Flute 103: Have We Mastered the Basics Yet?

Here it is, the final installment of the Flute 101-103 trilogy!  And I thought I would throw in a couple of teasers at the end for The Scale Book and Advanced Flute Studies: The Art of Chunking because I've come this far, might as well.  I am so excited about the Flute 101 series and I hope that in the brief time I have spent on them I have given a good presentation of what they contain.  By no means do I think Flute Student should be shunned from society or lost to the flute civilization; I am the product of Flute Student and I think I turned out pretty great.  I merely get excited about the exploration of flute method because there is no one right answer.  Every student learns differently and for some of my students, Flute 101 will be more effective than Flute Student (or Suzuki - I feel like people might think I am attacking Flute Student :(  )

Highlights:
- continued structure of key signature themed chapters
- even more integration of standard repertoire
- use of extended techniques in each chapter to improve overall playing
- suggestion of working towards giving a solo recital, with sample programs
- more in-depth look at composers and their music, including performance guides

To give you an idea of what the performance guides are like, I will talk about the information that can be found in the guide for Gluck's Minuet and Dance of the Blessed Spirits.  First, this is an obvious choice to include because it is the definition of standard.  Like the Mozart, if you have dreams of becoming a professional flutist, you will play this at nearly every audition. And even if you don't have that dream, if you take private flute lesson, at some point your teacher will pull this gem out.

So what light is shed on the Minuet?  Here you are:
- A brief background on Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck
- A plot summary of the opera from which the Minuet comes, thank you(!)
- The musical context, what is going on in the orchestra during the solo
- A few basic reminders on the simpler aspects of playing musically (the piece is in 3/4 so strong-weak-weak)
- The musical structure, ABA, and how the sections differ
- Helpful cues/tips on how to play the written "grace notes"
- Many examples showing how subdivision in the B section is the key to rhythmic perfection
- Suggestions for musical gestures, i.e. sighs
- Concluding thoughts on the difficulty of the piece and the best ways to go about working on it (like, with a METRONOME)
- Once you get to the music, the A section includes the other flute part so that the teacher can play with the student; knowledge is knowledge is power

I think what I like about this series is that it makes it easier for students to do more investigative work on their own.  This is a basic all-in-one method.  That being said, I don't think that any flute student's education is complete with these books alone. No, no, no.  Everybody needs to experience some Andersen op. 33 action.  And they'll love it...I mean, we all did, right?  Just consider this a thrilling new venture in the world of flute pedagogy!

Now, as promised, here are quick looks into The Scale Book and The Art of Chunking!

The Scale Book: A Path to Artistry is a book meant for any level musician.  Seems like a good idea to me.  But how do you make scales "friendly" to a beginner?  Well, it helps that this book looks, physically, exactly like Flute 101.  Something that looks familiar is always less of a headache than something foreign.  The third page details how the authors think elementary, intermediate, and advanced students should tackle the book respectively.  Not only does this book introduce scales beyond major and minor, it makes references to musical examples like The Swan from "Carnival of the Animals" and the book correctly suggests that scales are the backbone of flute playing from technicality to tonality and musicianship. Here is what the authors say about why they made The Scale Book:

The Art of Chunking explores, well, the art of chunking.  Chunking is one method for learning music.  It is the idea of breaking large chunks of music down to smaller, more manageable portions.  In this book, the authors want students to focus on one group of sixteenths at a time, meaning one beat in most cases.  These beats are separated by a rest and this method, according to the authors, benefits the flutist in numerous ways including, but not limited to, eye coordination/short-term memory improvement, opening the throat during rests, and helping the flutist recognize patterns in the music.  In order to do this, the book contains a comprehensive daily warm-up, 48 lessons in major and minor keys, etudes, cadenzas, and solo works by Telemann, J.S. Bach, and C.P.E. Bach. This book is meant to follow the completion of Flute 103 or "any intermediate method." I do think students should at least dabble in this book because it presents many good concepts.  This book is somewhat on the honor system though because as any lesson teacher knows, we can't make our students practice the proper way.  We strive to teach and show them the importance and benefits in doing so, but in the end it is entirely up to the students themselves.

Excelsior!

Flute 102: A Flute Method Book that Acknowledges D7?! Insanity.

Welcome back to my gushing all over the flute method books by Patricia George and Phyllis Avidan Louke!  Today we briefly explore the features of Flute 102: Mastering the Basics.  If the blog posts I am doing on these method books pique your interest, I suggest you go to Amazon.com or Fluteworld.com to order these books.  They aren't that expensive, in fact I would go so far as to say they aren't expensive at all, and they are a great investment for your studio!


