How long do people usually keep their private teachers?

People vary with the time spent with their private teachers.
It all depends upon the situation. There are as many reasons to stay with a private teacher as there are for leaving.
IF I could still take lessons with my univ. teacher, I would surly take two a week because of my deep respect for his deep knowledge and experience. I still talk to him regularly to learn more.

The reverse is also true. There are as many reasons to keep a student as there are for sending them on their way.
For example, If I had a student that was always arrogant and opinionated and didn't follow my carefully detailed instructions, I'd ask them to leave. This is because they are wasting their time with me or that they think that they already know things from their short and superficial studies that a flutist gains through a lifetime of experience with of all aspects of music, arts, science, etc. In other words, they truly don't know what they don't know.

pyrioni wrote: "most teachers in this world are terrible"

I strongly disagree. To me that statement is an indication of a student who thinks s/he knows more than the teacher and that s/he is not open to learning new ways of doing things. Yes, there are bad teachers out there, but going in with that assumption and attitude is poor.

If you are not willing to try the teacher's suggestions for improvement, stay home.

Bilbo said it well: "For example, If I had a student that was always arrogant and opinionated and didn't follow my carefully detailed instructions, I'd ask them to leave. This is because they are wasting their time with me or that they think that they already know things from their short and superficial studies that a flutist gains through a lifetime of experience with of all aspects of music, arts, science, etc. In other words, they truly don't know what they don't know."

True, I agree with both of you above! I am just a young kid without any experience of a life time of arts and music and everthing, I should listen to the teachers and respect them.

Of course I respect them and learn from them, otherwise I would have immediately quit their lessons if they have nothing for me to learn, but just that I don't follow fully to some of the questionable things (to myself). Each and every teacher has some extreme ideas, trust me.

I am not the only one, I swear to God, there are many kids, younger and older than me out there, always message me on youtube and on facebook, ask me about the questionable techniques that their teachers taught them, and even on masters and professors youtube videos. I am happy flute players nowadays have their own minds, and question their teachers methods and even question master and professor's teachings.

To use their own brain is better than just follow blindly.

Even that I like Patrick's playing and teaching, I didn't follow fully his interpretation on a competition piece that he taught me during a master lesson in real life. (No offence Patrick), I changed 2 movement's tempo opposite to his teaching, based on a college scholar's advice, then I won the competition, because the judge was a scholar - a music doctor, he agreed only to this arrangement because scholars have their own set of ideas that are different from performers. So you see, we have to think and do research and ask around, seek advice from many different people, then decide by own ourselves.

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This guy just entered a famous music college in USA wrote me: "I actually met him at last year national flute convention in New York. He seems like a nice person. And he gave a great concert. But it is true that his masterclass doesn't help as much as I expected. It is true that some of his techniques are questionable like the way he plays baroque music is not the way it is supposed to be lol it is like Galway style of baroque music"

Other kid today asked me: "Pyrioni which way you breathing? Are You pushing Your stomach forward Or inward i'm confused because of nina teaching lol"

Perhaps the problem is that a person can get very frustrated if they believe that everything is either right or it's wrong, good or bad, black or white. This is not necessarily the case in any artistic endeavor. If one plants in the mind of a young person that even the greatest teachers are flawed and don't have the best interests of their students as a high priority then they are showing a very negative side of our beloved music profession. They will surely convince at least one unknown person that there is no value in private lessons. This is most definitely not the case in the vast majority of instances. Of course there is something gained and perhaps something lost in trying a new experience. For most people the experience of a qualified instructor is enough to show some sort of path to improvement. If one is lucky enough and open enough in their mind to be inspired by a great flutist this is a good thing.

I agree. You have to have the sense to have your opinion when you're working with others. Nice post, Pyroni.

One example, in masterclass, Sir Galway always tells us to cover 2/3 of the Embouchure Hole and roll-in more to blow, will you follow blindly just because he is a great master of flute? No, his method may work for somebody, and may not work for others. We need to choose and experiment see if it works for you.

Now that is interesting. I was stressing out the other day because I cover about 50% of the EH and had read that one was supposed to cover only 1/4 to 1/3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQg0vScnQ8E

check out 0:31 Galway masterclass

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at 2:06 he mentioned he changed blowing angle just to change octaves, that is because his way of playing made him very hard to jump octaves without changing blowing angles (many masters including Pahud said not to change angles unless you want to adjust intonation). He has mastered his own way! But it's hard for us!

