Recorder Methods and Materials

[The following information is taken from an editorial published in Chrestologia, Vol. XIX, Vol. 1 (February, 1994) by ASW director David H. Green. It has been considerably revised and expanded since that time and is presented here in order to provide some guidance for the aspiring adult recorder player through the plethora of recorder methods, studies, and core solo and ensemble music that are presently available.]

Introduction

My own experience as a recorder teacher extends back some forty years and, in retrospect, seems to have covered the entire gamut of young to old, beginning to advanced, and amateur to professional students, including every stage in between. I have taught extremely precocious kids of five to six years of age and given class recorder instruction to public and private elementary school youngsters with varying degrees of interest and ability. I have taught college-level music majors with a serious interest in early music as well as liberal arts students with backgrounds in music ranging from extensive to non-existent, given crash courses to music education majors seeking a useful classroom tool, lectured at adult recorder workshops and conventions where the object was to get across as much useful information as possible in a very limited amount of time, and coached senior citizen groups who would get together more to socialize than to achieve musical progress.

I can attest that all of these various situations can provide a satisfying and fulfilling experience for both teacher and students, but not all of my teaching experiences have been totally positive. I vividly recall one particular elementary school recorder class that was discontinued after one year because it was too successful. The music educators who had intended the recorder class as a "pre-band" instrumental experience for second and third grade students were greatly chagrined to find out that, after one year of recorder classes, the great majority of students had no interest whatsoever in transferring to a modern band instrument and, loudly supported by their parents, wanted to continue playing recorder. Needless to say, the subversive recorder program was quickly quashed.

Admittedly, I have developed over the years a number of very different approaches to the instrument, depending upon the age, background, interests, and abilities of my students. In retrospect, however, there have been a few paramount concerns which I have emphasized to all of my students, whatever their level of interest and ability: a primary emphasis on musical values and expression rather than on the mechanics of playing the instrument, and a secondary emphasis on learning to read music at sight accurately and with great facility, therefore allowing the student to assimilate and progress through large amounts of music very quickly. In other words, I have always felt that developing a basic and universal musicianship through the medium of the recorder was infinitely preferable to simply teaching the recorder as an end in itself and hoping that some musicianship would eventually follow by a process of osmosis.

It is perhaps no great secret that the general level of recorder teaching in this country is abysmally poor. I am constantly amazed when self-proclaimed authorities and recorder teachers show up at our workshop or come by one of our convention exhibits to select instruments for themselves or their students and it becomes immediately apparent that they haven't the slightest notion how to blow into a wind instrument properly nor even use the correct fingerings.

It is little wonder that many beginning adult players, either by circumstances or by choice, begin the study of the recorder by themselves. Some have a substantial musical background in piano or perhaps a modern wind instrument, others have had no previous musical experience but simply want to play a musical instrument that is reasonably easy and forgiving, at least at the beginning stages, and enables them to achieve some satisfying musical results within the limitations of their time, energy, and budget. The recorder is an ideal choice for such prospective adult autodidacts, but then I suspect that I am preaching to the already converted in that regard.

Unfortunately for most aspiring recorder players, local music stores usually offer little or nothing in the way of decent beginning instruments and methods. I sometimes wonder how many prospective recorder players have been discouraged by the poor results achieved with inferior instruments and substandard instructional materials. Those players who are diligent enough to persist eventually find out that their best source for instruments and self-teaching materials is not their local music shop but a mail-order specialist such as ourselves who offers a wide variety of custom-serviced quality instruments in all price ranges, a decent selection of good instructional materials, and, perhaps most important, the time and willingness to share his expertise and experience and help customers make informed decisions in selecting instruments and materials that are best suited to their needs, tastes, and budget.

It seems that, for the past twenty years, one of the most frequently asked questions from our customers is, "Can you recommend a good recorder method?" Since I seem to answer this question several times a day on the telephone in considerable detail, it would seem that some suggestions on this topic in Chrestologia are perhaps long overdue. The great majority of our customers are adult amateur musicians and many if not most are wholly or in large measure self-taught. While the autodidact can and in fact sometimes does get into some bad playing habits, self-teaching is not as bad as popular opinion (and recorder teachers with patently vested interests) would have one believe. A good recorder method, one which is pedagogically, musically, and historically sound, will get any reasonably diligent and motivated adult student off to a good start. Indeed, a decent recorder method is, all things considered, probably more satisfactory than a poor private teacher or substandard class instruction – and a good deal cheaper as well.

A quick glance through music publishers' catalogues shows that there exists a substantial number of recorder methods in print – that is the good news. The bad news is that the great bulk of them are deficient in one major aspect or another, and a good number of them are simply not worth the paper they are printed on. In particular, those methods intended for classroom use are by and large an undistinguished lot, usually written by somebody trying to make a fast buck in the educational market who has little or no understanding of recorder technique and pedagogy, no knowledge of the instrument's historical literature, and no grounding in music theory and composition sufficient to write musically interesting exercises nor make arrangements of pre-existing materials that are musically sound and stylistically appropriate.

Unfortunately, it is simply not possible to present in this limited space a comprehensive overview of the vast sea of instructional materials available on today's market, even if one includes just those that have some genuine musical and pedagogical merit and utility. All I can hope to accomplish here is to present a very short list, albeit a heavily annotated one, of some methods and supplementary materials that I have found to be highly useful in my own teaching experience, together with some suggestions as to how each of these might be useful to the self-teaching adult student.

Beginning Recorder Methods

Orr: Basic Recorder Technique

For adults just beginning their study of the recorder, whether or not they have had prior musical experience, I most frequently tend to recommend Basic Recorder Technique by Canadian recorder player and teacher Hugh Orr. This method is published in two volumes, and each volume is available in two editions, one for C instruments (i.e., soprano and tenor recorders) and the other for F instruments (sopranino and alto instruments). The Orr method is generally sound pedagogically and technically. Throughout the method there is a great deal of textual information as well as many photographs which the self-teaching adult will find to be extremely helpful and informative. The first volume of the soprano method is now available with a CD recording as well, and piano accompaniments to the Bach chorales found in this method are available in Fourteen Bach Chorales from the same publisher.