Let's jump right into my highlights of Flute 102:
- there are daily warm-ups
- there is a page dedicated to the circle of fifths
- the fingering chart goes from low B to high, high D
- lessons have been put into groups of five which comprise a chapter
- each chapter is titled something like, "F Major & Friends"
- there is a methodical but strong push on learning scales
- each chapter introduces standard solo repertoire (for example, in C Major & Friends, your students get their first look at Mozart's Andante in C!)
- there is a supplement at the end titled, "Contemporary Technique Solos" - yes, they introduce extended techniques!
- throughout the book, students are asked to focus on their tone, vibrato, and techniques like double tonguing

In short, this book continues where Flute 101 left off.  It promotes the practice and learning of essential musical concepts, like scales, while drawing attention to things that intermediate students will begin asking you about, like vibrato.  I am also thrilled that the chapters are done by key because it will give students the opportunity to briefly focus on key signatures which are still relatively "new" and difficult to remember.  I also think it is fantastic that students will be introduced to the standards of the flute repertoire.  A little Telemann, Mozart, Bizet, and Kuhlau never hurt anyone...much. :)  It should also be noted that with each standard piece comes a brief paragraph of music history.  This feels like a double win for me; it teaches the students about the composers and their music.  It gives them a better understanding of what they are working on.  Think about it, said no musician ever, "Eh, who cares about that dead guy and the world in which he was living; surely neither had any impact on his compositions."

But, not shockingly, what I think I am most excited about is the fact that extended techniques are introduced!  Students will begin to learn flutter tonguing, key clicks, harmonics, sing-play, microtones, timbral trills, pitch bends, and multiphonics through short pieces.  The pieces aren't too challenging and give a nice introduction to each technique.  Even better is the guarantee that the students will feel accomplished and think that the pieces sound cool.  That is a successful recipe for encouraging practicing!  Besides, it makes learning techniques seem more manageable.  There are so many great pieces out there now and most young students are listening to recordings wondering when they will be able to tackle Ian Clarke's "Great Train Race", for example.  Well, here is a great place to start!

Flute 101: The Obvious Title of a Flute Method Book

For most of my flute teaching career, I have used the Flute Student method book series.  However, at the suggestion (a very strong - one might say nagging - suggestion) of a fellow flute teacher, I ordered Phyllis Avidan Louke and Patricia George's "Flute 101: Mastering the Basics" book off Amazon.com.  Obviously, I have some thoughts to share because I am blogging about it, and here is the long and the short of it: I think it is utterly brilliant!

Here is a bullet point list of what I consider highlights of the Flute 101 method system:

- The first lesson - sort of a pre-lesson - is called "Fun with the headjoint"
- Lessons 1 and 2 teach G, A, B, and C
- Starting in lesson 3, if the fingering for low and high register notes are the same, you "learn" both notes
- Especially in the early lessons, many of the music selections are repeated in different registers and keys as the student learns more notes (in my experience, young students are more excited to practice and play music they already know)
- There are duets in nearly all, if not all, the lessons (I've never met a student who didn't think it was more fun to play with me and for more "social" students, this keeps the lesson interactive)
- Many of the lessons begin with warm-up suggestions (introduction of the importance of warming up? Be still my heart!)
- Constant bombardment of recognition of playing in a specific key (they do exist!)
- Extremely clear and repetitive introduction to rhythm
- Suggestions and tips throughout on how to play musically in a language easy for younger students to understand
- The book is spiral bound.  This is huge (meaning awesome - not a size reference)...believe me

Okay, okay, I seriously could go on and on and on...but I won't.  My plan for the remainder of the blog is to showcase in more detail one of my favorite aspects of the book.  Here we go!

So, the "pre-lesson" I spoke of:  "Fun with the headjoint" is an organized and accessible introduction to playing the flute with which all of us fine flute teachers are familiar.  The student focuses solely on producing a sound consistently with the headjoint alone.

They are simultaneously introduced to simple rhythms and counting.  Once they have mastered producing a sound, the authors introduce two songs, "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Hot Cross Buns", but having the student stick their index finger partially and fully into the end of the headjoint.

In part II of the pre-lesson, the students produce upper and lower register B's with their headjoint by placing their right hand over the end of the headjoint.

From here, there is more practice with ryhthms and playing both registers.  The pre-lesson closes with a teacher/student "Snake Charmer" duet in which the student plays upper and lower B's while the teacher plays the melody.  Super ingenious and super fun!

I highly recommend this book, especially for younglings!  The introduction to sound production, the repetition of songs, and the duets will keep any student excited and focused on learning the flute.  Blogs talking about Flute 102 and Flute 103 to follow! :)