'Moyse 24: A Toolkit' is a companion book to use in conjunction with Marcel Moyse’s 24 Little Melodic Studies with Variations. It is intended to empower learners to get the most out of Moyse's little studies. It is the result of doctoral research, with the author-researcher having worked, flute-in-hand, through each study with two expert flute teachers from the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music, London, and also includes ideas contributed by other expert conservatoire teachers. The book contains notes on each study that are intended to guide learners on a range of technical and musical issues that might be addressed and achieved through each study in the absence of any instructions, beyond the musical notation, from Moyse himself. The notes and suggestions are not intended to be exhaustive, but to illuminate possibilities and approaches that might help learners to develop their playing.
Ways of Working…
What Moyse did not Write
Marcel Moyse’s 24 Little Melodic Studies with Variations seem rather simple, yet he wrote them for conservatoire students, and many flute teachers at conservatoire level use these studies with their students. According to Trevor Wye:
"The 24 Little Melodic Studies…are among the most important studies ever written for the flute, though they are regarded by most students as being elementary, ‘kids’ stuff. It always came as a shock to anyone who studied with Moyse that these apparently simple melodies with their innocent variations opened doors into the mysteries of musical structure: phrase building, tone, colour, articulation, ornaments of different kinds and all manner of basic techniques necessary for the vocabulary of the accomplished artist. “I didn’t write these books for children,” he (Moyse) once said. “I wrote them to help the many [Conservatoire] students who came to me who could not understand how to build a simple melody.”"
I agree with Trevor Wye. These studies contain a wealth of challenges and learning opportunities when used appropriately, but unfortunately for learners today Moyse himself did not include any written instructions in the book. That is the purpose of my book; to provide teachers and students with insights into how the use of these studies can be maximised.