There is a minimal number of brief technical exercises but a wealth of good musical pieces: the large number of medieval, renaissance, and baroque songs and dances serve as an excellent introduction to early music literature in general and the rudiments of historical performance practice can be learned as well. There are relatively few folk tunes and a refreshing absence of the inane nursery tunes that make up the bulk of recorder methods aimed at the kiddie market.

The Orr method has one idiosyncrasy and one minor flaw which need to be made known to the prospective student. First, the materials in volume I employ only the bottom ninth of the recorder's range and thus avoid the use of the thumb "half-hole" and the problem of producing the overblown notes of the second octave. The premise here, and I think it is a valid one, is to equip the beginning student with a good basic technique and facility before confronting him/her with the problems of the overblown notes, which require good control of breath, articulation, and fingers, and can be highly discouraging if introduced too quickly to beginning students, particularly if they have an inferior instrument that doesn't play well in the upper register to begin with. Be that as it may, the player will have to purchase both volumes of the Orr method if he/she wants to learn the entire range of the instrument. We strongly recommend that beginning players order both volumes at the same time, in order to avoid additional shipping charges if the second volume is ordered later. However, there is a nice assortment of solo and ensemble music from Susato Press that is written within the basic range of a ninth and can therefore be readily played by those who have completed only Vol. I of the Orr method.

The one flaw is the author's explanation in Volume II of the use of the thumb half-hole, which is rather lengthy, faulty in its acoustical theory, and unnecessarily complicated. He seems to be advocating the use of the thumb nail, although a closer reading of the text and examination of the photographs indicate that he is not actually placing the thumbnail in the hole. For a much simpler and sounder explanation of this critical aspect of recorder technique, please refer to the "Playing Advice" section in our Recorder Care and Maintenance brochure, which we supply with every wooden recorder purchased from our workshop. We would also beg to differ with the author on the use of thumbrests on smaller recorders; this is not necessary if the instrument is being held correctly.

Duschenes: Method for the Recorder

Another recorder method, one which I have used extensively with younger children but which can also be used by adults, is Method for the Recorder by another Canadian player and teacher, Mario Duschenes. This method, like the Orr method discussed above, is also in two volumes, with each volume also available for either C or F instruments. Unlike the Orr method, however, the entire range of the instrument is taught in the first volume, which can be used as a stand-alone method in and of itself. Indeed, I have found that the second volume is much too advanced both technically and musically for younger students and prefer to use just the first volume, following it up with other materials, such as the Giesbert Schule des Zusammenspiels described later.

The contents of the first volume is clearly aimed at younger students and consists primarily of American, British, and French folk tunes, together with a few nursery tunes. Among the most appealing musical items is a relatively large number of French-Canadian folk tunes, many of ancient modal construction, which are extremely lovely and haunting and not very well known, at least not in the United States. Volume I is also available with a CD of accompaniments to many of the tunes, which helps to mold intonation awareness and rhythmic accuracy. There is also a volume of arrangements of some of the tunes for Orff instruments, so the method can be absorbed into an Orff-Schulwerk program seamlessly.

The second volume, however, is quite different: it does have the occasional folksong but offers a very substantial diet of baroque and classical period compositions that are both technically and musically challenging. Later on, pieces in very distant keys with many sharps and flats are introduced; while some purists might quibble that such keys are neither idiomatic to the recorder nor found in its literature, I feel that they are highly useful in developing independence of the fingers and good technical fluency. I usually recommend this volume to students who have completed both volumes of the Orr method (see above).

Toward the end of the volume, the author reproduces the solo recorder parts to the Second and Fourth Brandenburg Concerti of J. S. Bach, which should keep any aspiring recorder player busy for some time. The author's comment that modern flutes are usually substituted for recorders in these works because of the lack of competent players seems laughable today, but bear in mind that it was written almost fifty years ago, when such atrocities of performance practice were quite common.

Giesbert: Method for the Recorder

There are two other recorder methods of considerably older vintage and very different origin that I have used extensively over the years but can recommend only with very clear reservations and admonitions. These methods were both written about sixty years ago in Germany by Franz J. Giesbert, who also published many pioneer editions of early music for recorders including the famous Susato dances. Both of the Giesbert methods were originally published with German text and distributed in this country as such; some years later English language versions appeared, and these are the ones generally available for sale in the United States.

The first of the Giesbert methods, entitled Method for the Recorder in its English language version, consists of "100 Dance Tunes and Melodies, with 30 Progressive Exercises." It attempts to be a universal method for both C and F recorders: each page is divided into two columns, with each musical example printed in the left column for C instruments and, directly opposite, in the right column for F instruments. The limited amount of textual material runs across both columns. The English translation of the original German is highly inept and, in many places, downright entertaining; it was clearly made by a German-speaking native with a German-English dictionary and little practical experience with the English language. One of the more consistently annoying inelegancies is the mistranslation of the original Griff as hold rather than the correct English term fingering. The musical examples, however, are an excellent assortment of tunes and dances. These are mostly of German origin, as one might expect, although a large number of tuneful dances from John Playford's English Country Dancing Master are also included.

There are several drawbacks and caveats in regard to this Giesbert method, however, which should be made clear. First, it is not recommended that a beginning student attempt to learn both C and F recorders at the same time, as might be encouraged by the layout of the method. It is confusing enough if one has learned one fingering system thoroughly and later attempts, as all players eventually must, to learn the other one. To try to learn both simultaneously would likely invite complete confusion and result in the student learning neither.

Second, this volume implicitly expects the beginning student to have a solid grounding in music fundamentals and moves much too quickly for someone who does not already know how to read music and play rhythms accurately. As a sole method, I would use the Giesbert only with an adult student who had a previous musical background, preferably on a woodwind instrument. In most other cases, I would use this method only as an excellent source of supplementary materials in conjunction with another primary method such as the Orr or Duschenes books.

