actually get to do it pretty quickly (first lesson) ?
For now I'll be just blowing into the headjoint and hopefully start to develop a sustainable and consistent tone...
I hope I'm not alone !
Thanks! J.

Dear J.

Are you kidding? ((:>)
Have you ever tried to sustain a plain, simple, but nice-sounding tone on any other instrument? Trumpet? Violin? Cello? Tuba???
For that matter, have you ever put on a baseball mitt and learned to consistently catch a baseball?
Hand-eye co-ordination takes time and practise.
And then there's arm-hand-flute-face co-ordination.
hahahhhahahaha!
Cheer up, dude. :>)
Give yourself three weeks minimum of ten minutes or more a day of headjoint only.......then see how you go...

As an adult your ears are FAR ahead of your ear-mouth co-ordination.
Be patient, and stay encouraged by even the most minute improvements.
Optimism is everything. :>)
Best,
Jen

Another commenter wrote:

I've just started last week to learn flute.
My memory is the worst!...is there any easier way to possibly learn the flute fingering? it really takes me FOREVER to learn just ONE note to memory.
HELP!.......

Dear "Help!"
A week isn't very long at all when it comes to learning a new skill. Think how long it took you to memorize the alphabet when you were a child. Didn't it take more than a week? Fingerings are the same. Take one at a time, learn it really well.
Then add the new fingering to the one you learned most recently, and go back and forth between those two notes (B and A for example.) Play little tunes with two notes or three notes ( The beginner book: Abracadabra Flute by Pollock with CD is a fun way to do this.)
And I might add, definitely sign up for some flute lessons. Good flute teachers know how to make this kind of thing easy for beginners; get lessons for sure.
That's what lessons are for, to make things EASIER for you.
Best, Jen