Guidelines for Suzuki Flute Composer Quest Minnesota Suzuki Flute Teachers Association One of the most fun things about being a Suzuki flute teacher is getting all of your students together to play in a concert that features every one of them, whether they’re ready for college auditions or they’re just learning to make their first sounds on the headjoint (the mouthpiece part of the flute). Many Suzuki flute teachers have arranged pieces that feature the melodies of the first few pieces in the Suzuki books as components of larger ensemble works including more advanced parts. A simple melody can be combined with intermediate and advanced parts to create a beautiful, interesting flute choir work that features flute players of every level. For example (see excerpts later in packet), Noelle Perrin juxtaposed “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with the well-known Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts” to create her piece “Mary’s Simple Gifts.” Another piece of her juxtaposes Rossini’s “William Tell” melody with “Mary Had a Little Lamb” to create “William Tell Mary.” Her “Hot Cross Buns Fantasy” adds flashy scales and arpeggios to the simple “Hot Cross Buns” melody to create a fun work that even new beginners can play. Our quest for composers this month is to create a flute choir work that includes at least three, and up to five, parts of varying ability levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. If the composers include alto/bass/piccolo parts, they must be optional (i.e. either doubled by other flute parts or not integral to the performance). (For reference, Kelly Via and Ricky Lombardo have written some good “expandable flute choir” pieces that can be performed by a varying number of players; the “optional” parts add extra color and texture, but the piece can be considered complete without them.) Guidelines for beginner parts: Composers may use some of the beginner Suzuki pieces, but they are not limited to using them. (See next pages for examples.) Beginner parts should be extremely simple in their range, number of notes, and rhythm (i.e. nothing more complex than 8th notes unless it’s an extremely well-known song or folk tune that beginners can easily imitate by ear). Avoid slurs. Composers can choose from the following beginner categories: - Headjoint-only beginner-range: If the composer wants to write a piece in which the beginners play notes on the headjoint alone, the notes are: o closed headjoint (cover the end) - A on the staff or E above the staff o open headjoint (uncover the end) – A above the staff (almost a quarter-tone flat) or G# (on 4th leger line) - Early beginner range: Notes can include (from the bottom of the treble clef) E, F, G, A, B, B-flat, C. Part can even be limited to a single note repeating in a certain rhythm as a harmony. (ex. play C in harmony with “Joy to the World”). Limit parts to 4-5 notes. Do not use slurs. - Medium beginner range: Notes can also include (from the middle of the treble clef) C, D, E, F, G, A, B, B-flat, C. Use mostly step-wise motion; avoid large jumps in register. Limit parts to 5-7 notes, all within the same range. Do not use slurs. Guidelines for intermediate parts: The range for intermediate parts can go from low D (just below treble staff) up to high C (two leger lines above staff). Avoid large jumps, and keep the rhythms simple. Slurs are ok. Guidelines for advanced parts: The advanced parts can use the entire range of the flute (low C one leger line below staff to C five leger lines above staff) and have flashier, more challenging technique.

Suzuki beginner pieces

Twinkle

Examples of Arrangements “Oom Pa Pa” features the headjoint (flute 1) along with full flutes (flutes 2 and 3)