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Hello, my name is Gareth and I am a professional flute player from Belfast, Ireland. Now based in Cologne, Germany, I work as a professional music teacher and performer, now providing lessons in Traditional Irish and Celtic music.
Hi, my name is Gareth, and I am a passionate and experienced pedagogue, showing students from across the world the joys of Traditional Irish and Celtic music. Having graduated in flute performance from both the Royal Welsh College of Music and The Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, I now have a varied performing and teaching career based in Germany.
I've played Irish Folk music since I was 16, performing in groups and ensembles in Ireland, the UK, France and Germany. These days, I currently run and lead Cologne's only Irish Music Sessions, and perform regularly with 2 different Celtic Music ensembles here.
Get in touch to find out more.
Get in touch today & start learning Irish Flute
Progress via enjoyment. At the heart of all my teaching is this philosophy; that enjoying the process of learning leads to better progress. I see my primary role as a teacher to try and pass on the passion I have not only for music, but for the learning process and the benefits it can bring us across our lives. Together we'll set aims and goals for you to achieve, be it playing a tune for your mates, making a video for your social media or going on to join your local Irish Music Session. The sky is the limit!
The lessons in Irish and Celtic Folk Music are particularly beneficial for beginners to music, with the goal of learning tunes as quickly as possible. Together we'll look at the various forms of Irish music, such as jigs, reels, polkas, airs, waltzes, slides etc and the other types of Celtic music, including Scottish, Breton, Welsh and Cornish. Lessons are available on Irish Flute, Classical Flute or Whistles. With the tin whistle being an inexpensive yet effective instrument, learning Irish music can be very easy on the wallet! However, these lesson are also ideal for musicians of other genres who wish to cross in to Irish Folk, or for those who perhaps played a while ago and want to rekindle that love affair.
Lessons are pay-as-you-go, weekly, fortnightly or as suits you.
I welcome both beginners and advanced learners to attend my classes. I will make a lesson plan that suits your needs as a learner.
I welcome beginner students
As a multi-disciplinary performer and teacher, I've gained lots of experiences over the last 15 years as a professional. Having got my Bachelor of Music from the Royal Welsh College of Music, and my Master of Music from the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, I've had the pleasure of studying at two superb institutions. As an artist, I work as an orchestral, chamber and solo musician in the classical world. In folk music, I perform here in Cologne regularly with 2 groups.
As a recording artist, I've worked with several Irish Folk Groups, most recently appearing on the superb Irish Folk trio TRÚ's debut album "No Fixed Abode."
As a teacher, I've taught in music schools and conservatoires across Europe. My latest role is as Flute Professor with the G.F Handel Music Academy in Cologne, Germany.
More advanced students are also welcome to take my lessons.
The lessons in Irish and Celtic Folk Music are particularly beneficial for beginners to music, with the goal of learning tunes as quickly as possible.
Together we'll look at the various forms of Irish music, such as jigs, reels, polkas, airs, waltzes, slides etc and the other types of Celtic music, including Scottish, Breton, Welsh and Cornish. However, these lesson are also ideal for musicians of other genres who wish to cross in to Irish Folk, or for those who perhaps played a while ago and want to rekindle that love affair.
These lesson are also great for Classical flute players who want to learn how to perform Folk Music in a stylistically accurate fashion on the modern, Boehm flute. We'll look at ornamentation, phrasing, improvisation and performance skills that can be transferred to the modern instrument.
I'm a professional flute teacher with a wide range of experience in both teaching and performing. I love to build our lesson saround the styles you love while making sure you have a broad understanding of the instrument you're playing. If you'd like to know more about my lessons, please send me an email at any time.
[email protected]
My lessons are charged at 20 euro per half hour and 35 euro per hour for all students.
If you're not located in Germany, my lessons are taken online via skype and zoom from the comfor of your own home.
I teach students of all ages how to play the Irish flute.
Weekly lessons are by far the best way to improve but some of my busier students take fortnightly lessons too.
Lessons cancelled with less than 48 hours notice will be charged full price for the lesson.
Get in touch today and start learning to play the irish flute.
Flute Teacher
Gareth Houston
