Norwell High School Music Department

Onward and upward to the flute! As always, this is a partial list, and there are many other great materials out there–especially for an instrument with as long and rich a history as the flute. Additionally, I recommend that students who are deeply interested in playing and improving their technique study with a private teacher who can suggest resources tailored to the student’s specific needs.

1. Wye, Practice Book(s) for the Flute. Trevor Wye has made a name for himself as a noted flute performer and pedagogue, and his six practice books are among the most widely-used in the flute community. They can be purchased as a complete set or individually, and each of them cover a different topic (Vol. 1-Tone, Vol. 2-Technique, Vol. 3-Articulation, Vol. 4-Intonation and Vibrato, Vol. 5-Breathing and Scales, Vol. 6-Advanced Practice).
2. Taffanel/Gaubert, 17 Big Daily Finger Exercises for the Flute. Just like the Clarke trumpet book, this book progresses through a huge range of scalar and arpeggiated exercises to help build finger speed and improve the student’s handling of the specific challenges of flute playing. These exercises are also flexible, allowing the student to build in a variety of articulation patterns to go along with the fingering work.
3. Moyse, 24 Little Melodic Studies (With Variations). This little book is a great first etude book for the flutist who wants to break up all the close technical work in their practice regimen. Each etude has an initial, basic melodic portion and then a rhythmic variation on the melody, and each is still satisfyingly musical while helping to teach different aspects of characteristic flute performance.
4. Tulou, Three Easy Duets. It’s always fun to play your instrument with a friend, and the Tulou duets are a fun, relatively simple way of doing that. Also, learning to play your instrument while carefully listening and adjusting to other players is a vital skill that every instrumentalist should always be trying to improve! These three duets are in easy keys (D, G and C major) and are not too technically difficult but also not a snooze-fest. Enjoy!

Continuing our look into literature good for studying outside of class time to improve one’s technique, today we’ll move on to the clarinet. It’s important to note that there is a whole host of great material out there for each of the instruments and that the following list of recommended methods and etude books is just the beginning of what you can find it you’re looking for additional material to work on or play with a friend. Also remember that a private teacher will be able to select exercises, solo pieces and other things for you that are tailored specifically to your needs, so if you’re not currently studying privately, see me for recommendations on how to start or drop a line to our friends over at South Shore Conservatory!

1. The Rubank Series of Methods for Clarinet. These range in level of challenge from elementary to intermediate and advanced, and move in a methodical, step by step method to help you build skills. Deciding on one that’s right for you is simply a matter of honestly assessing your own strengths and weaknesses and then paging through each one of them to see where you should start. They’re also inexpensive, so acquiring the whole lot of them is fairly easy as well.
2. Klose, Celebrated Method for Clarinet. This is one of the great standards of instructional literature for the clarinet, and at 293 pages its is very complete as well. It covers a very wide range of skills on the instrument and progresses at a relatively fast clip. If you consider yourself up for a challenge, this is a great book to own and begin studying.
3. Rose, 32 Etudes for Clarinet. The focus of the Rose book, as is the case with most etude books, is on developing musicality and technique through the performance of solo-quality literature. The 32 Etudes are regarded very highly in the clarinet community, finding a place as the standard etude book for developing clarinetists.

Bonus, for all treble clef instruments: Gates, Odd Meter Duets. Anyone looking to improve their odd meter reading should check this book out! These duets are a lot of fun to play with a friend, especially because of the challenging and sometimes strange time signatures on which they focus and the often hilarious results that come from sight reading them with a friend.

Continued hopes for a happy, relaxing and productive summer!

A number of students have come to me asking for suggestions on what they should be playing over the summer. My first answer is usually: anything! Anything you can get your hands on, if it keeps your playing fresh, your technique solid and your love of the instrument bubbling along. However, there are a number of standard books of literature meant to build technique, tone, reading and other skills, and I thought it might be useful to use the website to point to some of them. I’ll start today with a few recommendations for my personal specialty, the trumpet.

1. Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method. This book is also available for euphonium, and at nearly 300 pages, it’s rightly regarded as an omnibus. There’s a little of everything in here: exercises on lip slurs/flexibility, finger speed, multiple tonguing and phrasing, to name just a few, as well as a bunch of worthwhile etudes, solo pieces and duets, so you can get together with a friend to do some playing. If you’re limited to buying one book, this is the one.
2. Clarke, Technical Studies for the Cornet. This is a great little book for flexibility and finger speed, even if it’s not terribly melodic. Each study works on a particular interval and helps build muscle memory of common fingering patterns in all twelve keys. Cool specialty book, and a standard. Also works fine on treble clef euphonium.
3. Brandt, Etudes for Trumpet. If you’re looking for something more melodic that works on common stylistic issues in trumpet playing, this is a great starting point. The etudes in this book are usually about a page long and are well-suited for intermediate to advanced high school students. Also playable on treble clef euphonium.

There’s plenty more out there, and I recommend browsing through any of the local music shops or Robert King Music Online. Good luck, and contact me for more information at any time!