Third and last, I would not use the fingering chart or fingerings introduced in the course of the method; a number of the chromatic fingerings are completely wrong and will produce very poor intonation on most instruments. In addition, I would advise the student to ignore completely the suggested articulations; the slurs in particular are laid on with a very heavy hand and are neither very musical nor historically correct. Play the notes, all of the notes, and nothing but the notes. Oh, yes, one more thing: ignore most of the text, especially the inane preface, which suggests that one clear a clogged windway by sticking one's index finger in the window (mistranslated as notch) and blowing as hard as possible! No wonder those old German recorders didn't play worth a damn.

Giesbert: Method for the Treble [Alto] Recorder

There is a second Giesbert method, very little known or used in this country, which is totally different than the universal method discussed above, but is similar insofar as it also has some very commendable and useful strengths and some major drawbacks as well. This book is called Method for the Treble Recorder in its English language edition and, as one might expect from the title, is intended solely for the alto recorder. Like the earlier method, this one also progresses very rapidly and is intended for students who already have a good grasp of music fundamentals and can read music reasonably well. It is therefore also suited as a primary method only for adult students with previous musical experience.

The unique feature of this method, however, is that it is a duet method: all of the musical examples are written for two alto recorders. At the beginning, the student plays the simple upper line and the teacher the more complex lower line; later on, the parts are of equal difficulty and interchangeable. The brief exercises and most of the duet settings were written by the author (some of the latter are original, however), and they are of a consistently high musical level. Of course, the exercises and pieces can be played and enjoyed by the solitary recorder player as well but, as I used to point out to my college ear-training students when introducing duet materials, "what's fun for one is even more fun for two!"

Again, several serious admonitions concerning this alto method are in order. Just as in the earlier method, it is generally well to ignore the articulations. Although Giesbert does not lay on the slurs with as heavy a hand as in his other method, they are still largely inappropriate when encountered. Cadential trill signs in the many baroque pieces are entirely missing (as indeed they usually are in the original sources), so some tutorial guidance as to elementary performance practice is definitely necessary. A cheap trill here and there always livens things up.

And now for the one big flaw in this method. The author advocates a spurious fingering system called Stützfingertechnik, which in English should be called "supporting finger technique" but is rather oddly translated as "buttress finger technique," which conjures up images of medieval cathedral architecture. This technique involves leaving the ring finger of the right hand down for as many notes as possible (the two octave a's being the obvious exceptions) in order to hold the instrument more securely. This is somewhat analogous to holding the E^b key open with the pinkie for most notes on the modern flute. The difference, however, is that the modern flute is designed to be in tune with this key open; the recorder is not designed to be in tune with the G hole closed most of the time and will in fact be substantially out of tune on most middle register notes if this is done! Needless to say, it is absolutely essential to ignore completely the fingering chart included with the Giesbert method and the fingerings as they are introduced in the text. Use a thumbrest if you must, but please don't try to use this eccentric, flawed fingering system. Use the custom fingering chart which we supply with each instrument from our workshop; it has the fingerings which are correct for your instrument.

In addition to some fifty-five pages of duets, this method also contains two appendices with highly valuable materials. The first section consists of 77 Daily Exercises by Giesbert, most of which are sequential patterns in running eighth or sixteenth notes; they are extremely useful for developing technical facility in bread-and-butter passage work similar to that found in baroque solo literature and, with the guidance of a expert teacher, can also be used to learn the conventions of baroque phrasing and articulation. The second section consists of fifteen original baroque solo compositions for unaccompanied recorder by a variety of mostly anonymous composers. (The attribution of the last piece to J. S. Bach is highly dubious.) These pieces are splendid polyphonic compositions similar in style to the Bach unaccompanied violin sonatas. They are quite difficult both technically and musically, and are both excellent study materials for the advanced player wishing to learn the late baroque style and solo pieces of great musical value which are highly suitable for recital performance. They alone are worth the price of the entire method.

Davis: Treble [Alto] Recorder Technique

This spiral-bound, very substantial method for alto recorder is a bit difficult to classify; it could just as readily be listed among the intermediate or advanced materials below. It is an excellent, highly concentrated, soup-to-nuts course of study which moves along very quickly. There is not a great deal of material at the beginning stages, and it is therefore not suitable for a beginning player with no previous musical background. It is, however, extremely useful for a beginning or intermediate recorder player with well-developed music-reading ability and prior instrumental experience, preferably on a modern woodwind instrument.

The publication is divided into two parts: the first section moves quickly through basic technique and fingerings in less than 20 pages and then proceeds to address other issues such as articulation, vibrato, and alternate fingerings. It concludes with concentrated but highly useful sections of scale and chord studies and other technical etudes. A highly motivated and disciplined player will learn to play the alto recorder quickly and extremely well in less than 50 pages!

The second part, which consists of both explanatory text and copious musical examples, is highly useful to intermediate and advanced players seeking information and expert guidance on a number of specialized topics unique to the recorder. There is an excellent historical overview of repertoire and style, beginning with the Middle Ages and Renaissance, moving to the Baroque period, and concluding with a section on 20th century music. This is followed by extended essays on a number of essential topics for the advanced solo recorder player: historical fingering systems, renaissance and baroque articulation, improvisation and ornamentation, transposition and the French violin clef, and avant garde performance techniques.

This comprehensive alto recorder method really does cover all the bases in a very concise and authoritative manner and is highly recommended to experienced musicians wanting to get up to speed as solo alto recorder players as quickly as possible.

Kuhlbach and Nitka: The Recorder Guide

This method from the mid-sixties is vague of title and rather dated in its appearance, content, and pedagogy, but it does offer one very commendable, useful, and unique feature: it allows classes consisting of both soprano and alto recorders (or two individual soprano and alto players) to learn their instruments together and simultaneously using soprano/alto duet materials. Given the differences in range and fingering systems between soprano and alto recorders, this is not as easy as it might seem, which is why most other recorder methods are published in two versions, one for C recorders and another for F recorders.

The typography and layout are, in comparison to present-day standards, rather primitive and home-brew in appearance, and the content and pedagogy are similarly simplistic, reflecting an earlier era when unschooled amateur players could publish method books and represent themselves as recorder teachers. The format, however, is unusual and very useful for two people sharing one copy: it is spiral-bound, so as to lay flat on a music stand, and the landscape format is similar to that used in many publications of organ music. The book is quite thick, not so much because of rich content but rather because it is heavily padded with a lot of white space and primitive illustrations cribbed from public domain historical sources.

