7/27/2019 Recorder Article

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tunlngupTheessential age or youngmusicians, arents

andanyone ew o music

Reading,Yritiil$,rithmetic-ndecorderHelen'Wallaceon wh! the classrnum- recorder houldbe better aught

mall, plastic and

shrill; the bane of tired

mothers; the instrument

you learnt before you

graduated to a'proper'

one -

we haveall played t. The

recorder whosename derives

from the latin recordari,'to

call o mind','memory' or'souvenir')

probably givesus

the most common first - and

often worst - memory of

playrngmusic.Since he

pioneeringwork of Arnold

Dolmetsch n the Twenties,

it hasestablishedtself as he

top classroomnstrument n

the \Testernworld. A recenr

reportby the Associated

Board of the Royal Schoolsof

Music showed har 45o/o f allchildrenbetween ive and 14

played he recorder.

But there's big gap

between he wavering

squawks f a class f six-year-

oldsand he virtuosobrilliance

of aprofessionaltar ike

Michala Petri. Vhat happens

in between?Marlene

Hobsbawm, recorder teacher and

author of the Me and my recorder

series Faber), says he instrument's

accessibiliryhas often worked

against t.'The

recorder is a

wonderfully easyway of makingmusic. I regard t as he fourth

"R".

It's not only about preparing for the

future, for children it's a musical

achievement here and now. T hey

don't need a special abiliry. But the

trouble is, a teaclterdoes, o it often

ends up being taught badly and

unimaginatively.' Vhich is why

children can't wait to drop it .

Hobsbawm feels hat teachers

with no special raining, who use

the record er purely as a melodic

would do better to use other

instruments.'It's

become a standard

tool. Fift y pupils are taught from a

grubby piece of paper with a few

notes on, and, worst of all, unable

to hear what they are playing. Thissituation inspired me to write the

tutors. You would never dream of

starting someone offon the violin

with no proper method.'She thinks

recorders are best taught in small

groups (maximum ten).

Composition and the concept of

ensemble playing - with treble,

tenor and bass nstruments - can be

introduced almost immediately.

fu children reach their teens he

drop-out rate is inevitably steepbut

the flourishing nterest n early

music hasbrought recorders ack

into the imelight, and theyhave

rightly replaced lutes n

performances f pieces uch

asBach'ssecondand fourth

BrandenburgConcertos.

Britain lagsbehind Holland

and Germany n termsof a

professiorial stablishment,

but London'sTrinity

College f Music, or

example,s turning out

around en trainedrecorder

playersa year,which must

surely ead o an ncreasen

the numberof good

teachers.

Says oloistPiersAdams:'I

was nspired by the

playingof FransBrtiggen

and David MunrowwhenI wasat school,and I was

lucky enough o havea

teacherwho wa$ nterested.

The limitations of the

recorder's ote rangeand

dynamic.level re n fact

advantages:ou learn o be

very creativen exploiting

the instrument's expressive

potential.'

The repertoire is one of the

largest and richest of any wood-

wind, spanning from the Renaissance

- the earliest reference to a recorder

occurs in the household accounts ofHenry IV in 1388, to payments for'a

pipe called Memento'- to Berio

andAndriessen. But for Piers Adams

there is still much to explore:'It

has

tended to be pigeon-holed as a

quirky, antiquated instrument,

making the odd brief appearance n

a Purcell opera, or, at the other end

of the spectrum, in rather whacky

contemporary music. In fact there

are more mainstream pieces, ike

those bv Diabelli and I(rfimer.

This oRadio,events, courses,offer

RADIO 3

Weekdays $5.15pm The Music

MachineR3's youthslot covers a varietyo

topics (see Broadcast pages)

EVENTSFestival fever Thereare festiva

with events or children all round

the country his June.Fo rdetails

see Events

I do like to be beside the

seaside Two LSOconcerts or

primary nd middleschools.

23 June,1o.45am and 12.30pm

(Booking and info, ring Emma

Chesterson 0777 588 7776)

TSB Discovery Goncerts 14-to

1&year-old s can hear internatiostars at the Barbican or ust 13.

Concerts n 8, 15, 18, 29 June.

Contact Karen lrwin, FreepostKE

7766, London EC2B 2RR

GOURSES& OFFERS

COMA Summer eourse

Residentialcourse by Contempo

Music Making or Amateurs o be

held at Bretton Hall, Yorkshire r

5-12 August (Ring0787 980 75

Suffolk Gollege Summet Gour

Courses n earlymusic, reading

music, Musicwith Computers nd

Alexander echnique, uly10-14

(Ring O7473 296578 for details)

Stagle Pass lf you are between

and 29 you can get 50% offticke

to ope ra and concerts (up o 7O

London). he pass costs ,15 in

south-east and f,,8.50 n other

regions. For application form, rin

Youth and Music,0777 379 672

with big Romantic lines. In a rec

I might play ten different record

and in many different styles.'

The best'professional'

instruments are handmade of

boxwood or tropical hardwood

and begin at.f,600. But forbeginners a plastic descant for €

by Yamaha is an excellent start.

SaysAdams,'People

like me an

the handful ofserious teachers

carving out a new path for the

instrument. But the day of the

recorder recital is yet to come.'l

Society of Recorder Players: 0l7l

385 7321. American Recorder

Society: 00 1 212 621 6329. Pi

Adams'sdisc'Shine and Shade'is

Tremuk 103-3 (Scott Butler Dis

eec mzsic MAGRzTNE,/JUNE995