Finalist in 2026 Newly Published Music Competition of the National Flute Association
“I use your book in my studio - it's sitting up there with the greats!”
Amy Porter
Overview
Not long ago I started wondering about both the content and the structure of my warmup, and whether I was able to explore the widest range of color and emotion I was seeking in my playing. I also wanted to have a warmup that would bring me joy in the process.
I came across a lovely five-note scale-based exercise attributed to renowned flutist and teacher Sam Baron, called “Each Motif One Fast Puff of Air.” This simple exercise - modal in nature - caught my attention. I began using it in my warmup routine and felt it provided me with important feedback about sound, embouchure, fingers, and breathing, along with space to notice what I was feeling and hearing as I practiced. I found myself improvising little modal melodies and ended up developing this warmup book based on modes.
As I continued compiling this book, I kept reflecting on the idea of discovery. If we are practicing with a sense of discovery, we take on an active role, creating space for reflection, asking questions as part of the learning process, and seeking out solutions to problems. When we engage in discovery as learners, we are open to what we might find, with awareness and perception heightened in the moment.
The book shares Start to Discover sections and Exploration and Discovery prompts throughout the book to spark your awareness and curiosity as you practice.
Through the use of modes, this book offers opportunities for discovery. Modes invite us to experience new sounds, new fingering combinations, and new emotions, providing an expanded color palette that goes beyond tonal harmony. Using these exercises, you can investigate and decide for yourself where the tension/release of a phrase might be, and the unusual intervals and note combinations will fill your practice with new technical possibilities to explore and solve.
There are also opportunities to improvise! There is no right way to improvise. Inventing your own music based on a particular mode without any constraints can be a wonderful way to explore your creativity and become more familiar with modes, too.
The goal is not to prescribe one way to warm up, but to create space for players to explore their own sound, musical ideas, and expressive voice.
The Warmup
The book begins with the Start to Discover sections, exploring body awareness, breathing, embouchure, tone, technique, articulation, expressive elements, and practicing with your flute.
At the heart of the book is a six-part modal warmup:
Modal Airy Sounds
Modal Harmonics
Modal Patterns
Modal Root Patterns
Modal Noodles
Modal Melodic Patterns
The exercises invite players to listen closely, experiment with sound and fingering combinations, explore tone color and phrasing, and discover expressive possibilities within modal language.
Part 5 includes improvisation prompts, while Part 6 now includes a duet part so that two players can warm up together.
Seven Modal Flute Duets
The revised edition includes seven newly composed duets for two C flutes, with one duet (Op. 75: After Koechlin) available in an alto flute + C flute version, and another duet (Montebello) available for any number of flutes. I wrote these to encourage equal collaboration, listening, dialogue, and exploration while introducing modal concepts, extended techniques, and improvisation.
The duets can be used by teachers and students, studio partners, friends, or colleagues. Drones and recordings are available to support practice and exploration.
Discovery Flute Cards
Created with flutist and educator Anastasia Mousouli, Discovery Flute Cards includes 80 short prompts organized into four themes:
Noticing · Imagining · Experimenting · Expressing
The cards can be used in warmups, lessons, rehearsals, practice sessions, improvisation, or simply as a creative break. Some prompts ask players to notice what is happening in their bodies and sound; others invite imagination, experimentation, or expressive exploration.
They can be chosen deliberately or drawn at random. There is also a blank card at the end so players and teachers can create their own prompts.
Drones & Recordings
New drone recordings support all six parts of the warmup and the seven duets, creating a sustained soundscape for practicing, improvising, and exploring modal language.
Link to YouTube drones
Link to Bandcamp duets and recordings
Visit resource page for more details/info
Listen
Here are a few recordings that reflect some of the sounds and ideas I explore in the book.
Op. 75: After Koechlin, a duet inspired by the music of Charles Koechlin exploring the warmth of the Lydian mode, evoking lush harmonies, atmospheric textures and the expressive lyricism of the music of French composer Charles Koechlin (1867-1950) (visit free download page to download the score of this sample duet)
Whispering Winds, a duet that explores the Locrian mode, using fragile, breathy textures combined with gentle moments of dissonance to reflect the character of this mode, which is the most unstable and unresolved of all the modes
Montebello, a duet that also explores the Locrian mode in a different way, exploring this mode with more grounding and drive; a rhythm-driven duet built from modular cells, this piece can be played by any number of flutists
Visit resource page for recordings (and score examples) of the six-part warmup
What People Are Saying
“I use your book in my studio—it’s sitting up there with the greats!”
Amy Porter
“Laura has created a new path for all of us. Enthusiastically recommended. Experience the fun in creating your own flute voice.”
Amy Likar, Flutist Quarterly
“Laura gives us a fresh look at harmony and color with her new book…”
Rebecca Gilbert, principal flutist, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
“I love this book!! The well-thought-out and clearly presented ideas and exercises are both enjoyable and inspiring. A very special and useful addition to every flutist’s library.”
Camilla Hoitenga, Concert Artist
Available at:
Conway Publications
Carolyn Nussbaum Music Company
Flute Specialists, Inc.
and Flute Center
Learn more about the book
