Extended Techniques Repertoire

This list was compiled for a Panel Presentation at the 2004 National Flute Association Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.  Members of the panel were Jennifer Binney-Clippert, Patricia George, Camilla Hoitenga, Rita Linard, Phyllis Louke and Cynthia Stevens.  We listed the pieces with general levels of difficulty, with the easier ones at the beginning of the list.  We also listed ensemble music that use some extended techniques. 

This list is not meant to be exhaustive, since new music using extended techniques is being written all the time, but merely as a resource to start exploring some of the literature that’s currently available.

Recommended Flute Choir Music

Music selection is a very personal thing.  I have tried to give some information about the difficulty level of the music listed, but just because a piece is listed as "Easy", it doesn't necessarily mean that it's not worthy of being played by a professional ensemble.  Good music is good music.  What I've tried to list here is music that I like and think is well-written and well-scored for flute ensembles.  My taste is pretty eclectic, and you'll find a mixture of arrangements of familiar tunes, transcriptions, as well as a LOT of original music written for flute ensembles. 

On a day-to-day basis, I mostly work with an adult flute choir of mixed ability levels.  Our group has played pretty much everything on the Intermediate/Advanced List successfully.  Our group is usually around 20 players and we have access to 2-3 bass flutes, 3-5 altos, and usually find that music with more than 4 or 5 flute parts stretches our group a little too thin.  I have also worked extensively with students with as little as one or two years playing experience and have also had great fun playing with professional level groups such as the NFA Professional Flute Choir, the National Flute Choir and the American Flute Orchestra.  The more advanced literature listed comes from my experience with these professional groups.

This list of music is not meant to be exhaustive—it’s simply a list of my favorites and what our flute choir has enjoyed playing.  Most of the music listed has parts with similar difficulty levels with the melody getting passed around.  Our adult flute choir gets a little cranky when we play music with all the melody in the first part and only whole notes or “boom-chucks” in the other parts.

When programming, also consider the use of quartet, trio and even duet music.  Having multiple players on each part gives a fresh twist to the timbre of the music, and helps give less experienced players more confidence in their playing.  It also gives the ensemble the opportunity to concentrate on intonation and stylistic cohesion.  Some of our flute choir’s favorite pieces are trios and quartets!

For ensembles with variable number of players, look into arrangements with variable numbers of parts, such as Phyllis Avidan Louke's Flexible Flute Ensemble series (pub. ALRY) and Ricky Lombardo's Expandable Flute Choir arrangements (pub. ALRY and LMP Publications).  Other arrangers, such as Bill Holcombe (pub. Musicians' Publications) have many arrangements for four flutes and include optional alto and bass flute parts.  If you check the catalogs of some music publishers such as ALRY Publications and Falls House Press, you will find other pieces that have some flexibility in the scoring and optional parts included.

Also, Red McLeod has arranged lots of music for quartet (pub. Kendor) and I’ve liked everything I’ve seen of his.  We’ve used many of his arrangements with our adult flute choir, and also for student ensembles.  The music is fairly easy to put together and sounds good.

Recommended Small Ensemble Music

Again, this list is not exhaustive—it just lists some of my favorites. 

I have also listed some less common duet books that I have used and liked.  My old stand-by books are still the Rubank duet books.

© Copyright 2005 Phyllis Avidan Louke.  All Rights Reserved.

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