Flute Zoo Duet Book, By Kathy Blocki Flute Zoo Books are the new fun, and engaging way to learn to play the flute. These books, with their bright colors and cheerful imagery, were written with elementary age flute students in mind, although we have found that older children (and even adults) love the fun songs and activities as well! Each book is between 32 and 40 pages long. So the new flutist will gain a strong sense of accomplishments as they more quickly earn their certificate for Flute Zoo book one. Flute Zoo Duet Book Students love duets! In these 43 duets, the first flute part of each duet is found in Flute Zoo Books 1 – 3. Consequently, the first flute parts are written in progressive order of difficulty. The second flute part is written for the teacher or a more advanced flutist. These second flute parts are not in progressive order. Many of the duets work well in group settings and as flute choirpieces by having the beginning students play the first flute parts and more advanced students play the second flute parts. Just as young choirs often sing with only two parts, this also works well with flutists. This is an excellent way to have all the students play together at the end of a recital. These duets contain great literature for the beginner’s first years of playing and also work well as recital pieces. Having students play a duet with their teacher during theirfirst few recitals will greatly aid in easing recital nerves and will help to ensure success. It is so rewarding to see a student’s eyes light up when playing duets. Even as a college student while studying with Samuel Baron, I always looked forward to playing aduet with him at the end of each lesson. Duets are fun but important for developing ensemble skills and an early concept of playing in tune. The teacher should be sure toquickly adjust pitch so that the student hears great intonation and in tune intervals become the norm. Tuning at this level is not possible with a large group of beginners.That is why it is so essential for students to develop this skill, first with their private teacher, then with small ensembles, and finally with large ensembles. As the studentdevelops, the responsibility to match pitch and tune intervals should gradually be transferred from the teacher to the student. This piece was featured in our Flute Duets blog!
