Nimble flute fingers

Already in the foreword to Finger flickwhich emerged from a reflection as part of her pedagogy master's degree at the Zurich University of the Arts, the author Anna-Barbara Rösch points out the aim of "working with young children (from kindergarten to third grade) on finger technique without specifically mentioning the subject of finger technique".

The first part contains twelve stories with the characters Flurina and Niels, who practise elementary building blocks of flute technique such as playing scales, changing fingerings and improvisation at the end of each story. For example, in the second story, "At school", the two climb the school stairs and are asked to climb them with the flute at the end (scale). At the same time, on the same page, there is a piece of music from the literature that fits the theme, in this case a scale excerpt from a maestoso by Franz Anton Hoffmeister. These musical examples of varying degrees of difficulty can be simplified for practicing. Colorful illustrations by Jasmin Céline Baumann make the musical stories even more vivid for children. The second part contains a series of exercises that promote the mobility and dexterity of the fingers, even without an instrument, some of which originate from occupational therapy. These include, for example, warm-up exercises, exercises for fine motor skills and posture.

The varied booklet, which is an enrichment for music lessons with young children and playfully practises technical elements without naming them, was originally designed for the transverse flute, but with a little creativity can also be used for practising with other instruments.

Anna-Barbara Rösch: Fingerflink - Musical finger exercises in the form of stories, illustrated by Jasmin Céline Baumann, 130 p., Fr. 35.00, self-published anna-barbara.com/fingerflink