Best Tutor Book For Learning The Flute
Every teacher will have their favourite tutor book, or set of books, to use whilst teaching and there are several to choose from. You are perfectly entitled to pick your own book however – there is no harm in having more than one tutor book.
Some books are designed and written specifically for children and will often include pictures, stickers, puzzles or worksheets, and “fun” elements. There is no reason why an adult can’t use these either so if you are learning with your child go for one of these.
Children’s books are often slower moving through the stages too so if you want to feel more confident and spend longer on each element then use one of these. Adult tutor books tend to move quicker and get you playing pieces sooner.
It is however important to remember that you need to learn properly and rushing through doesn’t always mean that you have covered every element thoroughly.
Learning any instrument needs to be thorough. If you were building a house and had sloppy foundations your house wouldn’t be nearly as solid as if you had spent time building the foundations properly and giving plenty of attention to detail and using decent materials.
A good tutor book will show you all the basics from putting the flute together to holding the instrument and then getting a sound out of it. Without this you are not really going to get anywhere so it is very useful to have this basic information.
Best Flute Book for Beginners
Abracadabra Flute is a great example of a book that will take you through all the stages of pre-learning and then learning each note. It has clear illustrations showing which keys need putting down and taking you through the theory too.
The hardest part of learning an instrument is to get going. You need to learn so much information such as reading the notes, knowing the note duration's and then playing them using both hands and all your fingers.
"Now in a third edition, Abracadabra Woodwind has a fresh and contemporary new look and is fully updated. With additional teaching material - and with nothing left out from the previous edition - Abracadabra Flute will continue to engage and excite the young player."
Abracadabra Flute (publisher Collins Music, composer Malcolm Pollock ISBN-13: 978-1408107669
Best Flute Book for Children
Abracadabra Flute teaches you one note at a time and then joins these notes to each other in a simple piece of music. It is clear and easy to follow. The book will take you comfortably and a little beyond Grade 1. The book has some tunes that will be familiar but overall are pieces put together especially for the flute and thorough learning of each note.
Funky Flute is also popular with children as it has an easy to follow system and can be used in group teaching.
Abracadabra Flute (publisher Collins Music, composer Malcolm Pollock - ISBN-13: 978-1408107669
Funky Flute: Book 1 (Publisher: Kevin Mayhew Ltd Author Heather Hammond - ISBN-13: 978-1848670983
Best Flute Book for Self-Teaching
Most tutor books will now come with an option to have a CD with backing, or a download with backing. These are useful for learning how to count as you play, and it can make the pieces more exciting when you have only a few notes on the go!
A Tune a Day for Flute and the Trevor Wye series are popular with adults.
A Tune a Day for Flute - Author Ned Bennett, Publisher Bosworth Editions ISBN-13: 978-1846090318
Beginner's Book for the Flute - Author Trevor Wye, Publisher Novello & Co Ltd ISBN-13: 978-0853602293
Best Flute Book for Adults
Tutor books that are worth looking at are the Trevor Wye series, A Tune a Day or Abracadabra Flute. Some books are more suited to group teaching and will have duets or ensemble pieces within in them.
Some will have a piano accompaniment in them which is great if your teacher plays the piano as well, or they will have a separate book with the accompaniments in it.
A Tune a Day for Flute - Author Ned Bennett, Publisher Bosworth Editions ISBN-13: 978-1846090318
Beginner's Book for the Flute - Author Trevor Wye, Publisher Novello & Co Ltd ISBN-13: 978-0853602293