The musical materials, based almost wholly on an international selection of folk songs, will appeal to younger students or beginning adult players who are not particularly interested in renaissance and baroque music. The duet (and a small number of trio) arrangements are rather awkward and amateurish and were clearly written by individuals working largely by ear and lacking formal training in harmony and composition. Nevertheless, this integrated method serves its intended purpose of allowing soprano and alto recorder players to learn together. Seeing as it is somewhat less than comprehensive or authoritative from a pedagogical standpoint, it might best be used as a secondary and supplementary source of duet materials for a more thorough and sound primary recorder method such as those by Orr or Duschenes as discussed above.

Beyond the Beginning Stage

The question remains as to what to do after one has completed one or another of these basic recorder methods. One very sound suggestion is to go back to the beginning and work through it a second time, albeit at a much faster pace. This will serve not just as a review but will also catch any basic technical problems that were not mastered the first time around. Students are generally amazed, after having struggled through the end of the method, to find how much easier some of the earlier materials have become in the interim; a period of consolidation and self-affirmation is probably a very sound premise, both educationally and psychologically.

The second volume of the Duschenes method (see above) offers a substantial amount of musical material useful to adults who have worked their way through both volumes of the Orr method. For those players who wish to progress beyond an intermediate level of accomplishment, the short list of Genuinely Useful Study Materials becomes even shorter, although there are a few real gems to be had.

Intermediate Methods and Studies for Soprano Recorder

Rooda: 95 Dexterity Exercises and Dances for Recorders in C

For lower intermediate players wanting to improvement their technical facility, this Dutch publication provides short and relatively painless technical etudes interspersed with charming Dutch, German, and English 18th century dance tunes. The brief text headings are in both Dutch and English, and a companion volume is available for F recorders.

Duschenes: Studies in Recorder Playing - Soprano
Duschenes: 12 Etudes for Soprano Recorder

These two volumes by the author of the above-recommended recorder method provide excellent if traditional practice materials in the scale-and-chord-study genre for those soprano players who have completed a beginning method and want to improve their technical facility and develop accuracy, strength, and independence of finger movement. The use of a metronome with these studies is highly recommended.

Hechler: Das Spiel auf der Sopranblockflöte, Teil II, Hohe Schule

For intermediate soprano players, Ilse Hechler's Das Spiel auf der Sopranblockflöte, Teil II, Hohe Schule (Advanced School of Recorder Playing) is a little-known but fine compendium of brief technical exercises and extensive excerpts of music from the renaissance, baroque, and 20th century. The rather sparse amount of text is in both German and English. This volume provides the intermediate player with an excellent introduction to the solo and ensemble literature for soprano recorder. The printed editions from which the excerpts are taken are carefully identified for future reference.

Linde: Sopranblockflötenschule für Fortgeschrittene

Hans-Martin Linde's Sopranblockflötenschule für Fortgeschrittene (Soprano Recorder School for Advanced Players) is an excellent collection of exercises, tunes, and duets. The intonation studies are particularly useful, such matters as articulation, ornamentation, elementary performance practice, and musical style which are usually ignored by other tutors are succinctly explained, and the removable fingering and trill chart is one of the few that is both comprehensive and accurate.

Linde: Die Kleine Übung

The Linde advanced soprano method may also be supplemented by his Die Kleine Übung (The Little Etude), a tiny little volume of daily studies that treats a wide number of stylistic and technical problems, such as alternate fingerings and commonly out-of-tune notes. Like the method, the text is in German only, but there is very little explanatory material and even the most confirmed Deutschophobe can get through it easily with only occasional reference to a German-English dictionary. Once again, Schott should really consider publishing an alto transposition of these extremely useful, intelligently written, highly musical study materials.

Intermediate Methods and Studies for Alto Recorder

Rooda: 95 Dexterity Exercises and Dances for Recorders in F

For lower intermediate players wanting to improvement their technical facility, this Dutch publication provides short and relatively painless technical etudes interspersed with charming Dutch, German, and English 18th century dance tunes. The brief text headings are in both Dutch and English, and a companion volume is available for C recorders.

Duschenes: Studies in Recorder Playing - Alto
Duschenes: 12 Etudes for Alto Recorder

These two volumes by the author of the above-recommended recorder method provide excellent if traditional practice materials in the scale-and-chord-study genre for those alto players who have completed a beginning method and want to improve their technical facility and develop accuracy, strength, and independence of finger movement. The use of a metronome with these studies is highly recommended.

Mönkemeyer: Handleitung für das Spiel der Alt-Blockflöte, Teil II, Hohe Schule

A companion volume to the Hechler work for soprano recorder mentioned above is Helmut Mönkemeyer's Handleitung für das Spiel der Alt-Blockflöte, Teil II, Hohe Schule (Advanced School of Recorder Playing), which also consists of technical exercises and excerpts from the alto recorder literature of the baroque period and the 20th century. The differences are mainly of emphasis, with this work containing more numerous and extensive technical etudes to complement the broad assortment of solo and ensemble excerpts. As with the Hechler method book, the printed sources of each excerpt, including the publisher and catalogue number, are thoughtfully provided, allowing the player to easily obtain the complete work for any excerpt that is particularly appealing.

Linde: Die Kunst des Blockflötenspiels

For the alto recorder player wishing to progress beyond the intermediate level, there are a number of extremely useful materials written by Hans-Martin Linde. His Die Kunst des Blockflötenspiels (The Art of Recorder Playing) is a comprehensive assortment of intermediate and advanced level technical studies, succinct explanations of topics such as breathing, fingering, articulation, and vibrato, and a considerable number of carefully edited excerpts from baroque sonatas which serve as an excellent introduction to the early 18th century solo and ensemble literature for the alto recorder. The German text is considerably more extensive and integral to this work, although it is still a highly useful volume for those with little or no facility in the German language. There would be an enormous market for an English-language translation of this extremely useful volume.

