Start your piccolo journey with these fantastic books for piccolo technique, warm-ups, exercises, and more!
The Mazzanti Method Daily Exercises for Piccolo - Nicola Mazzanti
The Mazzanti Method is a must have for every piccolo player! I consider this book to be the piccolo’s equivalent to T&G because it has daily exercises that take you through every key. This amazing tool is written into three parts. Part 1 “Sound” takes you through Mazzanti’s three checkpoints: “support, larynx and embouchure”, which help you achieve your most beautiful and resonant tone. Part 2 is on “Scales and arpeggios” designed to help you achieve your best technique, and lastly, Part 3 is on melodies, operas, and lieder. I love how Mazzanti emphasizes tone development through famous melodies – it makes practicing studies feel a lot more like practicing pieces!
The Complete Piccolo - Jan Gippo
The Complete Piccolo is the resource you need for all trill fingerings, primary fingerings and alternatives that help to solve problems in sonority and blend with other instruments. Jan Gippo provides an excellent overview of the history and importance of the piccolo. If you’re also looking for more music suggestions, he includes a very helpful and comprehensive repertoire listing in this book as well. The Complete Piccolo is a wonderful tool for every piccolo player!
The Piccolo Study Book - Patricia Morris
Patricia Morris compiled the essential collection of studies, tone exercises, and technical information for all piccolo players in The Piccolo Study Book. This method contains a lot of great exercises for warming up on the piccolo as well as helpful tips for articulation and tuning within the registers. This is a wonderful comprehensive resource for all piccoloists!
Practice Book for the Piccolo - Trevor Wye & Patricia Morris
The Practice Book for the Piccolo is a fantastic tool for the aspiring orchestral piccolo player. A wide range of orchestral excerpts are integrated into each chapter based on methodical techniques. Trevor Wye and Patricia Morris designed this book to help you transfer playing techniques of the flute to the piccolo. If you’re looking to combine orchestral excerpts into your daily technique, this one’s for you!
Orchestral Excerpts for Piccolo - Jack Wellbaum
Next up for orchestral piccolo players, the Orchestral Excerpts for Piccolo is the ultimate book for you to prepare for auditions! It includes 36 of the most common orchestral piccolo audition excerpts with solo part, piano reduction, and practice and performance commentary from Jack Wellbaum, longtime piccoloist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and teacher at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
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