WF134 - 14 Advanced Christmas Favorites: Flute

It has a good variety and is better than the normal simple melody part. But there’s no piano accompaniment. So it’s true when it says “solo” it’s really just a solo and not “solo with accompaniment.”

I had a blast with this book. I love it! Really wonderful orchestral accompaniments. BUT I am a professional flutist and was able to sort it out. I can understand why other reviewers complained about the difficulties. Let me explain it--as a professional.The flute part itself is not "advanced." I am a flute teacher and have early high school students who could play the notes in this book. However, they would not be able to fit the flute part with the accompaniment, without my guidance. And even then, it would be hard for most of them. This is where the "advanced" part comes in.It takes many superior musicianship skills to be able to play with this accompaniment. You must be able to play absolutely steadily--no rushing or dragging. You must be able to find the beat when only hearing an ostinato rhythm, often syncopated. You must be able to find the beat from moving notes that change from harp, to bass, to strings. You have to be confident enough to play your part even when the accompaniment rests for a few beats. For instance, there's an accompaniment in 6/8 time, where the flute is playing the melody, but the accompaniment hits chords on sometimes beat 1, sometimes beat 2 (second 8th note in the bar), sometimes beat 5. This could easily confuse an inexperienced player, if they weren't expecting it. The player has to study (listen and learn) each accompaniment part, in order to fit the flute part in correctly and consistently. Not all the selections are this difficult, but all require listening skills.I recommend this book only for those flutists who are either professionals, or have access to a professional/teacher to help. And as a teacher, I also think it would be a really great learning experience for students who need to practice listening to the other parts in an orchestra situation.Again, it's not the notes you play that make this book "Advanced," it's the skills needed to play along with the (excellent) accompaniment.

I usually pay $100 or more for a book of flute arrangements with CD. This was a fraction of the cost. I did find it a little hard to follow the beat on some of the songs. The arrangements are a little different, which is a nice change from super traditional. It is not super advanced. I would say between intermediate and advanced. I played a solo at church last Sunday with great reviews. The CD does come in MP3 format, which my stereo system would not play. Hard to hear on my laptop, so someone burned it in Windows format for me. So, all in all--even if I don't play every song on here, it was still much more affordable. Good option if you are just starting out on doing solos.

This book is really good and has a bunch of fun arrangements, but I found it too easy. I have been playing flute for 3 years or so and I thought it would be more of a challenge to play. But still a very good book! Don't get me wrong, it is good and it may not be as easy for you as it was for me.

I've taught band and choral music for 30 years. The orchestral arrangements were beautiful; however, I found it extremely difficult to hear the basic beat throughout most of the arrangements. The MP3 recordings also didn't include a tuning note, nor play along examples for rehearsal. For those reasons, I wouldn't recommend this book. It's very difficult to determine where the beat is, so entrances are more difficult than they should be. The publishing company does provide additional play-along recordings through a download online after purchasing the book. You have to enter a code, which is inside the front cover.

I was excited to try this book because it said "Advanced". I don't really consider this advanced, more like intermediate, however, the reason I am giving it 2 stars is because the songs sound so DIFFERENT. I guess call me old fashion, but I love Christmas carols, and I don't mind some minor liberties but this was way too much flourish for me. (I didn't play the CD.)

Definitely more advanced than much of the Christmas music for flutists on the market today. My daughter enjoys the compositions, finds a bit of challenge to them, and finds the arrangements sounding like the familiar pieces she has grown up listening to. (7 yrs. playing experience)

The music in this book is fun for the intermediate/advanced flute player. It's challenging enough to require a little practice before performance but not so difficult that it would require an unreasonable amount of work to learn. I love it!

This is described as having a companion CD containing full orchestral accompaniment. It has no CD at all just an MP3 download. I purchased this book because I was looking for a book with CD accompaniments and as the pieces are intermediate at most, it is of no use to me.

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superbe!!