Linde: Neuzeitliche Übungsstücke für die Altblockflöte

Linde's Neuzeitliche Übungsstücke für die Altblockflöte (Contemporary Etudes for Alto Recorder) is an equally useful volume of 22 studies in a conservative 20th century neo-Hindemith style. Like the Chopin Etudes for piano, each of these pieces addresses a single particular technical or stylistic problem. Also like the Chopin Etudes, these pieces are highly musical and listenable in and of themselves; a select number of them would make a rewarding group of recital pieces for unaccompanied recorder. Even if you think you don't enjoy contemporary music, try it -- you'll like it!

Methods and Studies for Bass Recorder

Hunt: The Bass Recorder

For those players wishing to branch out into playing bass recorder, a tiny little volume written by English recorder player, teacher, and collector Edgar Hunt, entitled appropriately enough The Bass Recorder, is a very useful general introduction to the instrument. The author treats a variety of topics, such as notation, playing position, instruments, fingering, repertory, style, and concludes with some useful information on the great bass, and historical renaissance and baroque bass recorders. Although one sometimes wishes that some of these topics had been treated in greater depth and detail, the author does manage to pack into fifteen pages of text a great deal of useful information.

Mönkemeyer: Das Spiel auf der Baßblockflöte

Whereas the Hunt book is mostly textual information, it is well-complemented by Helmut Mönkemeyer's excellent method book, Das Spiel auf der Baßblockflöte. This is a true method book for bass recorder, having virtually no text except for a two-page preface in German, English, and French. It consists of brief technical exercises, well-chosen excerpts from renaissance, baroque, and contemporary ensemble music, and a large number of duets for soprano, alto, or tenor recorder and bass recorder. When used in conjunction with the Hunt book, it provides a complete soup-to-nuts course in bass recorder playing.

Bloodworth: The Bass Recorder Handbook

This newer volume is considerably more detailed and comprehensive than the Hunt book described above, although it covers much of the same ground and also provides playing material as well. The first half consists of some useful information and words of advice about selecting and playing bass recorders, followed by a very detailed discussion of standard and suitable alternate fingerings for every note on the instrument, and concludes with a few comments about the greatbass and contrabass instruments. Clearly the author assumes that most players have instruments with many problem notes that need to be doctored or humored; perhaps a better solution would have been to advise his readers to buy an instrument from someone who can tune and adjust the instrument beforehand and thereby save the player a lot of grief.

The second half of this publication consists of a well-chosen selection of complete pieces and sonata movements, some quite extensive, from the baroque repertoire: some are bass lines, others are solo alto parts transposed for bass, and the last work is a complete three-movement Telemann duet for two bass recorders. These are ordered roughly by degree of difficulty from lower intermediate to advanced and provide a progressive course of study for the aspiring bass player. Players should be warned, however, that an optimally designed and adjusted instrument is absolutely essential to playing these pieces well and up to speed. Poor instruments will simply not be up to the task.

McGillivray: Mrs. McGillivray's Welcome
A Bass Recorder Tutor with a Scottish Flavour

This new publication is a bit off the beaten path, but nevertheless well-written, useful, and interesting. It is essentially a bass recorder method which employs primarily Scottish traditional tunes, as well as a variety of renaissance songs and dances, English country dances, and even a few baroque pieces. It contains relatively few exercises, and those are extremely brief. A side note provides the information that the author compiled this work while undergoing chemotherapy, and all profits from its sale will be sent to the Beatson Oncology Centre Nurse Education Fund in Glascow. Highly recommended as a tutor and a worthy cause as well.

Methods and Studies for Advanced Recorder Players

Charlton: The Charlton Method for the Recorder
A Manual for the Advanced Recorder Player

For players who can already play both c- and f-fingered recorders at an intermediate level, The Charlton Method for the Recorder provides a wealth of study material. This publication is an enormous volume of 180 spiral-bound pages which contains a large assortment of technical studies, solo pieces, and duets for all sizes and combinations of recorders. It assumes that the player has and can play proficiently sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass recorder. This tome will not only provide you with study material for many years to come, but will also keep you physically fit if you carry it around with you – it weighs a ton!

Heyens/Bowman: Advanced Recorder Technique - The Art of Playing the Recorder
Volume 1 - Finger and Tongue Technique
Volume 2 - Breathing and Sound Production

These two new volumes, written by German recorder teacher Gudrun Heyens and published in this excellent English translation by Peter Bowman, are recommended only to those advanced recorder players who aspire to the highest technical and musical levels of achievement. The demanding technical studies in the first volume, if pursued methodically and diligently, will enable the player to achieve a virtuoso level of proficiency on the instrument, whereas the second volume explores the interface between the physical aspects of breathing and tone production and the musical issues of phrasing, vibrato, and interpretation. These volumes offer an extremely high level of pedagogical insight and teaching experience from which sufficiently advanced students can greatly benefit.

Linde: Kleine Anleitung zum Verzieren Alter Musik

Another Linde work which is actually a slim, highly compact book in sheet music format, is his Kleine Anleitung zum Verzieren Alter Musik (Short Introduction to the Ornamentation of Early Music), the first half of which consists of text with interspersed brief musical examples, and the second half of which has extended musical examples of both composer-specified and improvised ornamentation, concluding with a number of complete sonata and ensemble movements edited and ornamented by the author. Without a doubt this is the single most useful, comprehensive, yet compact treatment of this essential topic in early music performance. It is a great shame that this work is available only in German; although the English reader can gain a great deal just from studying the musical examples, the full value of this work can be realized only by reading the complete text, which is knowledgeable, concise, and gets across a maximum amount of information in a very limited amount of space. This book may be the best incentive for an early musician to take a crash course in the German language.

Bali: A Baroque Ornamentation Tutor

This new and extremely valuable work by János Bali, a leading Hungarian recorder player, teacher, and scholar, is a concise yet thorough introduction to 17th and 18th century performance practice. It includes an authoritative and concise introductory essay in four languages (English, German, French, and Hungarian) and forty compositions with written-out period ornamentation; a separate removable keyboard part allows all of these works to be readily performed. In addition, three generous appendices contain extremely useful information on renaissance ornamentation and performance practice, medieval basse dance tenors, baroque ostinato basses, and Quantz's profuse tables of ornaments. This superb publication is a must-have for every serious recorder player.

