Monday, June 12, 2023 by Jessica Valiente | Uncategorized

It's been three years; COVID-19 isn't exactly gone, but with vaccines and treatments, we seem to have it under control.  Whatever one may think about it, life has returned to normal.

For The Global Flute Studio, this means that I am currently seeing students in person in their homes.  One day, I would love to have a brick-and-mortar studio, but the real estate market and interest rates are very high.  Now is not the time.  Parents, this is a win for you!  I know that most parents appreciate having a lesson in the convenience of your home and not having another appointment to run to.

I will travel to the homes of students who live less than a 30-minute drive from my location in Montclair for a weekly in-person lesson.  For students who live more than 30 minutes but less than 60 minutes, I will come to your home for an in-person lesson once per month (the remaining weekly lessons in the month will be online).  

The return-to-normal has also allowed me to fulfill a plan I set in motion years ago: this summer, I am holding my first summer one-week (M-F) flute intensive.  This is a day camp for flute students of all levels ages 10 to 17.  The camp takes place in beautiful Long Valley New Jersey from 9am to 4pm every day of the camp.  It will cover all aspects of flute skills development, include lots of fun facts and games, and DAILY SWIMMING!  It's called "Summer 2023 Floot Camp" ("floot" is a mashup of "flute" and "boot"). To learn more, please email me at theglobalflutestudio@gmail.com.  But space is very limited, so don't wait.  

It's June -- we will beginning our summer schedule on June 27th.  During the summer, I will be teaching on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and I will suspend lessons during Floot Camp, and I will set up school-year lesson schedules after Labor Day.

Have a great Summer of 2023!

Wednesday, April 22, 2020 by Jessica Valiente | Uncategorized

Greetings, Flutists, Flute Students, and Flute Parents,

We are on day 41 of the grand shut-down in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic.  As we are located in New Jersey, which has been one of the first hot zones for cases in the US, it's been difficult.  There has been more than our share of bad news and sadness.  We cheer for the brave health care workers and vital business employees who risk their lives every day to protect the public, and we hope our scientists and public health experts can find a treatment and a vaccine quickly.  As musicians, Still, we persevere, we teach, we learn, we make music. 

To improve the quality of teaching here at The Global Flute Studio, and to provide a creative outlet, we have added some new features to our online services.  First, we are now set-up for Zoom meetings.  This means we now offer online lessons over Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Facebook Messenger.

Second, we have launched a studio YouTube channel!  Most of the videos on our YouTube channel will be duet play-alongs, warm-ups, and tutorials, but there are also blog posts and performances.  Instructional videos are unlisted and only viewable with a link from me.  The fun stuff is public and can be viewed right on our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpxsArTsQOsVwltWQ-PEX-w

Be safe, be well, keep making music.

Dr. Jessica Valiente

Sunday, March 15, 2020 by Jessica Valiente | Uncategorized

Today is March 15th, 2020, and six days ago, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy declared a State of Emergency in the face of the spread of "the corona virus," officially knows as "COVID-19."  Future generations can look into the history of this, but in the meantime, what does it mean for us today?

It means that schools and most businesses are closed, and we have all been asked to practice "social distancing," which means avoid gathering in groups or getting together with people outside of your household unnecessarily.  The hope is that, if we stay away from each other, we will curb the spread of the virus (which seems to be deadly for the elderly, very young children, and people with compromised immune systems or underlying respiratory conditions).  Hopefully, if everyone cooperates, this crisis will only last a few weeks rather than several months or a year.  Time will tell.

Although I am often a luddite when it comes to the notion of modern technology in the case of real social interaction, today I say, thank goodness for the internet!  If this had happened 15 years ago, a lot of routine life would have come to a halt.  But because we have sophisticated technological systems of connectivity, a lot of things can continue on line -- school, office work, and music lessons!

As of today, I have officially moved all of my Global Flute Studio students online.  A few online lessons have already taken place, and, thanks to helpful advice from colleagues who have been teaching online for a long time, everything is going smoothly.  If you are taking or interested in taking online lessons with me, here is a checklist of what you will need to make it work:

1. A high-speed internet connection (DSL, cable, Verizon, or a Wi-Fi hotspot) at home.
2. A quiet place with good light and a music stand.
3. A device (phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer) over which you can have a video call.
4. A platform for video calling.  I can accommodate Skype (best choice; high quality audio and video transmission), Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, or WhatsApp.  Sorry, Apple people, I don't have any Apple products, so I can't do FaceTime.  Download one of those other apps.  They're all free.
5. A WIRED pair of headphones or earbuds (no Air Pods or Bluetooth; they create delay and a weird clicking sound).
6. Your own metronome.  It should not be on the same device you are using for the call.  Generally, you can't use the metronome while you have a video call open, and vice versa.

When you have everything you need for an online lesson, please email me at theglobalflutestudio@gmail.com, and I'll get you all set up!

Stay safe, and here's hoping for a very short-lived crisis!

Dr. Valiente 

Monday, July 1, 2019 by Jessica Valiente | Uncategorized

Despite my new position with Youth Orchestras of Essex County, I was able to continue my position as a teaching artist with the Nikhil Badlani Foundation.  The Nikhil Badlani Foundation is a memorial foundation that advocates for traffic safety, and provides subsidized group music lessons for students at in West Orange Public Schools.  This year, my three West Orange High School flute students performed trio arrangements of one of Bach's 3 part inventions (the first one), the "Pastoral" from Handel's Messiah, and "Danse des petits cygnes" from Swan Lake.  We added that little something extra by inviting three ballet students from New Jersey Ballet's intensive program in their ballet school to danse the role of the three Little Swans.  It was an extra special success!  

Thursday, June 27, 2019 by Jessica Valiente | Uncategorized

It's been a long time since I've posted any news here!  It was  a very busy year; I took a job that expanded my contact with young musicians, but reduced the size of my studio.  In October of 2018, I was promoted to the position of Executive Director at Youth Orchestras of Essex County, a program where I had been a sectional instructor for the previous 5 years.  It's been a very exciting year, sitting in the big chair, but a full-time position meant I had less time to do things like write in this blog, and my own private studio had to be smaller.  Some policy changes left me with a very select list of marvelous young people, all very intelligent and accomplished, and passionate about music.

Now that the school year is over, I get to show them off at our year-end studio recital.  This is the beginning of a new partnership with Finlay and Gage Musical Instruments in Maplewood, in their performance space.  I first learned of this venue when my daughters' violin/viola instructor held her studio recital there last spring.  Since then, I established a partnership with them for Youth Orchestras of Essex County, and we now host our master classes there.  Holding the Global Flute Studio year-end recital there seemed like a natural next-step!

The recital is this evening from 6:30 to 7:30, and it's open to GFS students, and their families.