Moyse: De La Sonorite

 Hi everyone,

In todays post I'm going to talk about De La Sonorite by Marcel Moyse, and this in ways follows on from Moyse's 'Beginning the Flute' book.

'De La Sonorite' is all about developing your flute technique, and I would say that this book is more suitable for intermediate to advanced flute players. 

The book starts off with developing your tone throughout all three registers, suppleness in the lower register, attack and slurring of notes, fullness of tone, and also the management of tone in interpretation.

Each area of the book is then broken down into smaller sections to make it more manageable for the flute learner. Also, within each section there's an in depth description on what to do to get the best out of your overall flute playing,

I've heard this book described as a 'Flute Bible', as flute players for decades have used it due to it being useful to really develop on the flute. The book itself is set out in a way to be really approachable for all flute players, and the in depth descriptions on 'what to do' will get the best out of your playing.

Moyse: 24 Little Melodic Studies (Easy)

Hi everyone,

In this post I'm going to talk about the flute study book '24 Little Melodic Studies (Easy)' by Marcel Moyse.

This book is filled with flute studies that have been composed by Marcel Moyse to help take your flute development even further. But, don't let the word 'easy' fool you, as some of these studies are actually really hard. 

I would personally say up to exercises 9 - 10 are the easier part of the book, after that it starts to go slightly mad as the studies features more advanced key signatures, time signatures, double sharps/ flats. The back of the book isn't that bad, as it features some more of the easier time/ key signatures.

There's also a nice study at the back that are great if you just wanted to focus on getting your fingers more secure on the flute (exercise 24).

I've personally used studies 1 -3, the octave leaps from study 4, and to practice staccato I used Variations from study 5. So, if you are struggling with an area of playing you can always just take an element of a study and focus on that to see if will help you to improve on whatever it is you are struggling on.

Moyse: Tone Development Through Interpretation

Hi everyone,

In today's post I'm going to talk about Moyse's 'Tone Development Through Interpretation' flute book.

This was the first Moyse book that I'd ever purchased and its been part of my flute sheet collection for a number of years, and I know that this book is still a tricky one to try and get hold of. The edition I have is by the publisher McGinnis & Marx, but I think the more recent edition of this book is now published by Peter's Edition.

'Tone Development Through Interpretation' is made up of orchestral excerpts from a range of composers, but they are set out to help you to focus on developing different tonal qualities on your flute.

The book itself is split up into eight different sections, and they are :-

- Register: Low Dynamic: Soft (p, pp)

- Register: Low Dynamic: Loud (f, ff)

- Register: Low Diversified Expression

- Register: High Suppleness (p, pp)

- Register: Low to Middle Suppleness, Delicacy and Colour Variation

- All Three Registers: Fullness of Tone

- All Three Registers: Diversified Expression

- Interpretation of Classical Pieces

What Moyse has done with this book is essentially given you areas for you to work on using orchestral excerpts, but at the same time given you 'free reign' on how to interpret the pieces he has given you. There's very little input from Moyse himself apart from the titles of each of the sections. There is directions and articulation within each of the pieces for you to work on while you are learning the excerpt. 

This also a nice introduction into the world of Orchestral Excerpts, and getting an understanding of what would be required if you ever decide that you would like to work in an orchestra. As it enables you to start familiarising yourself with well known orchestral pieces, but in a smaller format while at the same time developing your personal tonal development. There's also a piano accompaniment part, so then you can always work on these with your teacher or a friend who plays the piano.

This book is aimed at flute players, but other woodwind players can also use this book. You just might have to adjust the range of the pieces to suit your instrument.

My Moyse Flute Studies Collection

Hi everyone,

In this post I'm going to talk about all of the Marcel Moyse flute study books that I have collected over the past few years. The Marcel Moyse study books for flute players is in the same calibre as Sevcik for violinists or Cavallini for Clarinetists, which is not only are well established study books but that they are also tried and true, and they are well loved still to this day.

My personal collection of study books by Marcel Moyse

I have collected quite a number of books from the Marcel Moyse range of books, and there's still some that I haven't purchased as I'm not interested in buying them.

I can actually split the Moyse series into two - the first is focusing on your own personal development on the flute, as most of the books focus on developing one area of technique; and the second is the development on working on individual composers. So, depending on what you are looking into diving more into detail and improving on then there's something for you within these books.

My personal collection consists of the following books :-

- De La Sonorite

- Tone Development Through Interpretation

- Beginning the Flute

- Studies & Technical Exercises

- 24 Little Melodic Studies

- School of Articulation

- Virtuosity Studies Volumes 1 & 2

- Technique Chromatism

I'm going to give you overview of each book then it will give you some idea of what each book is about.

