If your kids play the recorder

[mytwomonkeys]

What books do they use or resources (i.e dvd lessons, youtube, websites, etc)?

 

My kids are playing the recorder (yamaha soprano). I'm also learning it & staying one step ahead of them so that I can teach it. We are about done with our first book & I'd like to figure out our next step. Any recommendations please?

 

Thank you!!

 

Amy

[Dmmetler]

Recorder teacher and player here ;).

 

 

My favorite recorder book is "Do it! Play Recorder" because it really focuses on teaching a lot of music beyond simply "make notes with this thing", yet is written so that it can be used for self-study. Suzuki recorder school is wonderful-but not when a parent is staying one step ahead of the kids, but might be good to add repertoire once you're a little farther down the road (it follows a very different note sequence than most books, which makes it challenging even if you're not starting there from day 1).

 

 

Recorder Karate and the other Plank Road Press publications (Dexter Dragon's Recorder adventure, all of MC Handel's stuff....) are great for adding more interest and continuing into ensemble playing-you'd need to look at level-the first RK book is approximately equivalent to most level 1 books.

 

The best ensemble books I've found that are readily available are those by Sweet Pipes-there are a range of levels. These are what tends to be used to teach recorder to music teachers, and they get into authentic music very quickly.

[mytwomonkeys]

This is wonderful information! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!!

[alisoncooks]

So this thread interests me... may I ask a question?

Is the recorder an instrument in & of itself, i.e. "I play the recorder in marching band." Or is it considered a stepping stone to a woodwinds instrument?

(I ask b/c the above sounds like it's a "real" instrument -- no offense -- but I've never seen it other than in early elem....)

 

Thanks and sorry for the tangent! :)

[mytwomonkeys]

It is part of the woodwinds family. There are several versions (soprano, alto, etc). My kids play yamaha sopranos and they are plastic but good quality. You can buy wood ones too, but they are hundreds of dollars. The yamahas are much nicer than the cheap dollar store toys. They come apart in three sections and my children clean and care for them. They are kept in a case. Im enjoying playing so much that i just ordered a yamaha alto. It also is plastic but excellent quality and much cheaper than wood. It is a very easy instrument to learn. I played the violin for a few years and it reads so similarly to what i remember being taught. Learning the recorder has been very fun and quite simple. It definitely can be played alone or serve as a stepping stone to other instruments. Its been great for my kids to learn to read music and they love the instant gratification with this instrument. :)

[mytwomonkeys]

Penny Gardner's 9 Note Recorder Method.

 

Thank u! Off to check it out!

[mytwomonkeys]

We have nice German wooden ones, they were around $40 ?

 

Thats great! All of the ones ive seen were hundreds of dollars. The alto ones were 500-700! I bought mine for 40. My kids cost about 25.

[Dmmetler]

Yes, it's a real instrument, but isn't used in ensemble playing in the band/orchestra-rather, it's a consort instrument in renaissance music, and therefore is mostly a historical focused instrument at the professional level. The Yamahas mentioned are decent recorders, as are Aulos, Peripole, and several other major companies, but for professional use, you use wooden recorders that are quite pricey-my consort of recorders (sopranino, soprano, alto, and tenor-I don't have the hand size to play bass) was about $1500-similar in price to my professional level clarinets and saxophones.

 

FWIW, the actual primary instrument in recorder consort is the Alto recorder-the soprano normally given to kids is the "descant" recorder-and as a result, recorder consorts are MUCH less shrill than the average recorder class. The Crumhorn, though, is still and acquired taste ;).

[Twigs]

So this thread interests me... may I ask a question?

Is the recorder an instrument in & of itself, i.e. "I play the recorder in marching band." Or is it considered a stepping stone to a woodwinds instrument?

(I ask b/c the above sounds like it's a "real" instrument -- no offense -- but I've never seen it other than in early elem....)

 

Thanks and sorry for the tangent! :)

 

You might want to check out this thread: is the recorder only a child's instrument??

[skeeterbug]

Penny Gardner's 9 Note Recorder Method.

