Podcast: Play in new window | Download
When looking through beginner flute books, it’s been challenging to find one that is formatted well for the beginner student. I’m talking about books that teach the basics of flute, you know, how to blow, read music, finger notes, etc. So today, well dive into two of my favorite beginner books with their strengths and weaknesses.
The first book is Flute 101: Mastering the Basics by Phyllis Avidan Louke and Patricia George. The formatting of this book is probably the best I have seen when teaching an individual the flute. It presents a new concept in a lesson, formatted in a way where you learn the concept, you practice it through exercises and songs, then you play some duets with your instructor. For example, a student is presented with the note B, they learn the fingering to play on the flute and where it’s located on the music, then they reinforce that knowledge through practicing the exercises, then they play the duets to not only enforce that knowledge, but to concentrate on their part while hearing how other parts fit with it.
Now there are cons to Flute 101: Mastering the Basics and that is the pacing at the beginning, use of colors and pictures, and how it functions with band ensembles. Now knowing that, these cons are pretty minor compared to the more important things, but your average beginner is a student between the ages 9 and 12 that has either just started band or has been in band for a year. So when you throw at them quarter notes, quarter rests, half notes, half rests, whole notes, wholes rests, repeat signs, how to blow, and three notes they did not learn in band; this might be alright for some, but for some beginners, they might be thinking, “you want me to learn all of what now?” It’s a lot to throw at a student when looking at the first page. Secondly, there is no color in this book, and very few pictures (I counted five, and they were all “how-to” pictures). I can see the average beginner getting board quickly simply because there is no color or drawings to catch the eye. The third is the fact that the book is pretty well formatted for someone just learning to play the flute, but not for a student who is also in band. The formatting of the book is completely different than that of a band book. I have found some of my students getting confused because they’re trying to learn band and private lesson material at the same time. In other words, trying to crunch in twice the work in half the time. However, these details are pretty minor compared to the overall step-by-step formatting that Flute 101: Mastering the Basics gives us. You can purchase one here:
My second favorite book is Accent on Achievement by John O-Reilly and Mark Williams. Yes, this is a band book and not a private instruction book, but it is still a “how to learn to play flute” book. The formatting is very different, yet mostly well thought out. Like with Flute 101: Mastering the Basics, Accent on Achievement starts with how to blow into the flute. What I like about this introduction though, is that it only concentrates on the blowing, rather than having you practice it through exercises of whole, half, and quarter notes/rests. Than, we get to the first page of exercises, which has three notes to learn, but they’re only presented as whole note and rest exercises. Many private instructors hate starting with whole notes because the student does not have the breathing capacity yet, but I prefer to use it because it allows the students time to think about their blowing and the next change, rather than adding articulation into the mix. The concepts are also presented at the top of the page like the previous book, but are outlined by different colored boxes. Than throughout the page, when a new concept is introduced, it is highlighted by the same color of the box the concept was presented in. It also has many drawings that make the book more entertaining and pleasing to the eye of an average beginner.
The main cons I see with Accent on Achievement is the order of notes introduced and the need of a whole band for some of the songs. The formatting of this book is completely different than Flute 101: Mastering the Basics. For the most part, it works well, but the notes and fingerings can present an issue. Most private instruction books first introduce notes that are very similar and easily relatable to each other. It is essentially adding one finger at a time that is right next to the other going down the flute, rather than band books, like Accent on Achievement that starts with some more weird finger combinations. However, a band book can only do so much, since it is trying to address instruments in the whole band, and not just the flute. Because of this, some of the songs (mostly the one page songs) don’t really work for private lessons because different parts are broken up between different band members. However, there is only four of those songs in the forty-eight page book. You can purchase one with CD accompaniment below:
All in all, each beginner book is really for the preferences of the instructor and student. I have yet to find one that I absolutely love, but these two work very well. If you have a beginner book to suggest, feel free to leave your suggestion in the comments section below.
And that’s it. If you have an idea for future music review articles, you can either leave your comments below or contact us. If you enjoyed this article, please give it a like and share among others. Thank you and learn more next time.