Hi,
I am a flute teacher...I have taught for about 10 years. I usually use the Rubank series and supplement with other solos/etudes. Does any one have better books they use...and why? I have tried some other methods that people rave about and been unsatisfied. Thanks for any ideas!!!

for beginners I like the Rubank series, I also like the Pares scales book, but they don't include all the scales for some reason...once a student advances they all purchase the following:

taffanel-gaubert daily exercises
Barrere flutists formulae

I have never used the Barrere. What is it like...or is it just like the T&G?

flutists formulae is a series of 6 scale and arpeggio patterns by the late great Georges Barrere, play them in all keys major and minor, alter the rythms, etc, and you have an amazing set of technique exercises, I do them daily and swear by them, have done so for many years, as with the T&G.

I've been using the Rubank series and Selected duets for a few years and I think they are fairly decent books create a good flutist. They provide a course of study that is fairly logical in the order of presentation. Their drawback is in their age and therefore their lack of popular tunes. The Selected duets can give the students a sense of rhythm and tuning that unison playing doesn't provide.

Personally, I use a few things for daily routines.
1)The Barrere flutists formulae is great as Patrick suggests.
2)Daniel S. Wood Studies for the high notes is also good and can be transposed 8VA basso for low note work.
3)I use the Moyse books and the T&G.
To name a few examples of daily study books in no particular order that I rotate through.

Because of the nature of these above books, they are good for dedicated players. Others may not want that kind of concentration and could very well loose interest. Sure, I've played the same warm-ups (Scales and tone) for a lot of years but at my age, I need variety to keep the spark. If I play the same thing too long, the concentration begins to go.

For my regular students, I provide a scales page outlining the major scales and the chromatic. I use this for scale technique and tone/tuning studies in most lessons. I also teach the minor scales with this page.

For etudes, I often use the Southern Music series, "Melodious and Progressive studies", certain Andersen studies and some other conposers. I have a book by Gariboldi/Cavally pub: SMC that I am practicing called, "The Art of the Prelude". I think that a lot of musicality can be taught through this book to the intermediate/advanced students.

one thing a teacher can do is to use some of these method books to inspire the student to invent their own scale/arpeggio patterns...also, I have all my students name the etude they are working on, try it, it's fun, and gives any etude new meaning...

Very good ideas Patrick. (Of course)
I create some scale patterns that are derived from the Wood studies /or the Fl. Formulae for that matter. And giving the etudes / studies a name or discussing the character of the music is good for them.

I would also recommend the Boehm Studies /etudes. The can initially appear as easier than some of the other composer's things but often can present real nice challenges that work specific areas of difficulty on the flute.

WOW...I love the naming idea!!! I sometimes have students come up with stories for lyrical studies...but naming could be fun too. I am glad that I decided to post that question. Thank you for your help...hope that it also pulled people away from all the drama Thanks again!

I think the Rubank are pretty much the best of a few introductory music books out there. The other series that is popular with a lot of self-starters is Standard of Excellence, but it's really learning via learning many short tunes with accompanying CD.

Pretty much all of the flutes standard etudes are now available on one CD:
http://www.cdsheetmusic.com/products/winds.cfm

Here is a graded and favorite etude list by a prolific poster on the flute email lists:
http://www.jennifercluff.com/faverep.htm#Etudes

I really LOVE the melodious and progressive studies for flute (Southern Music), particularly book 2.

There are also some non-flute etudes that are great:
Gekeler Oboe Method Book II (beg/intermediate) -
This is Barret's 40 Melodious Studies sans the oboe intro, grand exercises, and scale section in the full Barret Method.

Twenty Seven Melodious & Rhythmical Exercises for Saxophone (intermediate/adv):
I love this book. The etudes are very melodious in various styles from tango to baroque with all sorts of fun and complicated rhythms. It's intermediate to advanced fare, but because it's in saxophone range it can be fairly accessible to get people to learn rhythm.

Brod. Etudes et Sonates for Oboe (intermediate/adv):
This was meant for the flute. It should be Melodious and Progressive book 1.5

If you're feeling really exploritory the melodious and progressive for oboe & saxophone are a collection of violin & clarinet etudes transposed for oboe/sax range. I haven't spent much time on my copies though to wholeheartedly recommend them. I do know that the sax and oboe book are exactly the same... even though they are priced differently (I own both! ).


