This is one of the more famous moldy oldies from the Rubank collection. It features music from the traditional flute repertoire with a variety of challenges for the flute player. The piano accompaniment is now available online or may be printed. The time signatures are nothing to get really excited about, nor (in my opinion) are the key signatures. Most of the challenges lie in managing the road maps and ornaments which are frequent in this book. If you need practice on any of those, you may like this book. A few other challenges include a few wide leaps and a ppp. There are a wide variety of articulation markings as well as tempo markings which may be good to help one build a musical vocabulary. A lot of the pieces also come with metronome markings, and sometimes a metronome marking with a mid-piece tempo change!
Clarification note: I want to say that I am not saying at all that Rubank is a bad method. I think it has great ideas, and that it has served well. But almost 100 years old, I think we have learned so much more about learning and teaching that maybe it’s time we look at some other options out there. Besides, as teachers asking our students to do new things, shouldn’t we be trying new things as well?
Highlights
Pieces include: Gossec ed. by Voxman: Gavotte; Koepke ed. by Voxman: Bergamask; Herbert ed. by Voxman: Serenade, Op. 3; Andersen ed. by Voxman: Scherzino, Op. 55, No. 6; Popp ed. by Voxman: Valse Gracieuse, Op. 261, No. 2; Pessard ed. by Voxman: Andalouse, Op. 20; Bizet ed. by Voxman: “Menuet” from L’Aréssienne, Suite No. 2; Haydn ed. by Voxman: Serenade; Handel ed. by Voxman: “Siciliana and Giga” from Sonata V; Gluck ed. by Voxman: “Menuet and Spirit Dance” from Orpheus; J. S. Bach ed. by Voxman: “Polonaise and Badinerie” from Suite in B Minor; Brun ed. by Voxman: Romance, Op. 41; Rimsky-Korsakoff ed. by Voxman: “Flight of the Bumblebee” from The Legend of the Czar Sultan; Donjon ed. by Voxman: Pan! (Pastorale)
Piano accompaniment is available online as a recording or may be printed.
Time Signatures: cut-time, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 12/8
Key Signatures: two sharps, one flat, two flats, one sharp, three flats, no flats/sharps
Range of notes: D1-A3
Rhythm (in addition to above): septuplets, thirty-seconds, duplets
Road Maps: D. C. al Fine, repeats, D. S. al Coda,
Ornaments: grace notes, trills, mordent,
Special Marking: 8va, holds, cadenza
Opportunity to practice written ornaments which may be translated to improvisation
Tempo, meter, and key changes within pieces - sometimes all three at once!
Great if you are looking to build a glossary of musical terms and work in the classic repertoire