With Melodious and Progressive Book 2 you would skip the Tershak etudes, then it is smooth sailing. They must be there do give the impression that one is jumping into a far more difficult etude set, they are challenging and off-putting if you progress from page to page. I think there are a lot more fulfilling scale/arpegg etudes in book 2 and many things that are great to warm up with.

That Wagner book should be used as a supplement or reference book. It progresses far too rapidly to be used alone.

Rhythm reading skills: I only have a second before I start a lesson, but I love to use duets to improve sightreading. I have been using Kulah (sp...not near a copy) and kohler, selected duets and another book with a version of midsummer nights dream. These seem to really challenge my high school kids when read at decent tempos.

As for rhythm...I took a class in college called Rhythmic Sensitivity...taught by one of the Atlanta Symphony percussionists. It was AMAZING!!! We had a book (that he put together) of only rhythm. We had to prepare a few pages each week and he would choose 20 measures from anywhere in it. We had to tap on our leg...conduct...count properly...all with a metronome! It worked wonders.

I may post more later...but gotta go for now.

I agree with all of you re collections, that way the student can gravitate toward which composers they like, same with etudes, I still play through Andersen etudes often, Karg-Elert as well..plus they do save the parents money, which will endear you to them...

i am teaching my self flute for now and i have found abracadbra flute, and learn as you play books very very helpful,

<Added>

most my friends who have beeen taught by a flute teacher used these books and they recommended them for when you just start out (they show you the fingerings then you use them in songs aand the gradually get harder)

The difficulty with being self-taught is that you can't realize the mistakes, they become bad habits and are either permanent hinderances to your development or become very difficult to remove.

Patrick, I like your naming the etude idea!

I skipped the Tershak too, good advice.

Nancy Toff has an excellent book I refer on for the flute stuff- history, playing, how it's made etc. IT has a huge list of all the flute solos you can think of, plus other combos (duets, trios, quartets etc.)

You could have your students create a small interval pattern to work scales and arpeggios or anything really, repeat it with in all the keys.

My favorite method was/is to find folk music from around the world and learn that way, mostly because it helps with jazz and improv a bit more than learning a bunch of 100+ year old classical stuff. At least for a younger/beginning player. They want lessons that sound like music to them and not a bunch of arpeggios and scales and such.

But many books are out of print, so it's hard(Fireside Book of American Folk Songs was a good example, long out of print) Most of the typical "method" books are unfortunately essentially some guy's PHd project or are about as fun to play as if it were.

i know about bad habits, but i am getting a teacher after christmas becaue i was to late getting the form in for lesons at school startin in september

but still abracadbra flute and learn as you play books are great for beginners, i have also seen other books that look good but i can't remeber what they are

My old teacher and I worked on one or two Trevor Wye books and I LOVED them...I want to get my own copy of them.

She also made me work on Filas...it's an evil book, but my high notes have improved.

i started lessons back in middle school and i started out in the rubank advanced method. we ended up dropping that book because i was progressing rapidly. i switched teachers and i worked out of andersen etdue books. i started out in 15 then went to 60, 63... then i switched to some other various etudes. i also worked out of the t&g 17 daily exercies, reichert six daily exercises, um...... the baxtresser orchestral excerpts, various scale exercises, and a lot of solo work.

and by a lot, i mean a lot