An artist in Hanoi has been operating a free flute class for seven years.

Artist Le Thai Son, 69, was born in Thanh Oai District, now in Hanoi.

Artist Le Thai Son

Son has a great passion for bamboo music instruments since when he was small. He received his first formal flute lesson in 1967 as a student of the Culture College under the Culture and Information Department in Hanoi. Upon graduation in 1970, Son worked in Son La Province and then moved to work for the provincial Culture and Information Department in Ha Tay Province. Apart from developing public movements in the province, artist Le Thai Son nurtured great ambitions to preserve and develop traditional music instruments and wanted to introduce them to the world. He made different kinds of bamboo flutes including the sao doc, sao ngang and tieu (flutes and recorders) from Ta Oi ethnic minority groups; the Sao Meo (flute of the H’Mong) and the t’rung (bamboo xylophone) from Tay Nguyen.

Son said that the flue has been closely attached to his life, so he has opened the free flute class to share his knowledge and experience about this instrument to people.

Son's free flute class

The classes, which have run for seven years has attracted more than 300 learners. Many of them have seen successful careers, such as Nguyen Thu Trang who is now a bamboo flute lecturer at Hanoi Arts College and Bui Cong Thom who won the second prize for the national solo flue performance in 2008.

The class is open from 3 to 5 pm every day. Sometimes, it lasts until 7 pm. It often attracts elderly people from Monday to Friday, and students on weekends. The teaching materials are compiled by Son based on his research about flutes over the past 51 years.

A student, Dinh Tran Minh Duc said that he now can play the flute after joining the class for three months.

Despite living up to 15 kilometres far from the class, Nguyen Nhat Ha followed the class for two years. Now she can play many songs by flutes. She nurtures a dream to promote traditional Vietnamese flutes in the future.

Son plans to open another free flute class in Nha Trang in the near future. His dream is how to open as many as free flute classes nationwide to help preserve traditional music instruments.