24 Melodious Warm-Ups for Flute

At first glance, this newly published book, with exercises by Daniel Dorff, seems to be a very good idea. We as flute players are always looking for new and fresh materials, to motivate our own practice and to encourage our students along their jour-neys. Especially after the Pandemic and the lockdowns that we endured, a new book focusing on daily tone and articulation exercises is welcomed. The book has two sections as promised: one for tone and the other for articulation. There are twelve melodies in each section. Ms Sparks suggests to pair these sections by daily playing one from each section. This is good advice to have a balance. She has selected some very fine melodies, all from well-known works, including Londonderry Air, Spring from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Coventry Carol. She suggests memorising these "for thorough learning". However, these twelve melodies are then just written out in all twelve keys. Not only do I find this a waste of paper, but it also does not allow the player/student to thoroughly learn these melodies, as she suggests. In my view, to learn these melodies by ear and learn to transpose them would be a much better way to thoroughly learn the music.

There is a little guidance at the beginning of each of the melodies. She describes how the melody might be played. I wish she had elaborated with in-depth discussion on what to do with the vibrato and expression. Her directions are vague and this might lead a younger player to have more questions as to "what and "how'. The articulation section also has the usual "beasts" including Bach's second movement from his C major Sonata, Volière from Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals and Scherzo from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These can all be found free, online. She does suggest some valuable lips on how to practise these, keeping the tongue relaxed and working with the metronome. Again, more discussion would be welcomed! Ms Sparks mentions that she studied with Murray Panitz, principal flautist of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1961-1989. This is a nice collection of already accessible material, and perhaps it would have been an interesting addition to include details and insights into one of the great American flute players of the 20th Century.