The Young (at Heart) Flute Player Book 6 Adult Learners

The Young (at Heart) Flute Player is Book 6 in Karen North’s The Young Flute Player series and is aimed at adult and teenage students. It provides a method of study that could be undertaken with a teacher or as an independent learner which takes the student from beginner to pre-Grade 1. Fingering charts are provided for every note of the flute, although this book focuses on producing notes from E on the bottom line of the stave to A above the staff.

The notation is clear and the units are easy to follow. North begins the tutorial with headjoint exercises (Unit 1) before embarking on use of the whole flute (Unit 2) and ending with Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Unit 30). Musicianship skills, such as note reading, time signatures and note lengths, are developed alongside the technical aspects of playing the flute. Breathing exercises and posture corrections appear at the top of the page as a pause for thought before the player should attempt the pieces below. Throughout the book, the student is introduced to a variety of dynamics as well as features of articulation such as tonguing, slurs, staccato and even mezzo staccato. Scales and exercises are related directly to the pieces, highlighting key signatures and phrase patterns. At the end of the book, scales and arpeggios are written out for reference and a theory section brings together the knowledge gained from all units. There is even a handy guide on assembling and cleaning a flute with pictures to demonstrate.

A wide range of music from composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Bartók (arranged by North) accompany traditional tunes from around the world. Arrangements include solos and duets. Reference is given to other books from this series for further duets and trios (Book 4, yellow) and piano accompanied pieces (Book 3, green). On completion of this book (Book 6, purple) the player might then wish to continue their tuition using Book 2 (red). Free YouTube recordings are available for every piece as well as piano backing tracks and duet recordings.