 

I'm planning to get this book, now trying to choose a recorder. Will this Yamaha baroque recorder suit? Or will the fingering be different because it is baroque? Am I better off going with this Aulos? (These questions aimed at anyone who can help, not just the person I quoted.) Looking for something inexpensive to give us an introduction to reading music and an intro to musical instruments as we have not done any music lessons before.

 

So glad you posted this op, I didn't know how to choose and this thread has helped.

[flyingiguana]

That's the plastic Yamaha recorder I have. It sounds fine, way better than any wood recorder I've tried. I don't have the money to buy a wooden recorder that would match this Yamaha.

 

There are some cheaper Yamahas that don't sound as good. They're more shrill:

http://courtlymusicu...anslucent2.html

but hey, you can get a pink one, so that might make someone's day. They also come in white. Be forewarned that the colored ones, being translucent, will show the condensation inside.

My understanding is that the higher end plastic (the one on Amazon) has a curved windway, which makes it less shrill. Also, the high notes tend to come out without as much effort.

This site has a lot to choose from: http://courtlymusicu...com/Yamaha.html

 

I tend to like the high end Yamahas better than the Aulos when it comes to plastic. That Aulos posted looks like it might be slightly lower end, so it might not have the curved windway. In that case, it might be more shrill, and also be harder to get the high notes on. If it were me, I'd go ahead and spend the extra few dollars for the Yamaha. It'll probably be easier to play once the student has to hit the high notes, and easier on parental ears.

 

The only problem I've ever found with plastic, is that an ensemble of mixed wood and plastic may tend to go out of tune at different rates. The wood ones will fall out of tune pretty quickly if unplayed in a cold room, while the plastic won't. So if you warm up, tune, and then sit awhile before playing, there may be problems.

 

On the other hand, I love the fact that my allergies to wood aren't a problem with plastic.

 

If it's a choice between a decent plastic (like the higher end Yamaha) and any wooden recorder below about 100 dollars, the Yamaha is very likely the better recorder. Don't go for wood until you know what you're looking for in tone, etc. And don't be fooled by anyone telling you that wood has a better tone. It won't, unless it's a decent recorder. And it probably won't be decent if it's cheap.

 

I wouldn't worry about Baroque vs German fingering. I think it only affects a couple notes and a student can always switch. The only problem I find is switching back and forth. You go with one or the other and you're ok, even if you used another fingering previously.

 

This site talks about the difference, and why most recorders these days are Baroque:

http://www.mollenhau...mid=118&lang=en

I suspect the switch from German recorder to flute might be ever so slightly easier for a week or two than from Baroque recorder to flute, but after that, the student won't even remember there was an issue (as I said, I have problems when I go back and forth from flute to recorder -- although my bigger issue is from fingering a recorder in F to a flute).

 

Here's a recording of Michaela Petri:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFV-zW-dn9g

who's a pretty virtuosic player. This recording isn't the best. If you hunt around on youtube you might some better sound quality. And her playing the sopranino, which is fun.

 

It's not a band instrument, but there is definitely a lot of music written for it. It's not just a step up instrument for grade school kids.

[flyingiguana]

BTW -- you can now get plastic trombones. In a lot of colors. And to be honest, they sound just fine.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/brass-instruments/jiggs-pbone-plastic-trombone

Apparently, the slide works great -- better than many traditional trombones.

 

So I'm wondering if the wave of the future is plastic instruments that are engineered better than those in traditional materials.

 

However, I'll probably really sit up and take notice when they can make a good copy of a Stradivarius in plastic.

[Lori D.]

We enjoyed Penny Gardner's Nine Note Recorder Method -- right off the bat there are simple, short, recognizable tunes even after learning just a few notes. AND, further in, there are some great duet arrangements so two can play together! We enjoyed doing a few of the Christmas tunes at our little church during the fellowship time. :)

[Shifra]

I have used My First Classical Recorder Book and My First Patriotic Recorder Book by L.C. Harnsberger, both of which have great songs for someone who has gone through a first recorder book.

