Winner of the 2022 National Flute Association Newly Published Music Competition

The Flute Zoo Books are the new fun, and engaging way to learn to play the flute. These books, with their bright colors and cheerful imagery, were written with elementary age flute students in mind, although we have found that older children (and even adults) love the fun songs and activities as well!  Each book is between 32 and 40 pages long. So the new flutist will gain a strong sense of accomplishments as they more quickly earn their certificate for Flute Zoo book one.

Flute Zoo Five-Note Fun Sticker Book

The Flute Zoo Five-Note Fun Sticker book is the essential technique and music theory companion book for Flute Zoo Books 1, 2 and 3.

Five-note patterns are the foundation to great flute technique.  Even advanced players practice five-note patterns.  Taffanel & Gaubert’s 17 Big Daily Finger Exercise are used by many college flute majors.  In this book, these advanced students start with five-note patterns.  After many years of using five-note patterns with beginners we’ve seen the incredible technique that can happen even with beginners. Young students who faithful learn these five-note pattern will reap incredible technique.

Students should first encounter new finger changes in Flute Zoo Five-Note Fun book before reading them in the Flute Zoo Books 2 or 3.  Page 116 of the Flute Zoo Teacher’s Manual shows how the five-note patterns correspond to the Flute Zoo Books 1-3.  Once students have learned their five-note patterns, whole scale are easy since two five-note patterns = a one octave scale.

The 40 page Flute Zoo Five-Note Fun makes learning patterns fun with over 600 stickers.  Because students are using the stickers to form the five-note patterns on the music staves, it is also a music theory book.  Students learn the concepts of key centers through transposing simple melodies in many different keys.  A student might ask their parents if they would like to hear Jingle Bells—but that’s not all.  They could also ask in what key they should play it!  Even if students are using fixed DO solfeggio can still learn the sense of key function using our simple number system.

As students progress they will play the patterns in Doublits—where they double the speed on each repetition.  Being able to switch between beat levels is the foundation to playing advanced rhythms.

Finally, Circle of Fifths Ferris Wheel on the last page is great motivation to learn more and more five-note patterns.    In addition, there is a large Carnival Zoo reward poster available that can be use for either five-note patterns or whole scales which also includes minor scales.

The Flute Zoo Advantage

Tone:  With Flute Zoo books students learn both high and low notes on the head joint.  Playing in the high and low octave continues when students begin with the whole flute.  This gives the new flutist an enormous advantage and teaches embouchure flexibility which is vital for becoming a great flute player.  Teaching flute is not like teaching trumpet in which the high notes are more difficult. High notes become difficult when students only play in the low and middle octaves for as much as one year. The students then have trouble with embouchure flexibility, and the ability to form a smaller lip opening.  Listen to this young beginner “accidentally” playing in three octaves!

Rhythm:   Flute Zoo books 1-3 and the Five-Note Fun Sticker Book work together to insure a solid rhythmic foundation.  Towards the end of Flute Zoo Book 2 students are reading rhythms that may appear simple, but imply more difficult rhythms. They learn how to play rhythms like a dotted quarter note followed by an eighth long before they actually read it.  In Flute Zoo Book 3, students use the rhythm cards in the back of their book to first play these rhythms with tied eighth notes. Then the card is flipped over to reveal how the rhythm would be written without tied notes.

The Five-Note Fun Sticker Book helps to instill the ability to move between beat levels with ease. This foundation is essential for playing the complex rhythms they will encounter in Blocki Flute Method Book 3.

Creative Composing:  These projects develop creativity and highlight the new concepts being learned.  Each Flute Zoo Book contains several engaging composition activities.

What is the difference between Blocki Flute Method Book 1 and the Flute Zoo Book?

The content in the Blocki Flute Method Book 1 equals Flute Zoo Books 1, 2 and 3.  The Flute Zoo books move at a slightly slower pace and are shorter giving a sense of accomplishment as they finish each book more quickly.   The Flute Zoo Five-Note Fun Sticker Book is essential to the Flute Zoo series but can also be used with the Blocki Flute Method Book 1.

After working through all four Flute Zoo books, students will be ready to start in Blocki Flute Method Book 2. The Blocki Flute method was designed to give the beginner an excellent foundation in beautiful tone, embouchure flexibility, rhythm and technique. This comprehensive and step-by-step approach was written to ensure success and includes theory and composition projects.

Sequence summary

Flute Zoo Book 1 and Flute Zoo Solo Book

Flute Zoo Book 2, Five-Note Fun Sticker Book, and Flute Zoo Solo Book

Flute Zoo Book 3, Five-Note Fun Sticker Book, and Flute Zoo Solo Book

Blocki Flute Method Book 2   and Cobb County Fair from Flute Zoo Solo Book

Blocki Flute Method Book 3 (Full range of the flute and o Solo Book complex rhythm patterns)

The Blocki Flute Method teaches skills in the right order — tone first, then technique, then reading. Every product we sell is designed to support that progression. We use these materials in our own studio every day.