Vetter: Il flauto dolce ed acerbo

Recorder players wishing to learn the advanced and avant garde techniques necessary to perform much of the instrument's twentieth century repertoire are best advised to begin their studies with Michael Vetter's excellent Il flauto dolce ed acerbo (The Sweet and Sour Recorder), which provides "Instructions and Exercises for Players of New Recorder Music." Not to worry, Bunky; the text is in German and English, not Italian, and has nothing to do with Chinese restaurants. Topics such as extended high register, harmonics, multiphonics and chords, white noise, fluttertonguing, fingered vibrato, and a large number of other topics are treated in considerable detail; exhaustive fingering charts for these special effects are provided. Excerpts from a wide variety of twentieth century compositions employing these techniques are presented and discussed. This outstanding work concludes with a number of technical exercises to enable the development of technical facility on the instrument.

Music for Unaccompanied Solo Recorder

Bergmann, ed.: For the Sopranino [Soprano/Alto/Tenor/Bass] Recorder Player

For the solitary recorder player, a very useful and extremely inexpensive set of solo recorder publications, edited by Walter Bergmann, are the five modest volumes entitled For the Sopranino [Soprano/Alto/Tenor/Bass] Recorder Player, which offer a well-chosen and carefully-edited selection of solo pieces for the five most commonly used sizes of recorder. The sopranino volume, for example, includes the important obbligato solo recorder parts to three famous arias from Handel oratorios and Arne's song Under the Greenwood Tree, a nice selection of pieces from The Bird Fancyer's Delight, [1717] and a wide variety of other pieces which seem particularly well suited to this size instrument, ending with an original piece by Bergmann for sopranino recorder and soprano voice -- all of this for only $5.95! The other volumes contain a similarly appropriate selection of pieces at the same bargain price. We also offer all five volumes as a set at a special discounted price of $24.95.

Coles, ed.: Medieval Songs and Dances

This inexpensive volume offers a well-chosen selection of medieval monophonic music, including both songs and instrumental dance pieces, from the French, German, Spanish, Italian, and English repertories. Although nominally for soprano/tenor range instruments, many of these pieces may be played on sopranino or alto recorder as well. When combined with the two-part and three-part collections from the same editor listed below, this anthology provides an excellent introduction to the late medieval repertoire of the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries.

Jacob van Eyck: Der Fluyten Lust-hof

The amount of good-quality music for solo soprano recorder for the advancing player is unfortunately relatively slight. Among the few real gems to be had is the sizeable collection of pieces entitled Der Fluyten Lust-hof by the Dutch composer Jacob van Eyck which contains one hundred and thirty-four works. Each of these pieces is a set of variations on well-known sacred and secular tunes of the early 17th century in the Netherlands. Some of the variations are relatively easy and of use to the lower intermediate player, but many of the others are quite difficult both musically and technically. The excellent and relatively inexpensive complete edition London Pro Music offers these pieces in three volumes, with a fourth volume of critical commentary and concordances. These volumes can be delved into for suitable study and performance materials as one advances in playing ability, and many of them are equally well-suited to tenor recorder as well.

Thomas, ed.: The Baroque Solo Book

The indefatigable Bernard Thomas, editor of the outstanding and voluminous London Pro Musica series of publications, has brought together virtually all of the late baroque solo literature for unaccompanied alto recorder in his The Baroque Solo Book. This invaluable volume should be in the library of every intermediate and advanced student of the recorder who aspires to play the instrument's extensive solo baroque repertoire. Included are transcriptions of important solo traverso music as well, including the long and difficult solo sonatas by J. S. Bach and C. P. E. Bach as well as the fantasias by Telemann. This collection is truly the Vade Mecum of the serious recorder player and should be delved into on a daily basis for technical, musical, and spiritual sustenance.

Bali, ed.: Repertoire for the Recorder

The four volumes of Repertoire for the Recorder contain an enormous wealth of music for one and two recorders from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque periods, with a few Classical and contemporary works for good measure, more than 150 pieces in all. Vols. 1A and 2A contain music without keyboard accompaniment. This set will serve as a very comprehensive introduction to the literature for the recorder and early music in general; it should provide any one or two recorderists with enough material to keep them busy for several years. We highly recommended this anthology to all intermediate and advanced players.

Höffer von Winterfeld, ed.: Blockflötenstudien, Heft 1-3

Heft 1: Die Blockflöte in den Kantaten Joh. Seb. Bachs [for one alto recorder]
Heft 2: Aus den Kantaten Joh. Seb. Bachs [for two alto recorders]
Heft 3: Aus den Kantaten G. Ph. Telemanns [for alto recorder]

With so much emphasis being placed on the recorder as a solo and ensemble instrument during the late baroque period, it is easy to overlook the fact that it was also widely used as an orchestral instrument. These three highly useful volumes of orchestral studies, edited by Linde Höffer von Winterfeld, bring together the most important solo passages for one or more recorders from the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann. A fourth volume containing excerpts from the works of George Frederick Handel is regrettably out of print and no longer available.

Music for Recorder and Keyboard

Bergmann, ed.: First Book of Descant [Soprano] Recorder Solos
Bergmann, ed.: First Book of Treble [Alto] Recorder Solos

For the beginning recorder player wanting to make an initial foray into the extensive literature for solo recorder with keyboard accompaniment, these two anthologies, each containing a totally different selection of music, provide a broad assortment of well-chosen, musically-interesting, and intelligently-edited pieces suitable for study and performance at the same time one is working one's way through a beginning recorder method, such as Vol I and II of the Orr method mentioned above. The recorder parts are arranged in progressive order of difficulty, and the first few pieces, which use only two or three notes, can be played from the very first few days of study. The piano parts are also extremely simple technically but are effectively written.

