As someone of you may or may not now, I have now acquired control of a flute choir.

I will be "music director" which will involve choosing music, leading rehearsals, conducting (although someone else wants to do some conducting as well so that could be split). I feel it could be really beneficial for me.

The flute choir itself is very small. It'll probably end up at around 8-10 members! The players at the moment are not of too high a standard - many are self taught, I'd guess maybe around grade 4 or 5. It would have (my) alto flute in, and I will presume a piccolo.

At the moment, the rehearsals are basically play throughs. There is some work on isolated parts, but we don't tune or warm up or anything. We don't listen as an ensemble. I want to improve it in this respect but also keep it fun, as it being fun has been the emphasis for years. They have already requested Disney and flute 4 parts which don't centre on 1 note.

So, what I am asking is:
1) What kind of repertoire is out there for small flute choir, intermediate standard?
2) How can I make a rehearsal fun, interesting and progressive, and not seem boring?
3) Conducting - tips needed!

Thankyou

How about arranging some of your own music (if you have the time) - is always good experience

I probably will end up doing some of that, I wouldn't know where to start. But yes, I could do that.I don't start until September, so could do it in the summer maybe?

I think you may find there is lots out there. Have you tried looking at the flute shops. I have heard quite a few which were played for GCSE aroung GD4-5. Good luck with the choir, I would love to play in a flute choir, but there arnt any around here. There are also a good few freebies to down load from the sibelius Website, some good , some very good and some really bad.

To be honest, I have not done much research really. I don't have any money at the moment - I presume the flute choir will give me some. For the last year, the last MD rearranged a lot of music, we only had a couple of bought pieces. I have Greensleeves which is for 4 parts + alto which looks manageable.

What about Ian Clarke's Walk Like This? It has 4 parts, grade 1-6ish I think, and includes some extended technique which would certainly be fun as well as a challenge to work with!

The other ensemble piece by him is Within which I think has alto/picc parts, although it's quite a bit more difficult.

Oh, I've played Walk Like This - thanks for the recommendation

You might want to try leading the rehearsals from the first flute rather than conducting, it can work quite well with smaller groups although you would need to be aware of what the other parts are meant to be doing. I think June Emerson and Justflutes might have a search facility for different ensembles so you could just have a look for any that appeal.

I started a flute choir at my school in September, one of the reasons being that the only other ensemble that flute players could play in was the concert band! All of them are under grade 5, with most being under grade 3.
There are 10 players, and we unfortunately don't have a piccolo or alto flute.

I'd never conducted anything before, and one of the things that I quickly found was the importance of tuning - many of them found it difficult to tell whether they were in tune or not! I now use a tuner extensively, this really helps to improve the sound.

With regards to making the rehearsal fun - we always have biscuits at the end of the rehearsal. It's a good social thing and also a great opportunity to eat biscuits! On the playing side of things, we're learning easy pieces to perform by memory whilst walking round the hall in junior school concerts. We also try playing through the music in different ways as well as doing sectional practice to make sure the notes are secure. Using percussion instruments is quite popular!

For pieces, a series which I've found really good is Easy Flutes Together, published by Phoenix Music - their website is here: http://www.phoenix-music.uk.com/acatalog/E..._Toghether.html. These might be a bit easy for your ensemble by the sound of things , nicki flute.

As regard the conducting, try to make everything really obvious and make sure they watch! Mine have eyes over key places in their music to remind them!

Hope this helps

Thanks for that Yes, at the moment we never tune and sometimes it's really bad if the piccolo player tries to do a top top note, and the middle is a bit flat...

Maybe look at some recorder music too, quartets and that sort of thing. (They're also the sort of thing people tend to have floating around doing nothing, so you don't have to find monies for buying music.) They're quite useful in that all parts are in C and within flute range. You could always transpose a part if you really wanted to use the alto.

Afraid I have no advice for you... I've just done the same thing myself, but ended up handing most of the responsibility to my teacher! It is fun though, you're so lucky to have an alto and piccolo as well

I'd smile sweetly at Andante for a list of the music we played at her flute day last year - I'm pretty sure not all of it used the bass flute.

As the person who hogged the flute 4 parts for most of the day I can assure you they were more interesting than just single notes.

With a group of 8-10 I'd have thought leading from the flute rather than conducting should work well. It really encourages people to listen properly.

I'm going to agree with CJB - perhaps think Nicki about how I deal with leading the group at Harborough - something along those lines I'd think would work well - and you can definitely do it

Small aside - we did 'Walk Like This' at Anglesey - it was great

I'm in a senior flute choir atm and never played in the oyunger one so can't help much on music choice but you might want to try a piece called jungle dance, don't know how to find it but there are parts for 4 bottles (yes bottles, but you could use fluteheads with varying amounts of closure at the end) and then there are a few flute parts and a tricky solo flute part but you could always get someone else in/you to play that. its good fun anyway.

We are quite a big choir so my teacher conducts but i think that with the group size you are suggesting leading through playing may be a good idea. Good luck and enjoy it!

It sounds great fun. Do get a bit of cash together though before you begin buying parts. Most members will probably chip in with a couple of pounds. Try Hawthorns recorder publications for trios and quartets. You can both listen and view the scores before buying anything.

I think we have to pay subs so that covers music