Level 2 Recorder

Day 1

The Treble Recorder

Listen to Geschichtete Ostinati #17 from Paralipomena – Gunild Keetman
Activity 1
Finding your fingertips
Assumed Knowledge: Descant recorder fingerings, tonguing and staff
reading.
• Grasping Games:
• Feel the weight, size and finger spacing differences.
• Your brain must automatically know that the notes will be different.
The sound you read is the sound you hear, unlike the descant recorder.
The notes appear to be a 4th higher but sound a 5th lower than the descant.
The stream of air needs to be broader but not blown harder especially on the
lower notes of the instrument.

Activity 2
Orientate around third space C
First tunes – 3 notes (C, D, & E)
Simple Reading Games

Activity 3
C pentachord - play the first 5 notes (C,D,E,F& G)
Play the game: Double double this this - then write a tune for your instrument
in pairs.
Perform it for the group.

Activity 4

5 note tunes to practise

Praetorious CANON
Hook Gavotte
Brown Book 2 (pg 9 excerpt)

Activity 5
Improvise using 5 notes - C pentachord
Homework:
Review all material used in this session. Read the first 5 notes fluently.
 Level 2 Recorder

Day 2
The Recorder family:
The Sopranino* Recorder in F
The Soprano* or Descant Recorder in C
The Alto or Treble Recorder in F
The Tenor Recorder in C
The Bass* Recorder in F
The instruments marked with * sound 1 octave higher than they are written.
The Bass recorder reads from the Bass Clef.
If you can play both Descant and Treble fingerings then you can play the full
range of instruments assuming that your fingers can reach the holes and keys
on the bigger instruments.

In consort playing it is common to have a SATB format. Music written like this
could be sung, played on recorders or on viols of different sizes. In the
court of King Henry VIII recorder playing was part of everyday life. Treble
recorder players had to be able to transpose up an octave from a score
printed for voices. Many people who play in recorder groups today, own a full
set of instruments and play different ones all the time –ie they have no
difficulty in changing between sizes and between C and F fingerings.
The Treble Recorder- has a wonderful repertoire as a solo instrument for the
virtuoso player of the Baroque Period. The Second and Fourth Brandenburg
Concertos by J.S. Bach were written for this instrument, although the parts
are commonly played on the modern flute in today’s performances.

Activity 1
Review the C pentachord and add pinched A
Activity 2
Add low G, A and B to be able to play in G Hexatonic:

Now play the complete G pentatonic scale

Note B natural has the same fingering as F# on the descant recorder
Activity 3
Music reading skills: drill - and then use it or lose it- each of the first 8 bars
begins on B in this example:

I’m a peanut small and round, lying on the cold hard ground.
Ev’rybody steps on me –I’m as cracked as I could be.
I’m a nut, in a rut. I’m a nut, in a rut. BEAT PASSING GAME

Activity 4
4 note reading Games
Margo Fagan Page as an example
With a partner devise a drill game that is fun and reinforces reading.

Activity 5
Lah pentachordal round including slurs and the first pinched note A’.
 Level 2 Recorder
Day 3

Player and Dancing master!

Activity 1
Review previous material
Activity 2
Branle des Sabots
The inner 2 parts using a limited number of notes (4 per part) are to be played
on Treble recorder. The Bass part may be sung one octave higher and
teacher or 1 experienced player plays the descant part. Basic Branle steps
similar to “Pease Branle” can be added.

.
Activity 3
Mixed metre moments & Ostinato Accompaniments Brown Book II Pg 94
&102

Activity 4 Emphasis on tonguing

Activity 5

S A A(T)B Ensemble experience: Fabian Sebastian BBII Pg 40

Fabian, Fabian, Fabian Sebastian

Come play your pipe and drum come play your pipe and drum

Activity 6 Folk dancing music

This simple circle dance invites the “showing of melodic contour” and may be
adapted to your students’ skill level.

Homework
With a partner experiment with one person playing a moving drone on melodic
percussion while the other improvises on Treble recorder.
Choose your chords and scales carefully.
This will be performed as your first assessment task tomorrow.
 Recorder Level 2
Day 4

Activity 1
Assessment activity –improvise with a partner.
Reflection on performance activity.
Activity 2
Review partner songs and rounds:
Minor tonality

Used with permission from the Composer

Major tonality

C O F F E E, coffee is not for me.

It’s a drink some people wake up with,
That it makes them nervous is no myth,
Slaves to a coffee cup, they can’t give coffee up!

All things must perish under the sky

Music alone shall live (x3) - never to die.

Activity 3:
Review scales of various types: pentatonic, hexatonic, Ionian and Aeolian
modes.

Activity 4:
With a different partner choose repertoire for Assessment task 2. Each
person should play each part or each position if you are playing a canon.
Find a musical way to start, link and end your performance.
 Recorder level 2
Day 5
Activity 1
Assessment and ensemble experiences:
Reflect on performance experience

Activity 2
Roots of 1- V Accompaniments return to Indo Eu
Activity 3
Back to Basics
Review your learning experience on the new instrument.

How did you feel having to learn a new set of fingerings?

What helped you to make the change from C to F fingering?
How comfortable do you feel now?
Do you like the sound you are making?
Do you feel comfortable improvising in the pentatonic scales – major and
minor tonal centers?
How well are you reading the 13 different notes we have used so far (F-High
C +F#)?

Activity 4
The final 2 notes to explore today are the fingerings for B flat (like F
natural on the descant)
All other notes will be found on a fingering chart if and when you need
them.
Play F major scale- 1 and 1/2 octaves covering our range of notes.
Play a slurring/trill exercise for finger accuracy.

Activity 5
Return to day 3 Brown Book piece with I-VI harmony.
Play our complete Level 2 repertoire. We will be adding in extras, as
suggested by you, exploring dynamics and ensemble combinations etc.

Bibliography:
Abracadabra Recorder 1st Tunes for Treble Recorder(A & C Black)
Mr O’ Leary’s Treble Recorder Book (Mark O’ Leary)
Margo Fagan Playtime Book 5 (Longman)
The Recorder by Natalie Jane Prior (Hodder Children’s Books)
The Recorder book: Pieces for Consort collected by Steve Rosenburg (Price
Milburn Music
Elementaria by Gunild Keetman (Schott)
Orff Schulwerk Music for Children Volume II &III–English adaptation by
Margaret Murray (Schott)
Recorder Technique by A. Rowland-Jones (Oxford University Press)

Discography:
Gunild Keetman Collection Orff Schulwerk HM1013-2
roseorffrep@hotmail.com