Exploring the Lizzo Effect
As a charity whose mission is to celebrate and support flute-playing and players, it’s been thrilling to see Lizzo raising the profile of the flute in pop culture and bring its magic to new audiences - as well as honouring the instrument’s heritage and collaborating with legends of the flute world like our patron Sir James Galway.
We recently ran a survey on the influence of Lizzo on our flute-playing community, and 1 in 5 players said that she’d had an impact on their playing or attitude to the flute. These included, for example, inspiring them to embrace a range of musical styles, motivating them to keep going with lessons, showing how fun the flute can be to play, and providing representation in important ways.
Some examples of feedback include:
‘I think Lizzo has made the flute cool to play again, and I think so many people outside of the flute community now have an idea of how fun it is to play! I went to Lizzo’s Special Tour, and I have never seen so many members of the general public cheer so loud and film someone playing the flute. It makes me feel more valued and noticed as a flute player!’
‘Her embrace of all musical styles has helped me to embrace that in my own performing and composing.’
‘I have found watching Lizzo play flute in her own way in her concerts to be really inspiring’
‘Well she started getting popular in about 2018-ish and I think it motivated me to keep going with my lessons at the time […]. It’s pretty inspiring to see such a big popular artist go out and play the flute to a really high standard (like you never see flute, or any other wind instrument apart from sax, in the mainstream music industry)’
‘She is important for representation, whether that be of BAME musicians, body positivity, genre definition etc. Lizzo is doing A LOT to show that no one should be excluded from the music world. She is someone to be taken seriously.’
‘[she’s] shown there is not rules about how you play the instrument and what contexts you do it in! She’s a queen!’
Of teachers of young and beginner flute players who answered the survey, half had students who were aware of Lizzo. Their comments included:
'‘They admire her playing and that she made them want to play the flute.’
‘They are aware she uses flute in her music and knew that she’d recently played a 200 year old flute; they love her and want to play her music’
‘Only one has mentioned it to me, but they watched some videos to see the flute being used in a context outside of classical music’'
A surprisingly low number of tutors (1 in 4) reported using Lizzo as an example in teaching younger or beginner students. However, the respondents that do use Lizzo in their teaching picked up on key factors such as:
Energy and movement in performance
Lizzo as a role model
Introduction of improvisation
The flute belonging in more than a classical context
An example of a successful musician (practice and you can be like her)
The results of our survey suggest that Lizzo is recognised and respected within the flute community, and a minority cite her as affecting their choices or thoughts around playing. Those who do cite her as affecting them in some way repeatedly discuss her importance in bringing the flute to new audiences, playing with energy, exploring new music, being a role model and representing marginalised communities within classical music.
Lizzo is a catalyst for discussion around many aspects of the flute and its players’ place in contemporary society. While she may not be the centre of a flute playing revolution yet, she is definitely starting conversations and sparking inspiration. And by celebrating performers such as Lizzo who make music their way, we can show the spectrum of music making and encourage each and every flute player to wholeheartedly be themselves and play what they enjoy.