Why bother with recorder lessons?
Every elementary student in America eventually will have a recorder lesson. Over the course of the 15 years I taught Pr-K through 8th grade I came to understand the best use of having recorder lessons.
My plan was to generate enthusiasm with the 4th grade to receive the recorders. We had pre-corders too, which for some students were ideal. If a student really wanted to practice at home, I would let the recorder and book go home, but in most instances the recorders would stay in the room. Labeling them with tape, or marking them with permanent markers was too problematic. So, I would keep enough rubbing alcohol and towels on hand to clean them prior to use. Seeing the two 4th grades one a week kept that chore to a minimum.
We had one rule. Anyone making a sound with their instrument, unless instructed, would lose the instrument immediately. The book I had was terrific in the progression of lessons, with simple exercises progressively leading to songs. Some in 2-part.
The atmosphere in class would be very tight. All the students eager to do well. I would lead them at a rapid pace, typically getting through the first dozen lessons. I could individualize remedial technique as we went along. The goal was always to get to exercise #19 "A Tricky Part". This 8 measure melody (with a repeat sign) was devilish in it's mix-up of note values and melody. It could not be done without extensive practice, which allowed me to challenge the class with say, a popsicle treat day, if performed correctly as a group the first time. Or second, Or third, etc.
So why bother with recorder lessons. Here's why. In 4th grade you may think that the previous 3 years of learning how to read notation has been successful. Ha! We would begin the simplest exercises and voila! Mistakes. Plenty of them. There are many students who are not reading the music. Shock. Horror. It seems that in class during group singing of assigned sheet music, they are really just parroting the songs. They're faking it. And faking it well.
I always would tell classes that notation is just a way of reinforcing what you already know. I would play the melody, we would read it together. The notation is like a cheat sheet helping you be more exact. Many could get away with the most minimal pretension that they were actually reading the notes. That is, until you get to reading recorder exercises. Aha! The eyeballs have to actually look at the notes. This is why there are recorder lessons. It forces the issue in a way that group singing does not.
Pretty much the entire class would be devoted to the recorder lessons. This would be limited to 3 classes year. That's it. If there was time to revisit recorders in the spring we would. But the idea wasn't so much to teach students how to play the instrument, the reason was to firmly nail down why we learn to read and pay attention to notation.
My plan was to generate enthusiasm with the 4th grade to receive the recorders. We had pre-corders too, which for some students were ideal. If a student really wanted to practice at home, I would let the recorder and book go home, but in most instances the recorders would stay in the room. Labeling them with tape, or marking them with permanent markers was too problematic. So, I would keep enough rubbing alcohol and towels on hand to clean them prior to use. Seeing the two 4th grades one a week kept that chore to a minimum.
We had one rule. Anyone making a sound with their instrument, unless instructed, would lose the instrument immediately. The book I had was terrific in the progression of lessons, with simple exercises progressively leading to songs. Some in 2-part.
The atmosphere in class would be very tight. All the students eager to do well. I would lead them at a rapid pace, typically getting through the first dozen lessons. I could individualize remedial technique as we went along. The goal was always to get to exercise #19 "A Tricky Part". This 8 measure melody (with a repeat sign) was devilish in it's mix-up of note values and melody. It could not be done without extensive practice, which allowed me to challenge the class with say, a popsicle treat day, if performed correctly as a group the first time. Or second, Or third, etc.
I always would tell classes that notation is just a way of reinforcing what you already know. I would play the melody, we would read it together. The notation is like a cheat sheet helping you be more exact. Many could get away with the most minimal pretension that they were actually reading the notes. That is, until you get to reading recorder exercises. Aha! The eyeballs have to actually look at the notes. This is why there are recorder lessons. It forces the issue in a way that group singing does not.
Pretty much the entire class would be devoted to the recorder lessons. This would be limited to 3 classes year. That's it. If there was time to revisit recorders in the spring we would. But the idea wasn't so much to teach students how to play the instrument, the reason was to firmly nail down why we learn to read and pay attention to notation.
