I almost quit my flute career in 2020.
Here’s why I didnt…
Just after graduating with my doctorate in flute performance, I remember thinking, “I can’t do this anymore. It’s too painful.”
By that point, I had taught on the faculty of two universities, earned all the degrees, and won a position in an orchestra. On paper, I had accomplished many of the things I had spent years working toward.
And I still questioned whether I could play the flute well.
After so many rejections, I had started to see every audition, performance, and professional decision as evidence of whether I was good enough. When I saw myself only as a flutist, anything that went wrong in my career felt like proof that I was a failure.
Leaving a visiting professor position and graduating into a pandemic certainly didn’t help. My relationship with myself, my flute, and my career was in shambles. The inner critic had become so loud that I could hardly bear to sit alone with myself.
Then I found mindset coaching.
Mindset coaching introduced me to concepts that completely transformed my relationship with myself and my career.
I began to understand that achievement alone could never make me feel worthy. Another degree, position, or successful performance might feel good temporarily, but none of it could create the lasting confidence I was looking for.
I had to change the way I spoke to myself. I had to question the beliefs I had absorbed about success, failure, rejection, and what it meant to be a “good” musician. I had to learn how to move forward without shame and self-doubt controlling every decision.
We rarely stop loving music because the music itself has failed us. We consider leaving because our relationship with ourselves and our work has become too painful.
Coaching helped me change this relationship.
Musicians need these tools.
When I discovered this work, I remember thinking, “This is the secret to the universe. I have to become a coach. Musicians need this.”
Musicians are taught how to practice, perform, and critique every detail of what we do. We are rarely taught how to navigate rejection, quiet an inner critic, make decisions with confidence, or build a career without using fear and shame as fuel.
That is the work I now help musicians do.
Through coaching, I help musicians understand the thoughts and patterns shaping their experiences. Together, we work through self-doubt, perfectionism, performance anxiety, comparison, visibility, career uncertainty, and the fear of wanting more.
The goal is not to become positive all the time. It is to develop the self-trust to experience difficult emotions, make intentional decisions, and continue creating the career and life you want.
This work changed every part of my career.
As a coach, I help musicians examine what is keeping them stuck, reconnect with what they want, and take meaningful action without waiting to feel perfectly confident first.
As a flute teacher, I give students clear, tangible tools that help them understand their playing, solve problems independently, and trust their own artistic decisions. I want students to know what to do, why they are doing it, and how to communicate what they want to express.
As a performer, I remain deeply connected to the vulnerability, discipline, and courage required to make music at a high level. Performing keeps me inside the work rather than simply talking about it from the outside.
As a speaker, I bring practical mindset and career tools to musicians at universities, conferences, and arts organizations. My goal is always to help musicians leave with a new understanding of themselves and something concrete they can begin using immediately.
Different forms of the same mission: empowering musicians to think bigger, trust themselves, and build sustainable careers.
Interested in something more formal?
Dr. Chelsea Tanner maintains an active career as a performer, teacher, and mindset coach for musicians. She is currently a Flute Faculty member at the Colburn Community School in Los Angeles. Most recently she was head of the flute platform at tonebase.co, where she built and curated the largest library and online learning community of flutists.
Previously, Chelsea served on the faculties of SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music and Penn State University. In the spring of 2020, she earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin. From 2016 to 2019, she held the position of Second Flute in the Central Texas Philharmonic. Within the flute community, Chelsea is Chair of the National Flute Association’s Career and Artistic Development Committee.
As an online educator, Chelsea has produced over 100 lessons for the tonebase Flute platform, collaborating with world-renowned artists such as Jasmine Choi, Marina Piccinini, and Paula Robison, among others. She has also created and taught numerous livestream classes for tonebase. As a mindset coach, Chelsea has spoken at over 30 institutions and studios on topics such as performance anxiety, mindset, and imposter syndrome, aiming to empower young musicians in their careers. She is the host of Align Your Mind, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping musicians navigate the mental and emotional challenges of a career in music.
Chelsea has actively participated in competitions across the country. She has been a finalist in the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia Young Artist Competition, the Mid-Atlantic Flute Society Young Artist Competition, and the National Society of Arts and Letters National Woodwind Competition, as well as a quarterfinalist in the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition. She has also won the Central Ohio Flute Association Collegiate Competition and the Women in Music Scholarship Auditions.
Chelsea completed her Artist Diploma at The University of Texas at Austin, studying with Marianne Gedigian. She earned her Master of Music degree from Carnegie Mellon University, studying with Jeanne Baxtresser, and her Bachelor of Music degree from The Ohio State University, studying with Katherine Borst Jones.
An active chamber musician, Chelsea is a member of the Emissary Quartet, a long-distance flute ensemble dedicated to expanding the flute quartet repertoire. In July of 2026, EQ released their debut album, [moment]um, on Orchid Classics. (www.emissaryquartet.com)
Some other things you should know…
I live in Long Beach, California, where I teach, coach, perform, create content, and host the Align Your Mind podcast.
Outside of music and business, I love writing in coffee shops, pop-punk concerts, working out, rollerblading on the beach path, hiking, blue skies, and conversations that go far deeper than anyone expected.
I believe musicians are whole people, not productivity machines. Our careers matter, but so do our relationships with ourselves, our creativity, and the lives we are building beyond our accomplishments.