A month or so ago, I posted some information on flute excerpts, specifically in regards to well-known orchestra excerpts, and I thought this week that I would branch out a bit and provide all you wonderful readers with some more information regarding all of the great flute literature that is out there. We all know some of the most well-known solos, concertos, and accompanied pieces, but I wanted to highlight some lesser-known genres that can be very helpful when looking for pieces to perform.
Many flute players find themselves with an opportunity to play with a performing ensemble, and a virtuostic orchestral debut isn’t the only way that players can get some experience in this field. Band literature for solo flute is sometimes forgotten about, but there is so much great music out there for solo flute with band accompaniment! Many of these pieces are original, 20th/21st century pieces written specifically for flute or piccolo with band accompaniment, but there are also some fantastic arrangements of pieces by Vivaldi, Telemann, and many others. This link is a wonderful list of just some of the pieces available for solo flute or piccolo with band accompaniment:
http://music.uta.edu/band/flutelist.htm
Former professor of flute at Indiana University, James Pellerite, also has an extensive list of solo and group works for flute with an extensive grading system. It is now in its third publication and is available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Literature-Flute-Pellerite/dp/0931200695/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444147034&sr=1-2&keywords=pellerite+flute
This anthology, as well as many other graded flute anthology books, focus more on solo and flute ensembles, but information about band and orchestra repertoire is also available. Happy reading!