Bergmann, ed.: Second Book of Descant [Soprano] Recorder Solos
Bergmann, ed.: Second Book of Treble [Alto] Recorder Solos

These two volumes, as evident from the titles, are intended by the editor as logical sequels to the above two beginning anthologies. Aimed at the player who has progressed from the beginning to the lower intermediate level, they can be profitably used after one has completed a beginning record method and is pursuing intermediate level study materials, such as the second volume of the Duschenes method. Each volume contains an entirely different selection of music chosen with the character of the intended instrument in mind.

Heyens, ed.: Concerto - Easy Concert Pieces for Descant [Soprano} Recorder and Piano

This new if oddly-named collection does not in fact have anything to do with concertos, recorder or otherwise, but it does provide an excellent selection of easy renaissance and baroque pieces suitable for the advancing beginner and lower intermediate level soprano recorder player. The keyboard parts are also relatively easy, the editing is light and tasteful, and a number of pieces are provided with a few simple suggestions for ornamentation which will give a beginning player a gentle nudge in the direction of historical performance practice.

Czidra, ed.: Recorder Music for Beginners, Vol. 1
Malina & Bloch, ed.: Recorder Music for Beginners, Vol. 2

These two valuable and useful anthologies of music for recorder and keyboard are suitable for lower intermediate players wishing to venture into some accessible solo repertoire from the renaissance and baroque periods, although a bit of classical and contemporary music is also included. Vol. 1 is for soprano recorder and keyboard, whereas Vol. 2 is for alto recorder and keyboard. The two volumes contain completely different music, well-chosen for its suitability to the particular instrument.

Bali, ed.: Repertoire for the Recorder

The four volumes of Repertoire for the Recorder contain an enormous wealth of music for one and two recorders from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque periods, with a few Classical and contemporary works for good measure, more than 150 pieces in all. Vols. 1B and 2B contain music with keyboard accompaniment, and separate keyboard and bass parts are provided. This set will serve as a very comprehensive introduction to the literature for the recorder and early music in general; it should provide any one or two recorderists and a keyboard-playing friend with enough material to keep them busy for several years. We highly recommended this anthology to all intermediate and advanced players.

Camden & Devereux, ed.: Solos for the Alto Recorder Player

This excellent, yet inexpensive anthology offers a wide variety of useful pieces for study and performance. It is clearly intended for upper intermediate to more advanced players and contains a broad chronological assortment of music from the renaissance through the 19th centuries, but the primary emphasis is on solo works from the baroque period, including complete full-length sonatas by Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, and Barsanti.

Handel: Complete Recorder Sonatas, with concordances and critical commentary
Telemann: Complete Recorder Sonatas, with concordances and critical commentary

There is a great wealth of excellent music for alto recorder and keyboard from the late baroque period from which advanced players may choose. The two sets of pieces that should be in every advancing player's library, however, are the magnificent sonatas by George Frederick Handel and Georg Philipp Telemann. There are numerous editions of both sets of works to be had, but the best, most authoritative, and most cost-effective edition of the six original Handel sonatas is that by David Lasocki and Walter Bergmann, whereas the best Urtext editions of the original Telemann sonatas are those by either Bernard Thomas or János Malina.

Barsanti: Complete Original Recorder Sonatas
Valentine: Twelve Sonatas for Recorder and Basso Continuo

If the Handel and Telemann sonatas are thrice-familiar to you and you would like some baroque solo sonatas of high quality that are off the beaten path and haven't been played to death, we suggest that you have a look at the six sonatas by Francesco Barsanti, which have just been issued in a complete set by London Pro Musica, and the twelve sonatas by Robert Valentine available in a complete set from EMB. These fine works should bring a welcome breath of fresh air to even the most jaded of experienced recorder players.

Recorder Ensemble Music

Giesbert: Schule des Zusammenspiels

An excellent introduction to ensemble playing is to be had in the Giesbert Schule des Zusammenspiels, or School of Ensemble Playing, a series of 72 well-written and progressive exercises for soprano recorders in three parts. Although clearly intended for class soprano instructional use at the beginning through lower intermediate levels, these supplementary materials are great study pieces for a teacher and two students or even a solitary player, for that matter. Regrettably they are not available transposed for alto recorders, although one can always write them out for that purpose.

Bali, ed.: Chamber Music for Three Treble [Alto] Recorders

This volume nicely addresses the need for three-part music for alto recorders and is highly useful as an introduction to ensemble playing in intermediate level classes for alto recorders. In addition, the rich and well-chosen selection of music from the late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque periods provides a good overview of the early music repertory for the advancing adult player.

Coles, ed.: Medieval Duets
Coles, ed.: Medieval Trios

These two inexpensive volumes offer a well-chosen selection of two- and three-part medieval music, including both vocal works and instrumental dance pieces, from the French, Italian, and English repertories. The duets may be played on SS or SA recorders, and the trios on SSA or SAT instruments. When combined with the monophonic collection from the same editor listed above, these publications provide an excellent introduction to the late medieval repertoire of the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries.

Katz, ed.: Music of the Renaissance
Katz, ed.: Music of the Baroque
Reichenthal, ed.: Music of the Royal Courts

These three extremely inexpensive little anthologies provide an excellent selection of three-part music from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Preclassic eras suitable for beginning trio players. They may be played on SSA, SAA, or to best advantage on SAT instruments. Since the printed format is small, we recommend getting one copy for each player. At these incredibly low prices, three copies cost less than single copies of many recorder trio publications.

Mönkemeyer, ed.: Antiqua Chorbuch

This little-known ten-volume anthology is a veritable treasure-trove containing some 400 compositions of German renaissance and baroque music from the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries; there are five volumes of sacred music and another five volumes of secular music, each of the two series being roughly in chronological order. All of the pieces are texted, allowing performance by vocal, instrumental, or mixed ensembles, as was the performance practice of the period. Most of the pieces are in four parts, although there are a few earlier three-part pieces and some later five- and six-part works as well. The technical level of all of the pieces is relatively simple, making them ideally suited for lower intermediate level recorder and mixed ensemble playing. The individual voice parts in some of the pieces do not exceed the range of a ninth to an eleventh, making them ideally suited for windcap instruments, gemshorns, and other instruments with restricted ranges.

