Many people out there have quite a lot of untapped musical talent. The reason why this talent goes missing is no one's fault, really, but it is just that these people do not have an opportunity to learn any music. With the introduction of the Internet as a part of most people's lives, however, this can and has changed in some degrees. While some people would disregard it as only half-baked tutelage, there are sites that offer tutorials for people who want to teach themselves how to play an instrument. While a
flute tutorial might not have everything a budding player requires, it can certainly be a good start to greater things.
Something like a flute tutorial has been around for quite some time but in different formats. There are books, videos and other media that have also been published before the Internet that allowed people to essentially teach themselves how to play an instrument. These media were very useful and many a musician has had no formal training aside from these manuals and videos. The biggest problem with these media was their availability. Often they could only be found music stores or specialty stores and even when they were available only certain instruments were represented. The Internet has made it possible, however, for a person to search for whatever instrument they are interested in playing. With a little practice they are soon able to play the instrument passably if not spectacularly.
But as with most things that are replaced by newer and faster ways, there are critics to this method. Take something like flute tutorial, for example. A classical teacher might claim that if a student is not instructed by a professional they are bound to make mistakes and form incorrect habits. While there is certainly some evidence to this argument one has to look at the self-taught musicians who had no formal training, per se, but became world famous musicians and artists in their own right. There are advantages to formal training like continuous motivation, immediate correction of form and the use of tried and tested effective methods of teaching. There is nothing wrong with formal instruction and using an online tutorial along with formal training might even be more effective.
One of the greatest arguments for online tutorials is that one can often find a tutorial for an instrument for which there is no professional tutor. There are many different kinds of flute that are not necessarily played by people all over the world. A flute tutorial for something like the Native American flute, for example, could help an enthusiast learn to the play it even if there is no professional teacher nearby - as would often be the case in rare or obscure instruments. At the end of the day the aim is to learn to play an instrument. Whether you learn with tutorials or with a teacher is not important as long as you are learning what you want to learn and having fun while doing it.