~Stephen (Piko)

this thread we have going is what this forum should be, questions being answered by those of us old timers with more experience, followed by more good suggestions by creative energetic younger people..let's keep it this way...and ignore those who would pollute our friendly little group...

I love many of the etude books that you all have suggested. I only have a handful of students who are ready for the Cavally, T&G, Moyse, etc. One of the books I found...recommended online...was The Building Blocks of Flute Playing. I haven't actually tried it with students yet...it was around $20 for a beginner method. Has anyone tried this? It didn't look too great to me...but some people were reviewing that it was better then Rubank. It looks to move slower though.

sometimes you can combine methods, don't feel married to one, marriage is difficult enough as it is..

I like the southern music co. editions of melodious and progressive studies, they introduce the students to a variety of etudes, in progressive order...

Amen to that marriage being tough comment! I am still in the first year. The melodious and progressive studies...that is what I refered to as the Cavally. That is a really good book with such a variety of etudes.
Hey, let me tac on another question...Does anyone have a progressive list of solos? Or solo books from beginner to advanced High School? I usually start in 40 little pieces, then move on to concert and contes or a yellow book with pan on the front...I always forget the name. After those I often move to the big yellow book by Southern...24 concert studies...AWFUL editions, but cheap!!! The parents seem to like that much better then buying a bunch of $8-$25 solos every few months. Any other favorite solos or combo books?
By the way...these are the type of posts that I joined for. Thank you all for you input!!! I love discussing this. There are not many flute teachers in my area that I am in constant contact with.

piccolo1991 and all,

I kind of do the same with the solos. I think that those 24 Bach Concert studies are good too but the solos are a nice & cheap intro to several of the important ones in the rep. Bach Suite, Faure, Mouquet, Mozart are some of the Class "A" solos in my state list. Sometimes I branch out to any of the other solos that I can choose depending on the student. When I pick a solo, it generally is carefully thought out to have the student advance (within reason) in certain directions.

I've heard of some teachers who only teach 6 solos every year. Basically one for each school year. Example: All of their 7th grade students learn the Handel bla.bla.. ALl of the eighth grade students learn the same other piece. and they do this every year. I avoid that at all costs as a matter of fact, I try to not teach any two students the same solo in any one year and I try to teach something different every year to advance my skills. This year I'm going for some different pieces if they can handle them: Ibert Piece, Kennan Soliloquy, Kokopeli and such. AS for the "old war horse" The Mozart "G", I tell them they can do it if they memorize it. It's done so often that the judges give wrong grades based upon what some prior student did wrong in their performance.

One comment about the melodious and Progressive series. I think that Bk 2 starts out with a few that are in sokme tougher keys and they can turn off the kids. As for the Bk 1 studies in general I tell them that they can work on one until it just "Perfect" but the advantages in doing that can get lost. It may be better to do something like read each one 5 times and then do another than to dwell because moving around in these books gives a student a chance to improve their reading (note recognition) skills. Working on a piece really well as in "woodshedding" works the coordination, tone, tuning etc. and that is good too.

I have a scale pattern that I'm using right now for myself and the students that I think helps us to think about the scale notes (after they are memorized) and tuning. I start with a pattern of scale degrees. I:1858:I... I repeat this a few times. With a student I may even play the tonic and let them tune their fifths and octaves. I may go around the sircle of fifths and if it's on paper they can more easily see the notes. I think that it's important not too fast to the next tonality because they need to have the pitches sink in to their memory. I then go I:187868584838281:I This exercise makes them think of the names of the notes as they play. Of course you can invert that exercise.

Now here's a question for you all. What do the others advise for improving rhythm reading skills? I think that these studies and exercises improve fingering technique but rarely do they work our sight-reading if rhythm ability.

My teacher has me using the E. Wagner Foundation to Flute Playing. It's brutal though and I hate it. I keep hinting that the book is too hard for me but he insists on using it. I would think twice about using that book unless you have a student that is exceptional.