Thomas, ed.: Recorder Consort Anthology

Another comprehensive and useful introduction to recorder ensemble music of the Renaissance and early Baroque is the handsome six-volume anthology edited by Bernard Thomas and published by Schott. Vol. 1 contains 15th century music, Vol. 4 contains dance music, and the remaining four volumes each contain music from specific countries: France and Spain, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands, and England. These six volumes can provide a well-selected and carefully-edited core repertoire for any intermediate and advanced recorder ensemble of four to six players.

Hindemith: Trio from "Plöner Musiktag"

One of the regrettably little-played 20th century masterpieces for recorder ensemble is Hindemith's intermediate-level trio written for performance at a day-long music festival in the German town of Plön in 1932. Originally scored for alto recorder in a' and two tenor recorders in d', the present-day lack of instruments in these pitches has caused the work to be published and performed a minor 3rd higher, using soprano in c'' and two altos in f' (although the work is also playable by soprano, alto, and tenor). However, the work gains much in sonority and substance if it is played a step lower than the original pitches, using an alto in g' (or f') and two tenors in c', with the alto reading soprano fingerings and the two tenors reading alto fingerings. The work also gains in performance from reversing the order of the second (rondo) and third (slow) movements. Until just recently, the only edition has been a heavily-edited one from the mid-20th century by Walter Bergmann, but a new Urtext edition has just been published by Schott as part of the new Hindemith Complete Edition and is highly recommended. We stock both the older and new editions.

Linde: Quartett-Übung für Blockflöten

For upper intermediate and advanced players wishing to sharpen their ensemble playing skills, another little known but excellent volume by Linde is his Quartett-Übung für Blockflöten (Quartet Study for Recorders).This is a series of fifteen challenging etudes for an SATB quartet of recorders, and may be used either by solo quartets or larger ensembles. Like his contemporary studies for solo alto mentioned earlier, these works are in a highly accessible conservative 20th century idiom. Each etude addresses a particular issue, such as unison playing, chords, imitation, etc. Again, these pieces are fine compositions in their own right and musically interesting enough to be played as concert pieces.

Books about the Recorder

Linde: Recorder Player's Handbook
Handbuch des Blockflötenspiels

Of the modest number of books available on the recorder and its literature, Hans-Martin Linde's wonderful Handbuch des Blockflötenspiels [1962], later published in an English language translation as The Recorder Player's Handbook, [1974] stands head and shoulders above any other book on the subject. The general topics covered include the instrument itself (acoustics, materials, design, selection, care), the playing technique (breathing and tone production, playing position, fingering, technique, articulation, practicing, warmup, performing, methods, and studies), the historical recorder (medieval, renaissance, baroque, and contemporary instruments, literature, and performance practice), and an extensive bibliography and index.

The text is extremely concise, heavily footnoted and referenced, and in a modest 100 pages provides more genuinely useful and interesting information than any other several books on the subject. The first English edition suffered from very poor translation, but the current second edition, released in 1991, is appreciably better in this regard and the printing and cover are also of much higher quality as well. We also have the second German edition in stock, for those readers fluent in the original language. This book is by far and away the single most useful source of information on the recorder and its literature and should be in the library of every serious recorder player.

Edgar Hunt: The Recorder and Its Music

After having been regrettably out of print for many years, Edgar Hunt's charming and informative if somewhat dated book has been reprinted in a paperback edition. There have been a few very modest additions to the text and photographs by the author, who at this date is in his mid-nineties and less than robust health, but the content of this book remains largely that of the second edition published in 1976. The typography and illustrations are unfortunately extremely poor, even more so than in the original; this reprint was clearly done much too quickly and at minimal expense. Some of the information, particularly that regarding 20th century recorders and recorder makers, is extremely dated and must be regarded as largely historical at this point in time. However, the book remains one of the more useful ones written on its subject and preserves the opinions and experiences of one of the most noted English amateur recorder performers, editors, and teachers of the mid-twentieth century. It would however have been a much more fitting tribute to the author had it been completely rewritten and updated by a younger hand and republished in a higher quality format.

Anthony Rowland-Jones: Recorder Technique &
Practice Book for the Treble [Alto] Recorder

This book, with its companion volume of musical examples, has been for decades one of the staples of recorder literature for intermediate and advanced players. It was first published in 1959 by Oxford University Press as one of a series of books on wind instrument technique. Although a valuable resource for over forty years, some of the information had become increasingly dated as a result of improvements in instrument design and production, the understanding of historical performance practice, recorder pedagogy, and the general level of playing ability. A new, extensively revised third edition of Recorder Technique has just been released by Peacock Press. It is closely integrated with the companion book Practice Book for the Treble Recorder, the new second edition of which is also now available.

Martin: The Acoustics of the Recorder

This recent scholarly book by John Martin, a noted Australian physicist as well as a recorder player and teacher, offers the most complete description and explanation thus far of the physical processes that determine recorder tone quality. A knowledge of calculus is useful in following the mathematical models, although the points made can be readily understood without a background in advanced mathematics. This volume also contains two extremely informative and useful appendices: a comprehensive survey of historical sources describing recorder tone, and an extremely well-considered essay on the problemmatic recorder parts in J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4. This publication is highly recommended to all players curious as to how and why the recorder plays as it does.

Fred Morgan: Recorders Based on Historical Models

This remarkable new book, compiled by Gisela Rothe and published by the German recorder maker Mollenhauer, preserves the writings, research, and experiences of the late Australian recorder maker Fred Morgan (1940-1999). Apparently an outgrowth of Mollenhauer's relationship with Morgan's widow and their collaboration in the preservation and production of instruments to Morgan's designs, it also includes personal contributions by 54 international recorder makers and players describing their interactions with and reminiscences about Morgan, as well as their evaluations of his instruments, design philosophy, and legacy. This valuable work provides fascinating insights into the world of recorder design and construction.

Copyright, Antique Sound Workshop, Ltd., 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, & 2009. All rights reserved.

Copyright, Antique Sound Workshop, Ltd., 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, & 2007. All rights reserved.

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