Music Education: Learn to Play the Recorder

The recorder is a woodwind instrument that closely resembles the clarinet and the flute and is part of the internal duct flute family. This instrument is often used to train young students in basic music courses and the instrument also has a place in more technical symphonic pieces. The recorder was a common medieval and baroque era instrument valued for the high pitch. Baroque music is highly structured and intended to sound heavenly without implying a diverse range of emotion.

Introductory recorders help to teach basic songs. Songs like Hot Cross Buns and Jingle Bells are common because they utilize three notes and concentrate on teaching rhythm and counting. The basic recorder also teaches students to adjust pitch by increasing or decreasing the speed and amount of air that enters the mouthpiece. High pressure blowing creates a high pitch while low pressure creates a quiet, low pitch. The recorder is a valuable music teaching tool utilized by instructors in elementary school, middle school, high school and college. The recorder remains relevant and popular because of the basic design that is simple for beginning music students to use and comprehend.

In addition to its uses as a beginner’s music instrument, the recorder is still played today, mostly in historically informed musical performances of period music. People who have mastered the instrument, avoiding the idea that the recorder is to be used as a training instrument, demonstrate the range and quality of sound which can be produced through the recorder.

For more information on the recorder:

Recorder Resources for Educators

Recorder Lessons