 

The other thing is, what music are you or your children interested in? What movies? There are probably recorder song books available for them. There are recorder song books for the Beatles, Star Wars, Disney movies and so forth.

[mytwomonkeys]

I have used My First Classical Recorder Book and My First Patriotic Recorder Book by L.C. Harnsberger, both of which have great songs for someone who has gone through a first recorder book.

 

The other thing is, what music are you or your children interested in? What movies? There are probably recorder song books available for them. There are recorder song books for the Beatles, Star Wars, Disney movies and so forth.

 

 

thank you! i will check out those books too.

 

aside from books, i would love to find scales that we can practice. i'm sure they are out there, but where??

 

as for music, we really like all kinds of music! i personally want to learn to play

by maroon 5, lol. it sounds really nice on the recorder! i also ordered some beginner alto books for adults & they cover celtic tunes. i'm off now to look at the books you suggested for my children!

[mytwomonkeys]

thank you so much to everyone for the great suggestions and ideas!! :D

[Twigs]

…, i would love to find scales that we can practice. i'm sure they are out there, but where?? …

 

 

You can google "music book of scales" and get several to choose from.

 

I have Exercises for Ensemble Drill which includes scales, arpeggios, chords, etc. I bought it because it has the scales for all the instruments with different keys: for recorder - Key of C (soprano recorder) and key of F (alto recorder).

 

If you have a music store that deals with instruments for school bands, you can go there and look around - they will probably have something that will work for you.

 

Best wishes.

[Dmmetler]

One thing on scales-recorder has a short range compared to other winds, so many scales only have one full octave, maybe 2 at most. You can cheat it some, but the main reason why recorder is a non-transposing instrument instead of a transposing one is because, at the time period the recorder was created, it was typical to simply carry a bunch of different instruments, and if you needed a higher/lower range, you simply pulled out a different instrument. My recorders, from Tenor-Sopranino, basically cover the same range as my clarinet. So scales, while helpful in learning where a basic key is and practicing fingerings, don't have quite the same level of focus and support-if I need to play in the key of C, it's unlikely I'll use my soprano-either the alto or sopranino will be a better choice.

[Xander]

aside from books, i would love to find scales that we can practice. i'm sure they are out there, but where??

 

 

Try the ABRSM exam requirements - they include scales for each grade. You can find the requirements on their website and they also publish a book with all the scales written out in full in staff notation.

 

http://gb.abrsm.org/...scant-recorder/

http://gb.abrsm.org/...reble-recorder/

http://shop.abrsm.or...ades-1-8/637817

[Nan in Mass]

So this thread interests me... may I ask a question?

Is the recorder an instrument in & of itself, i.e. "I play the recorder in marching band." Or is it considered a stepping stone to a woodwinds instrument?

(I ask b/c the above sounds like it's a "real" instrument -- no offense -- but I've never seen it other than in early elem....)

 

Thanks and sorry for the tangent! :)

 

I play in a recorder ensemble. I am the youngest in the group lol. There is a huge amount of adult-level music for the recorder. Definately not a stepping stone instrument. ; )

 

I taught my children using the Sweet Pipes series. (Might be all one word. That was awhile ago.) Lots of folk songs and classical songs in the series, and duets. My son was little, with tiny hands, so he learned on a sopranino. We pretended it was a soprano (so he learned to read it as a c instrument) and when I wanted to play duets with him, I used the alto. When he grew a bit, we switched him to a soprano. Beginning books for small children assume one is playing a soprano recorder, so in order to get a suitable book, we needed to pretend. It worked very well. (Just in case someone is trying to teach a little one...)

 

Nan

 

ETA - The recorder makes a great vacation instrument. We bring ours on the boat so we can play duets in the evenings. I learned to play recorder on a boat when I was a child. A friend we were cruising with taught me to play duets on it. I knew how to play flute already from the public school music program and he when he figured out that I played flute, he gave me a recorder and told me to play duets with him. I had a little trouble with the fingering for about the first half hour, but after that, it was easy. I can't really play the flute anymore, but I never really stopped playing recorder. For me, the flute was the stepping-stone instrument lol.