Shanna Pranaitis
Flute coaching is one expression of the work I do.
Whether we're talking about music, identity, creativity, or performance, the thread running through it all is helping people become more fully themselves.
I believe our artistry isn't separate from the rest of who we are. The way we practice, perform, create, and navigate uncertainty reflects the relationship we have with ourselves.
Creativity isn't something you manufacture. More often, it's something you uncover when the conditions allow it to flourish.
This work is an invitation to deepen that relationship—so your artistry becomes a more authentic expression of who you are, both on and off the stage.
I Don't Teach Flute.
I Coach Artists.
Many of the obstacles that appear to be about the music...aren't actually about the music at all.
Sometimes the challenge is technique.
More often it's fear.
Perfectionism.
People-pleasing.
Identity.
Performance anxiety.
The pressure to sound like someone else.
The stories we've absorbed about what a "real musician" should be.
Of course we'll work on repertoire, interpretation, technique, preparation, extended techniques, auditions, career decisions, creative projects, or whatever brings you here.
But we'll also explore the invisible patterns underneath them, because that's often where the greatest freedom lives.
"I feel like I crossed the imaginary line to professional. Now I really believe in my creative capacity. I feel more powerful and confident.
Shanna helped me go deep inside myself with ease and without judgment to discover my vision of art and my own way of being an artist."
— Albane Tamagna
How We Work
You'll have access to everything I've learned over decades as an internationally performing flutist, educator, entrepreneur, artistic director, and coach.
We'll solve practical musical problems together.
We'll explore artistic questions.
We'll challenge assumptions.
I'll offer ideas, perspective, resources, and honest feedback.
You have full access to my brain.
What I won't do is hand you a blueprint for becoming me.
My role is helping you become more fully yourself.
Curiosity—not perfection—is our compass.
"I really appreciate how much you've helped me grow through our coaching sessions. What started as conversations about reimagining my studio has expanded into so much more.
I left one session with an entirely new workshop idea because I finally realized...it's my business. I get to create it in a way that reflects who I am.
I have a renewed sense of creativity in what I can do as an artist."
— Shannon Lewis
This work may be a good fit if you...
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feel creatively boxed in and want to reconnect with curiosity and play.
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have a bold artistic project and want a thought partner to help bring it to life.
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are a contemporary musician exploring new repertoire, extended techniques, improvisation, interdisciplinary work, or experimental performance.
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are building an unconventional artistic career on your own terms – a teaching studio, freelance career, or creative business.
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know you're capable of more than you're currently expressing.
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are ready to stop organizing your artistic life around fear.
A Different Kind of Coaching
I don't believe our artistry exists separately from the rest of our lives.
How we perform often reflects how we relate to uncertainty.
How we practice often reflects how we treat ourselves.
How we make artistic decisions often reflect how much permission we've given ourselves to be fully seen.
That means our work together always reaches beyond the flute.
Not because we're leaving music behind.
Because we're uncovering what's been quietly shaping it all along.
A Note to My Fellow Artists
Our training often leaves us extraordinarily prepared to play our instruments...
...and surprisingly underprepared for the realities of building a creative life.
We're taught repertoire, technique, theory, pedagogy, and history.
But many of us are left to figure out the rest on our own: navigating uncertainty, creating meaningful work, building a sustainable career, making difficult decisions, recovering from setbacks, trusting ourselves, and finding our own artistic voice amid a chorus of expectations about what a "successful" musician should look like.
There's another model we can borrow from.
Professional athletes don't succeed because they should already know everything. They work with coaches – people who help them see what they can't see, ask better questions, develop new skills, and continue growing long after formal training ends.
I believe artists deserve that kind of support, too.
After all...
We're creativity athletes.
My role isn't to tell you who to become. It's to help you uncover the artist who has been there all along, to build a creative life that reflects your values, your curiosity, your voice, and your way of making meaning in the world.
To come home to yourself as an artist.
Rooted like an oak.
Nimble as a gazelle.
Let's Talk
Whether you have a specific goal in mind or simply know you're ready for something to shift, I'd love to hear where you are and where you hope to go.
We'll explore what's bringing you here, answer any questions you have, and see whether working together feels like the right next step.
No pressure.
Just a conversation.
Still curious?
