HI, i’m a self taught flute/ whistle player, and i’ve been practicing for about 5 months now. I practice mostly irish trad music. i’m familiar with most of the basic techniques such as cuts, taps, rolls, slides, cranns. For sometimes now i’ve been learning from videos off the internet (pick up tunes that i like that practice). But now i think that if i wanna get better i have to practice in a certain method and routine.
So anyone, if you have practicing methods that you feel effective. i’ll appreciate very much if you would like to share. (i’ve been looking for a flute teacher near where i live, but it was next to impossible. Rap and pop pounding all around me.
very sad)
oh and by the way, please feel free to suggest tunes that are relatively easy for practicing (not necessary irish traditional music)
thank you very much 
One of the best and easiest things to do is to simply listen to as much solo flute playing as possible. Set aside time to just sit and do nothing but listen for an hour or so each day 
That’s what I did in the beginning, but I also learned that in doing this you’re not necessarily going to learn the bare bones version of a tune (or the version that people are likely to be playing in a session). Solo players like to show what they’ve got and therefore usually have their own version of a tune with added embellishments, crazy ornamentation, etc. When I started taking lessons and going to sessions I had to go back and learn the bare bones of the tunes.
Sites like:
abcnotation.com
thesession.org
and the Comhaltas Foinn Seisiun recordings
were very helpful. On the Comhaltas link you can scroll down and download the seisiun tunes from the list.
Regards,
Kirk
lots of good advice on here re: breathing , embouchure, playing long tones etc. just spend some time searching (I find that amongst others Brad Hurley gives advice that works for me)
If you can’t get some regular one to one tuition next best thing are workshops but if that’s not available in your area I would recommend June McCormacks tutor http://www.draiochtmusic.com/ as the best book/CD
All good advice, lots of listening and think about who you like (what you want to sound like) and just put the mileage in, practice every day.
For the flute, definitely work on long notes/embouchure (it’s just much more satisfying to practice tunes when you find a reliable solid tone but playing endless tunes doesn’t necessarily get you that). Seamus Tansy had me go right back to blowing into bottle necks and head joints in the pub the other day…I didn’t thank him for the remedial class but the bugger was right and it put me back on track to a much better sound the week after. Salutory lesson 
For basic tunes, you could try the CCE collection:
http://comhaltas.ie/shop/detail/foinn_seisiun_book_volume_1/
http://comhaltas.ie/shop/detail/foinn_seisiun_book_volume_2/
http://comhaltas.ie/shop/detail/foinn_seisiun_book_volume_3/
You can easily download the audio for 300+ common tunes (and buy the dots if you want them).
Use a metronome, stay honest with the time! Then try w/o and record yourself…
There is really only one efficient practice method. Divide and conquer. Separate out the parts into the smallest components, and work on those in isolation until you can perform them, and then build up larger parts from there. Work on whatever your weakest link is until it isn’t, and then work on the next.
thank you all very much,
but unfortunately i will stick with the tinwhistles before i figured out a way to fix my cracked bamboo flute
at first i didn’t think this forum is very active (hmmm how many people in the world play Irish flute? i know none in my school)
but it turned out my posts are answer almost instantaneously. This is awesome! i guess people did not forget irish music after all.