I'm not one of those people who hate recorders.
I LOVE THEM!
It's the only musical instrument I know how to play.
And yes, I learned it in school --
in Grade 7 when I was twelve years old.
We received weekly instruction for three months
from a young teacher who just happened
to know how to teach recorder.
She was stunned to learn that I didn't already know
how to read music, naively assuming that all kids
came from homes wealthy enough to afford
private music lessons. I did not.
Learning basic musical notation
and the recorder scale opened
a whole new world to me.
I've parlayed that short period of formal instruction
into a lifetime of playing recorders
for my own enjoyment,
not only the basic soprano recorder
by also alto, tenor and bass recorders,
which I learned how to play on my own.
I never had the opportunity to play in an ensemble
until I was middle aged. Unfortunately, it revealed the limits of
my musical education and proficiency, so I went back
to just playing for my own enjoyment.
That has always been enough for me.
These days, I can no longer play the recorder
due to my poor eyesight which prevents me
from being able to see the sheet music.
But who knows, perhaps once my cataracts are removed,
I will be able to play again. I hope so!
Recorders deserve more respect than they get.
Before the invention of the metal transverse flute,
recorders were a serious instrument in baroque and
other early music central to the European tradition.
Today, however, they are regarded as being only
a kid's plastic toy to torment everyone around them.
But hey, I still enjoy a good recorder meme
like anyone else! So here's a few to end on.
37 comments:
What a wonderful post, and ending with funnies. I loved the recorder, but my lessons began when I was in 1st grade. And the only song that comes to mind is Three Blind Mice! I did at one time know how to read music. I also learned clarinet and violin in grade school. No music education of worth once we left the suburbs for Brooklyn, and my parents didn’t think it mattered. Maybe because we no longer had a backyard or a sound-proof playroom to send me to.
...our children all learned to play the recorder in grade school. I think that we have a recorder collection in the attic.
Well I think I've seen a recorder before, but I don't know if I've ever heard one. I think I was given one as a kid too but I looked at the person as if saying what am I supposed to do with this? Which is shocking since it's phallic shaped.
We had a recorder player at our house too. How a teacher instructs a class to learn instruments is a wonder of the world in my eyes and ears!
We had a few lessons on how to play the harmonica at school. All I remember is suck, blow. I always wanted to learn how to play bagpipes but mother said no way. Gigi
Longtime recorder player here! It's a wonderful instrument, very hard to play well, because it doesn't have helpful reeds etc. I must start playing again. Mine have been in abeyance. Thanks for the reminder. I played in ensembles for many years, and now it's solo.
We didn't have them in school, but my parents did buy something like that for us and sent us out...far and away to play them.
We had fun making our own music up.
I reached for one of the 'No Thanks' tabs on the poster.
@ Boud -- You know the Joy of Recorders! Play on, my friend, play on!
I hated playing the recorder, the noise was awful. Now I'll have to look up adults playing a real recorder:)
I vaguely remember one around the house for a very short time, I think my mother broke it.
I remember playing a white plastic flutophone, like a recorder I guess.
I had to go downstairs and check to see if I still have the recorder that my children played when they were in school. And I do! It's in the piano bench! :)
My boys all had recorder lessons in grade school. They didn't 'take' with any of the three of them.
Oh, my goodness, yes. I was in 3rd grade when they sent those home with all the kids. I picked out tunes by trial and error, and never did learn to read music.
This is fascinating.
I had no idea. Music education in the US is basically Band and if you're lucky, you'll be part of a theater ensemble. But that's about it.
XOXO
Our elementary had recorders and I loved playing it!!! We just sat at our desks honking away after lunch!
Oh, I came by last week, caught up on your posts, dragged dh over to laugh with me, and couldn't leave a comment, but wanted you to know I was here, LeeAnna
I seem to remember recorders as being kind of an entry gate to musical instruments in general and woodwind instruments in particular when I was in grade school. I think one of my sisters played one.
The recorder memes are awesome. I hope you get to the chance to rock out the recorder again in the near future. I tortured my parents in the 4th or 5th grade when i got to take home a recorder from school for a few months. I think that is when my dad started drinking again.
I never played it and my kids didn't have to because they were in band and played the adult recorder, the clarinet.
My eye doc has been trying to get me to do cataracts. But things just aren't that bad yet. She warned me that things can go downhill fast though.
My girls learned in elementary school and I still have a few recorders floating around. (In case you come for a visit, perhaps?)
I never knew there was a 'formal' way to play or learn the recorder, so I learned something today.
Oh, and I don't forsee myself learning to read music: it's all Greek to me!
A little (recorder) goes a loooooooooong way. Not... entirely a fan.
Hello Debra, I have a Dolmetsch recorder here, and a Moeck one in Cleveland; I think this information may have surfaced before. What brand(s) do you prefer? By the way, I thought that the super-easy piece for beginners was Mary Had a Little Lamb, which can get by with as few as three notes. Three Blind Mice, on the other hand, spans an entire octave.
--Jim
@ Parnassus (Jim) -- I have a couple of Moecks too, but most of my wooden recorders are Ariels. I don't think I ever had a Dolmetsch. My favourite wood for a recorder is rosewood. I think it has the nicest tone. I can't remember what song we learned first -- it may well have been "Mary Had A Little Lamb." I still have Grade 7 sheet music for "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" though. And I know for sure we eventually learned "Early One Morning," which every Canadian kid of my generation knows as the theme song from the CBC kids show "The Friendly Giant."
I have no memories of ever playing a recorder..Violin, Yes!!
Hi again, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" is a cheery song for budding adolescents. No wonder teenagers are moody. --Jim
Three blind mice, lol. If only.
We all learned to play the recorder when I was a kid. Great post.
I learned in school toooooo!
Frozen plus the recorder. Now that's some funny stuff.
i have great respect for anyone who learned an instrument at school and continued with it - having to lug a saxaphone round with me as a kid meant that my "can't be arsed" attitude has rendered me, unmusical!! I could have been a maestro of the 'phone by now - some of your memes were very funny
I never got to learn. All my older sisters did. So unfair.
I love recorders and furnished them to all my grandchildren. Four of them learned to play wind instruments and march in the school band.
I remember nothing from my recorder days good for you! -cmlk79.blogspot.com
Recorder music? Nooooooooooooooooooo! Where are my ear plugs?!
"Today, however, they are regarded as being only
a kid's plastic toy to torment everyone around them."
When I saw one in my Niece´s room I pretended not to and ran... I learned to play the piano, sadly forgot it all (the neighbors sure are happy about it). Hope you can play soon, though.
You continue to amaze me with the breadth of your interests, Debra! I hope you can fix your eyes and see better again. Cataract surgery certainly helped me. I never learned to play the recorder. I moved around too much, and the only really music instruction I received was for a brief time in Grade 2 when I attended the base school at Greenwood Air Force Base in Nova Scotia. So I have to take your word about the recorder's benefits. Enjoy your weekend!
Those are great memes. I don't remember having to learn to play the recorder as a kid. I did have to learn piano (still can't read sheet music for shit though) and I played drums as a teen. :-)
~*~
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