Book Review: A Flutist’s Guide to the Voxman Etudes
Co-authors Rose Bishop and Lizzie Darling wrote "A Flutist’s Guide to the Voxman Etudes". The book includes supplementary recordings of all 55 etudes, background information on each composer, tempo ranges, challenges and practice suggestions for each etude, errata, and definitions of musical terminology. The idea for this project came from years of recording and teaching these etudes to students each year and realizing that many of these etudes had never been professionally recorded. Bishop and Darling were fortunate to receive grants from the Friends of Flutists Foundation and Coe College, and began the project in March of 2020. The book officially published in September, 2020.
"A Flutist's Guide to the Voxman Etudes" is a 35 page companion book with fabulously helpful suggestions on how to play the Voxman collection of Etudes. The featured etudes are by Heinze, Köhler, Bach, Ferling, Andersen, Karg-Elert, Gariboldi, Kummer, Prill, Drouet, and Soussmann. Included is a useful short biography of each composer. And with each study, there valuable pointers, the challenges, focus points and constructive suggestions on how to master your performance. Included in the companion bundle are the tracks of the authors' beautiful performances of each etude, exemplars of virtuosity, and exquisite musicality. Wonderfully concise and jam packed with valuable guidelines, "A Flutist's Guide to the Voxman Etudes" by Rose Bishop and Lizzy Darling is a fantastic tool for all flutist working on the Voxman Etudes. A job well done by Bishop and Darling!
-Viviana Guzman
Rose Bishop is an active performer and educator based in Iowa City, Iowa. Bishop serves as Instructor of Flute at Coe College, Cornell College, Kirkwood Community College, and Mount Mercy University. An active orchestral musician, she has performed with Orchestra Iowa, the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, and the Muscatine Symphony Orchestra, in addition to serving as Principal Flute of the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra and Second Flute/Piccolo with the Quincy and Ottumwa Symphony Orchestras, respectively.
Lizzy Darling serves as Adjunct Instructor of Flute at Bethel University and Adjunct Instructor of Music Theory at the University of Tennessee-Martin. Additionally, Lizzy holds the positions of Principal Piccolo with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, Second Flute with the Billings Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, and Flutist with Duo Cylindre. An active freelancer, Lizzy has performed with the West Virginia, Battle Creek, Rockford, Lima,Richmond, Jackson, Johnstown, Fort Smith, Ohio Valley, and Springfield Symphony Orchestras.