Small Talk for Two Flutes, Book 1

Includes CD

[Playing score(s)]

For all those of us at our wits ends with trying to get pupils to practice scales these two attractively presented books are very welcome. Each duet is very tuneful and enjoyable to play and the whole experience really does seem like a spoonful of sugar. There are suggestions for preparing the music (re-group your scale, use different rhythms) and a helpful checklist for scale practice (yes, you still have to do some!) that includes advice such as listening for an even tone, playing from memory and composing another piece in the same key. Each duet has the scale printed at the bottom of the page and there are duets in harmonic, melodic and natural minors as well as chromatic and pentatonic examples. Whether it all works is quite another matter.