Graded jazz pieces for solo flute recently set on the new Trinity College syllabus for all 8 grades. The story behind Scatadoodledoo: 'One day when I was at home practising my flute for a Jazz gig I had a particularly hard chart with lots of key changes and I just couldn't get into the flow of it. I was thinking logically and thinking of the chord symbols and just thinking thinking thinking which anyone who improvises knows is a sure way to stop you being 'in the flow'. Being a Jazz singer I love to scat sing and so I soon found myself putting my flute down and scat singing through the chart instead. I wasn't thinking I was justscatting around with my 'do-be-doos' and I was really getting into it and enjoying myself feeling so free in comparison to when I was improvising on the flute. That's when I had the idea to sing and play on my flute at the same time... I figured that all I needed to do was practice playing on my flute what I was singing at the same time and I'd be sorted with this hard chart in front of me. I started off simply at first but the more I practised the more I found my voice and fingers working together until it literally felt like they were 'one' and I was 'singing my flute'. Then when I took my voice out of it and all that remained was the sound of my flute that feeling of 'singing' still remained and I felt a freedom in my flute improvising that had been missing before. This discovery completely changed my jazz flute playing and to this day it is still my favourite way of practising improvising. 'Scatadoodledoo' is to encourage all Jazz flautists to start thinking of their flute as the voice they are scat singing with. The pieces range from grade one through to grade eight. Although the more advanced pieces like 'scatastrophy' and 'scatterbrain' have sections where the flautist has a chance to actually play and sing at the same time it is never too early to practice this method whether it be with scales or with beginner pieces like 'Scat Walker'. I hope you enjoy playing these as much as I enjoyed writing them.' Alicia Hart

The creators of Luna???s Magic Flute and Flute at Play Blaz Pucihar and Ana Kavcic Pucihar have created a new colourful project for young Flute beginners The Fluting Stars. The Fluting Stars 1 and Fluting Stars 2 are inventive beautifully illustrated Flute-method books for young Flute beginners and their teachers complete with free engaging downloadable accompaniment tracks. Young Flute beginners are invited to learn the fundamentals of flute playing and chamber music through: More than 50 traditional folk songs from Europe and the United States of America.More than 65 original pieces in a variety of musical styles from baroque to cha-cha. Chamber music in duets trios quartets and even with percussion. Music theory as an exciting adventure. The Fluting Stars method books cover the fundamentals of flute playing with carefully structured step-by-step instructions. They are divided into 10 Key Leaps large instructional units with seven focus areas: 1. The Fluting Star Magazine presents new material. 2. Treasure Chest of Sparkly Tones establishes beautiful tone production. 3. Ear Detective develops aural awareness. 4. Notes in a Minute build music-literacy skills. 5. Finger Fitness establishes fundamentals of Flute finger technique. 6. Stellar Student creates young music-theory enthusiasts. 7. Cherry on Top offers musical challenges and performance pieces.