I've been in the pleasant situation over the last couple of years of teaching students who have been with me for several years, and have progressed to the stage where they are working at around Grade 5-6 level. The new students I took on last year were all playing at around this level as well. Whilst I really enjoy teaching flautists at this stage, I realise I've become a little out of touch with what's available for those playing at around Grade 1-2. The few students I teach at this level at the moment are adults.

I'm going to be teaching several younger players at a local junior school next September, and the teacher I'm replacing there has passed on my name to some of her private students, including two who are fairly recent beginners. I've been looking at various books that are available, and there are a lot I don't have. Before I splurge out too much money on new material, I thought it would be useful to see what other teachers use. I'm not specifically asking about tutor books, although I would be interested in feedback from anyone who's used the new Tune A Day, but more collections of pieces designed for younger players at this level. I'm familiar with Time Pieces and Music Through Time, and stalwarts such as Fifty for Flute.

Party Time by Alan Bulllard has a lots of tunes for beginners to pre Grade 1. Comes with piano accomp. and only costs £3.50 to £4.00.

I have tried all the tutor books but keep coming back to Abracadabra Flute (£5.99). It is a great book in the early stages but when they are coming up to Grade 1 it seeems to move too quickley. However, the material from Grade 1 to 2 is excellent and it has all the AB scales in the back for Grades 1,2 and 3. I don't like the new Tune a Day, much prefer the old one as it has lots of tunes and duets in the early stages. Only drawback is small notation. Flute Basics by Sally Adams is ok.

What Else Can I Play? Grades 1 to 2 is great and has a few tunes that pre Grade 1's can play.

If you are teaching younger children, and you can play the piano, you might like to try some of the G,A,B pieces in Recorder World by Pam Wedgewood. The pieces are simple but have great piano accompaniments which the children love.

I think that there is a market for tutor books that go up to Grade 1 and have lots of appealing tunes (with piano accomp.) for the early stages.

Also try Ebay, Abracadabra Flute is nearly always available for very little money, even taking into account postage costs. I bought three copies recently which I lend out to students who have a different tutor book.

Thanks for your suggestions. I do use Abracadabra, not as a tutor book, but as a supplementary resource. I've found it very useful with the adults, as they are often more familiar with the material in it than the children are.

Have you used either the CD or the DVD versions of Tune A Day?

I haven't used the dvd but the cd is too fast for young beginners. I usually use Amazing CD Slowdowner to re-write the tracks for CDs.

I used 'Learn as you play'. Some of the pieces were a bit boring but i never found them too bad, and it got me up to grade 3 pretty fast.

Up Grade by Pam Wedgewood, starts very easy.

I use Abracadabra, 50 for Flute, and also the first volume of 76 Graded Studies ( I find the second volume of this much more accessible than the second volume of 50 for Flute)
I also like the Fun Club series, it isn't specifically for flute as there are several other versions, but children love the tunes and the CD helps with timing and style.

I haven't come across this, salrec, what is it?

I've just acquired the Fun Club series (had to get it direct from Mayhew, the publisher), and I'm very impressed. The books come with a CD, and there are Teachers' versions (with piano accompaniment) and Pupils' versions (without, and several pounds cheaper). There is a club pupils can join (free of charge), with freebies.

The pieces (by Alan Haughton) are all original compositions, mainly jazzy in style, and all are fun to play. The accompaniments are really straightforward, but are interesting as well. I'm looking forward to trying these out with some of the youngsters I'm expecting to teach next term.

I've also just got the new Tune a Day. I'm not impressed: the instructions for putting the flute together would lead to bent keywork in no time, and there are confusing pictures of fingering, with a photograph of the flute one way round immediately above a fingering chart the opposite way round. The Bb fingering is given as 1+1 with no mention of the thumb fingering, even as an alternative. The choice of tunes is good, but Abracadabra is better, and I'd only use Tune a Day as a supplementary resource if that.

Sounds exciting: are the CD accompaniments good?

I have a student who is a bit scared of jazzy stuff - hoping to encourage her to try some easy jazzy stuff, so she can gain confidence and practice. Her rhythm reading is better than she thinks it is, so gaining some confidence in this area would be wondeful for her.

The CDs are very nice: the piano accompaniment is boosted by percussion, so there is a very strong, clear beat on a lot of the jazzy tracks which helps the player. The accompaniments only come at one speed, but the pieces are written so that they're fairly playable anyway. There are a lot of rests to count, which is good practice for ensemble playing, but also helps the player to feel the speeds aren't too manic.

I'll have to look into that as a possibility. Anything which can help get her past her fear of "oooh complex rhythms I can't do it!" would be a good investment!