Jazz for Beginners, Flute for Dummies: Do these books belong on my bookshelf?

When I was a child, we had two English dictionaries in our house, a “high-school” dictionary and a “college” dictionary. I remember my mother explaining that she had given the high-school dictionary to my father as a present soon after they emigrated from the Netherlands to Canada. My father was offended at the idea of using a “high-school” dictionary and promptly went out and purchased a “college” dictionary. The funny thing was that the high-school dictionary was actually a better dictionary.

Why should we be ashamed of reading and using books designed for high school (as opposed to college or university), for beginners, for “dummies”? When I purchased my Philosophy for Dummies book in order to learn more about philosophy, I felt slightly apologetic; and yet, when I browsed the philosophy section of the bookstore and leafed through the various books available, it seemed to me that the “Dummies” book was by far the most straightforward and comprehensive book.

The impetus for this blog post came after browsing in a secondhand bookstore (what a joy after so many months of Covid lockdown!) and purchasing (on a whim) Jazz for Beginners by Ron David. It's one of a series of “documentary comic books”. I've been reading other books on jazz history, so most of what I read in this book wasn't new to me, but (aside from some spelling errors and typos which would have been caught by a good copy-editor) Jazz for Beginners was an enjoyable and thought-provoking read (and the illustrations were part of the fun). After reading this book, I went to the library and borrowed another book in the series, The History of Opera for Beginners by the same author. It was an entertaining read as well.

Photo by Janice Kerkkamp

Dare I mention that Flute for Dummies by Karen Evans Moratz is on my bookshelf? It's on the same bookshelf as my copies of The Art of Flute Playing by Edwin Putnik, The Complete Guide to the Flute and Piccolo by J. James Phelan, The Flute Book by Nancy Toff, Tipbook Flute and Piccolo by Hugo Pinksterboer, Proper Flute Playing and A Piccolo Practice Book by Trevor Wye, Body Mapping for Flutists by Lea Pearson, The Early Flute by John Solum, The Early Flute by Rachel Brown, and the classics, Principles of the Flute, Recorder and Oboe by Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, On Playing the Flute by Johann Joachim Quantz, and The Flute and Flute Playing by Theobald Boehm. (Weirdly, I also own a copy of Como Tocar la Flauta by Howard Harrison, translated into Spanish. I think my parents purchased it for me on one of their trips to Spain.)

I've been playing the flute for almost 50 years and teaching flute for at least 40 years; why do I own Flute for Dummies (published in 2010)?

I remember one of my professors at the University of Toronto saying that you should have at least seven different ways of explaining each concept in order to be fully prepared to teach a class. When you explain a concept the first time, some of your students will grasp it immediately, but others will need to hear a different explanation for the concept to make sense to them. This is true of private lessons, too; all students are different and come to their lessons with different sets of skills, knowledge, and learning styles. It helps to have many different ways of explaining and/or demonstrating the same thing. That's one of the reasons I attend so many master classes and read so many books about the subjects I teach. I appreciate hearing and reading about other teachers' approaches to these subjects, and I incorporate what I've learned into my own teaching.

I daresay most of us have had that “aha” moment when someone explained a concept and we thought, “Oh, that's what my teacher was trying to tell me.” Sometimes we need to come at a problem from a different angle in order to solve it. And sometimes we just need to hear the same explanation worded slightly differently for it to sink in.

I often dip into my various flute books for additional ideas on how to teach various concepts. Karen Evans Moratz is an orchestral flautist and university professor; just because her book is labelled “for dummies” doesn't mean it's any less valuable. In fact, if anything, her explanations are often clearer and less wordy than others'.

So, books for high school, for beginners, for “dummies”: they all have pride of place on my bookshelves alongside the more sophisticated-sounding titles. Why not?

Speaking of Johann Joachim Quantz, who wrote the treatise On Playing the Flute in 1752 (German title: Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen), here’s a Youtube recording of his lovely flute concerto in G major (RCM Flute Level 10A), played by Jean-Pierre Rampal:

J.J. Quantz: Concerto in G Major

And here’s a Youtube recording of the same concerto, played on the Baroque flute by Benedek Csalog:

J.J. Quantz: Concerto in G Major

I was sad when I learned that jazz flautist and singer Kathryn Moses died recently. I remember hearing her perform in concert at Ontario Place many years ago. In her honour, here’s a Youtube recording of a fun piece:

Kathryn Moses: Ready Or Not

And, finally, here’s a piece featuring jazz flautist Eric Dolphy (I read about him in Jazz for Beginners):

Eric Dolphy & Booker Little: Left Alone