De La Sonorite

This is known as the Moyse "flute bible", and focuses on the art of technique on the flute. I would say that these exercises would suit an early intermediate flute player all the way up to advanced. But you might be able to have a go a few of the studies in the earlier stages of your flute journey, as most of the book doesn't go too far off the stave. The book is divided into five sections each focusing on a different area of developing your flute technique, and also within each section Moyse gives you loads of advice on how best to tackle every exercise.

Tone Development Through Interpretation

This was the first Moyse book that I ever brought, as it had a piece within the book that I was struggling to find. This book is broken down into eight sections, and each section focuses on developing your own personal flute using orchestral excepts. There's no actual advice written within the book, apart from the section overview. What Moyse is doing within this book is starting you off on using a blank canvas with the pieces throughout the book, and you as the learner will be essentially creating something special using your own personal tone, and improving on what you already know. It's a very 'free' approach to help you in developing your own personal tone on the flute.

Beginning the Flute

This is a lovely book for flute learners and players who want to improve on their flute playing. It also doesn't go too high off the stave. There's loads of exercises to help you to get used to different techniques on the flute, and they also go through all of the ranges of ranges of the flute and also through all of the scales. Even though this book is aimed at beginner flute players; any flute player can use this book as part of their own personal development. Every exercise within the book also has a detailed description on how best to tackle that exercise, and to also get the best out of the early stages of your flute playing.

Studies & Technical Exercises

I would say that the 'Scales & Technical Exercises' book is aimed at intermediate to advanced flute players. There's some really nice exercises on intervals, note groups and also exercises to develop different methods of tonguing such as double and triple tonguing. With this being an intermediate to advanced study book the descriptions that Moyse gives for each exercise are only brief, but straight to the point.

24 Little Melodic Studies

These are meant to easy flute studies, and let me tell you that some of these studies are far from easy as this book goes up to six sharps and six flats. Please don't let that put you off from buying this book, as some of the studies are easier than others depending on where you are in your flute journey. You can use this book to help you to get used to a new key signature, sight reading or you may just like to see how far you get through a piece without any pressure.

School of Articulation

This book contains loads of studies to help you to improve on your flute articulation. It features studies that will help you to improve your tonguing on the flute using single, double or triple tonguing, staccato, and slurred. 

Technique Chromaticism

This is essentially a book for you to focus solely on your chromatic scales in every variation possible. It's actually broken down into sections to make it more manageable.

School of Virtuosity Books 1 & 2

These are probably some of the more advanced books that Moyse has to offer, and even the first book looks quite hard. These are definitely more suited to the more advanced flute player.

Books

De La Sonorite

ISMN: 9790046 181665

Beginning the Flute

ISMN: 9790046 188255

Studies & Technical Exercises

ISMN: 9790046 164439

24 Little Melodic Studies

ISMN: 9790046 180255

School of Articulation

ISMN: 9790046 173394

Technique Chromaticism

ISMN: 9790046 173950

Virtuosity Studies Book 1

ISMN: 9790046 181634

Virtuosity Studies Book 2

ISMN: 9790046 181641

Moyse: Beginning the Flute

Hi everyone,

In this post I'm going to talk about a flute studies book by Marcel Moyse, and it's all about beginning the flute.

For any flute learners that are just starting out on the flute, but are interested in learning by a French method of learning but aren't too sure where to look. This might be a great book to start on. It's also a great starting point for you use if you want to start developing your flute tone.

Even though this is a flute study book aimed at beginners; it does touch on the third octave of the flute towards the end of the book.

It actually covers quite a lot, but it does it in an approachable way. It starts off by covering intervals, and then progresses onto exercises covering different registers of the flute, arpeggios ascending/ descending in different registers, and there's a couple of triplet exercises towards the end of the book.

What I really like about this book is that its approachable for a beginner flute player, and makes it really to understand what the aim is within each area of the book.

What you can also do is rather than work through the book as a whole; you can take an area or two that you are struggling with and use this book to help you to figure out with whatever area of your playing that you are struggling with. 

This is one book I would recommend that you pick up as a beginner flute learner, as you can use this along with other flute methods that your teacher has recommended. You can use this book as additional practice material to help you to improve in the early days of your flute playing and development. If you start to struggle with anything or your not too sure of something within this book I would recommend taking it along to your flute teacher, and get them to help you and maybe explain it a little better to you.