I finally had a good play through chunks of Funky Flute today.
Good points:
I like the listening games, rhythm workouts, and the encouragement to do long tones. It's all very attractively done and I think having interesting titles is a good way to encourage imaginative playing from the word go.
Backing tracks can be a good way of forcing a student to keep in time (in a nice way
)
I quite like the little encouragements and advice in the pink cabochons - practice advice and stuff. Quite a nice idea.
There's a definite attempt to teach some good posture etc (not sure I 100% agree with some of it but the effort is made!). (Personally I don't think a book can substitute for demos from a teacher, so unless someone is self teaching I've come to the conclusion that
I think it doesn't overly matter - better good teaching and attractive material than technique advice that may be confusing or unhelpful - each to their own though
- still wouldn't recommend trying to self teach from Abracadabra flute though!)
I like the encouragement right from the start to try loud, softs, long, short, and that is continued later in the book. The explanations of which keys to press are very clear. Surprisingly, there are also some fun and some rather charming little tunes despite a very limited range of notes.
I also like the chart for ticking pieces as learned - the sense of satisfaction in ticking is not to be overlooked!!!
Bad points:
It is quite young (though I learned from similarly whimsical books from age 7 to 9 or 10 and I don't remember ever being bothered).
Some of the backing tracks are a little disappointing in sound quality, but then I tend to loathe synthesised sound so... that may just be me!
Lack of the thumb key Bb fingering - wonder if this is just to avoid confusion to start with though? Don't know - haven't seen the other books.
I wonder if some of the rhythmic complexity moves a little fast, though I guess with the demo tracks at least there's a way to check for pupils at home.
I can't decide whether accompaniments with the longtone practice are good or not - could be distracting? But maybe worth it to get a child into good habits...
...........
On the whole in my thoroughly inexpert opinion I think it's quite fun and while I don't see myself having any students who would use it as a primary book at the moment (unless someone randomly asks me to teach their 7 year old - always possible!) it's definitely one I'll keep in my library... may use some of the more interesting tunes as sight-reading-where-you-HAVE-to-keep-going practice for my student (she's got the sense to trust me when I use stuff that's apparently "too young" that it's not because I think she's stupid!) - I think the limited range of notes will offset some of the rhythms which I know will be a challenge for her as she lacks confidence in that area and an occasional one of these will make quite pleasant sight-reading practice whilst being rhythmically interesting enough to be useful (especially with having to keep up with the CD!)... Be interested to hear how you get on with it if you start any younger ones on it, Andante!... anyway that's all my wafflage on it... nice freebie!