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He plays high notes with upper angle, and low notes with lower angle. We all know on flute lower notes are flat and high notes are sharp! If we play like him, it will be even sharper for high notes and flatter for low notes. So to compensate this, he plays lower note very hard (hear his recorders) with lots of overtones, and he plays high notes very soft. Also he covers the EH even more for high notes and less for low notes. OMG, he mastered it with decades of practice!

You're right.
Pyrioni--random comment but your birthday is the same day as mine--just different year.

karinabina7 - wow, that's cool

The issue about the comments about Sir James' method of instruction are only half of the facts. Without all of the facts they aren't useful and have little to do with the issue of taking private lessons. One shouldn't look upon a masterclass as having taken private lessons from the master....even if they were performing during that class. These sorts of comments only serve someone's need to show great disrespect for one of the greatest masters of the flute...one who will make many flute history books and have their name as one of the greatest masters of all time. Now, If I were suggesting a model for a good flutist to emulate it in some ways may include some of the attributes of Sir James Galway or it may also be many other fine players out there but regarding these comments, I'd be very willing to bet that Sir James would reply to anyone that had the sort of nerve to write such things that, until they have performed so many decades of major solo and symphony orchestra soloist concerts and sold so many varied albums as he has done, that this person should mind their respect.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't say he's not good, he's the greatest master of this time, and for 40 years he rules the flute world and flute record world! His records sold 30-40 million CDs and even more with pirated copies worldwide! I respect him, I am just saying it's his own style of playing that he mastered with decades of hard work! I learned from him his singlemindedness, hard working, and the importance of fundamentals and scales!!!

But his methods may not suit everyone on this planet. That's all.

As a successful master with his own unique sound and own unique musical style, he can do whatever he likes. We can't.

(BTW, He said in his tone video, that low notes are sharp and high notes are flat, because the ventilation of headjoint is poor, more air are put in, and air can't escape faster, that is why high notes are flat on headjoint blowing with backpressure. If you play correct fingerings for high notes, they are actually sharp, not flat! So you can't judge flute playing just by blowing the headjoint)

In the realm of his tips, he has also recommended that people pull out their foot joints so that the lower notes won't be sharp. Many of these things regarding sharp/flat are very dependent upon the flute, the position of the head joint and the embouchure factors. So in this respect one needs to understand the physics of the flute as well as exploring various ways of solving the issues of intonation and tone.
Sir James' technique of playing is a continuation of a lineage. He isn't the end of that thread of players as others are following his lead. So in many respects he reflects his own private teacher's careful instructions. There are also other styles of the various techniques out there but his style is also that of a performance showman.
"I learned from him his singlemindedness,"

Sure, use this where it applies but in performance, the bigger focus on all aspects needs to develop.
"......hard working," One has to be careful of the nature of what this 'hard Work' entails.
It means to work with attention to details. ..all of them. Work with an intention to develop what the exercise at the moment is designed to develop.
"..and the importance of fundamentals and scales!!!" Of course always the fundamentals but I'd mind this thought as an example: if one spends their time with metronome clicking out the ever faster and faster (and at the same time ever louder) scales, then the art is lost to the unrestrained attempts at trying to impress the people with gymnastics, pyrotechnics, at a general loud screaming ambiance. This evades the beauty of the musical experience. As far as I've seen, Sir James always stressed to work on the exercises for their musicality.

One could argue that Moyse's De La Sonorite is riddled with mistakes in the text but I say that he is spot on with his descriptions, one needs to understand what a person of his period in history was intending to get the true message. So, many people that try to teach the De La Sonorite don't understand what Moyse intends for them to do. Then someone may come along and hack pieces out of the book for their big, new, fancy collected instruction method and the whole lineage of the complete concept is lost. I mention this Sonorite book because it may be one of the most important instruction books for flute since the Boehm Treatise of 1871.

So, perhaps one can fall upon the conclusion that no teacher is ever going to do the best for their student 100% of the time. This is especially true IF the student thinks that the teacher is flawed, disregards the teacher's directions or if the student wishes to blame the teacher for their own inadequacies and attentiveness. As flawed as the teacher may appear to the student, it is far more often better to experience the private lessons rather than to try to teach themselves. Trying to learn online or any other form of correspondence/distance communicative experience is also deeply flawed in concept for the student's sake.

Good speech, yep, one must need a teacher, good teacher would be nice, problem resolved.

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and thanks for your teachings and explanations. :)

If I may humbly suggest that Theobald Boehm book explains how to play properly. He was not only an inventor of sorts but he was also a virtuoso player. The 2nd half of his book is on how to play and study. Much of the "French School" comes from his writings.
Another work book series which might clarify some confusion (If you can get it) is the one by Roger Mather in 3 books called "The art of playing the flute."
These may be very good for you at your stage.