The high school piccoloist: A resource guide

Authors

• Rebecca NeedhamFollow

Preferred Name

Becky Needham

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Date of Graduation

5-15-2026

Semester of Graduation

Spring

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

Department

School of Music

First Advisor

Beth Chandler Cahill

Second Advisor

Katherine Axtell

Third Advisor

Amy Birdsong

Fourth Advisor

Šarūnas Jankauskas

Abstract

This project aims to curate a piccolo resource guide for high school music educators and their students. Currently, there are limited pedagogical materials available for beginning piccoloists or their music educators, and these materials are primarily scattered across decades of The Instrumentalist and the now-defunct Flute Talk journals. In addition, future band directors are rarely required to study auxiliary instruments like the piccolo in their collegiate coursework. These two factors combine to create a detrimental situation: frequently, neither teacher nor student in a typical high school setting has appropriate resources to understand the instrument and its essential differences from the flute.

I sought to resolve this problem by creating an open-access website, www.PiccoloGuide.com, of piccolo resources designed for students as well as music educators, so that they may have easier access to pedagogical materials. The centerpiece of the website is the 30-Day Beginner Piccolo Method, a digital course with pedagogical instruction and short musical excerpts designed to assist students in initial exploration of fundamental piccolo tone in each of its registers. In addition, music educators and their students are provided with advanced musical exercises, repertoire lists, suggested excerpts, and guides exploring piccolo maintenance and purchasing. This companion document highlights each feature of the website while exploring its pedagogical benefits in the music classroom.

I hope that this website and companion document will become vital resources for high school music educators and their students broadly. Through each exercise, reference list, and literature review, I strive to enable teachers to approach piccolo pedagogy from an informed perspective, regardless of their own experience, or lack thereof, on the instrument. This type of instruction will help students develop a well-rounded understanding of the piccolo, regardless of their access to a private instructor.