Jean-Pierre Rampal was as great a flute teacher as he was a great flutist. He simply could not contain his enthusiasm and love of music. He encouraged every student to surpass themselves. Every comment he made to a student, he would illustrate by playing the passage incomparably, tossing it off effortlessly from memory. When a student mastered a passage, he would become ecstatic.
Rampal sometimes used the class to practice, or rather sightread. On several occasions, he opened his mail envelopes, saying: "Oh, what music has the Radio sent me to record this afternoon?" He would run through the piece (usually a concerto) once in front of the class (already it sounded like a performance). Then, after the class, he would jump into a taxi to the ORTF (the French Radio-TV) to record the work with the Orchestre national.