Elizabeth Brightbill Flute Studio

08/31/2026

My garden escape.

08/27/2026

Hey, friends! I’ve been hiding. 🫣 Actually, I’ve been lurking all along, briefly jumping on to see what creative things my friends are doing, flutey and non flutey. (Maybe I’ll soon share the stuff I’VE been up to these past few months…🤔.)

My fall teaching schedule is in full swing, and this particular flute lesson was SO much fun, I just had to crawl out of my hole to share!

There’s always a celebration in lessons when the braces come off! Sometimes a student’s sound is immediately improved but every now and then the mouth feels so different without braces that a kid basically needs to relearn sound production. This cutie knows what needs to happen, but starting from scratch is just no fun…. UNLESS we turn it into a game.

I learned about this Penguin Icecapades game in KinderFlute training a few years ago (thank you Kathy Blocki and ) and decided to pull it off the shelf for this girl. Every time she knocked an ice cube down from the platform, she played the number of tones written on the back of the ice cube. If she knocked a bunch down, she chose one cube. We varied the tones: headjoint, the whole flute, high, low, different articulations, different durations, etc. Thirty minutes flew by, there were lots of good flute t***s and long tones, lots of experimentation, lots of silliness AND progress and she left all excited about creating her own practice game with Scrabble!

Happy student, happy teacher. 👍😉

kinderflute

05/05/2026

Coming soon on June 6! Adult Flute Ensemble reading workshop!

04/28/2026

Michelle was one of my first “little flutists.” Here she is years ago in ’ Twinkle Project, a little later in a studio photo shoot, and just a couple of days ago after soloing with as this year’s winner of their concerto competition. (I’m standing on my tippy toes because she’s now about a foot taller than I am!)

She’s ? ? 🤔
I sure am going to miss her.

04/02/2026

Coming up soon! Join me along with friends and for an afternoon of flute ensemble and chamber music supporting local food access!

This event is free and open to the public, with donations welcome to support Project GROWS’ mission. I will be joined by flutists Laura Jean Brand, Amelia Camacho, Linda Edenfield and Beth Kaufman with Craig Ames (piano), George Cohen (clarinet) and Andrew Gabbert (cello)—all donating their time and talents for a good cause!

Music by Hermann Beeftink, Eugène Bozza, Valerie Coleman, François Couperin, Gerald Finzi, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Sunday, April 19 • 3:00pm • First Presbyterian Church
(249 S. Wayne Avenue, Waynesboro, VA 22980)

We’d love to see you there!

02/03/2026

Local friends! I’m playing this concert with my husband next week! If you want to go please DM me. The sign-up (and waitlist) at the library registration link is full but they won’t turn anyone away! They just need an estimate on attendance for set-up. Please join us!
jmrlib charlottesvillemusicians

01/22/2026

Celebrating Michelle this week!

Meet our 2026 Murphy Concerto Competition winner, flutist Michelle Wong. Michelle will be performing Mouquet's La Flute de Pan with the Band at our Spring Concert!

Michelle Wong is a senior at Charlottesville High School where she plays in the CHS Wind Ensemble. For the last four years she has been a member of the Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia’s Youth Symphony. Michelle has also won the Wednesday Music Club Camp Scholarship Competition and attended summer programs at Interlochen, Oberlin, and the New England Conservatory. She has participated in District Band throughout high school and last year placed first chair in the All State Concert Band. Michelle will attend Northwestern University in the fall where she plans to major in chemistry and hopes to continue playing in ensembles. Michelle Wong is a student of Elizabeth Brightbill.

12/19/2025

Bye bye 2025!

12/02/2025

Every now and then a kid asks for flute lessons for Christmas. If I can fit you into my schedule, we can make it happen!

11/26/2025

Me stepping out of my comfort zone at UVA’s Flute Forum talking about the “creative practice mindset”….and discovering it wasn’t at all uncomfortable. It was actually fun “nerding out” about practice! The night before I was worried that only two people would show at 8:30 AM, but there were a good number of responsive and curious folks with great questions. A little birdie told me folks were still talking about it later in the day—how to practice effectively and efficiently will always be a relevant topic!

I have no idea why I’m pointing at my head in the last pic, with such a stern facial expression. Caption?

Loved the other presentations and Carol Wincenc’s recital was exquisite. As Carol said — Kelly Sulick worked her magic putting this event together! Brava! 👏👏👏