A Step-By-Step Guide to Teaching the Recorder

Here’s a step-by-step guide to introducing and teaching the recorder to your students using basic techniques that work for all students.

Knowing how to teach the recorder involves ordering lots of small but important steps such as note reading, instrument care, routines & procedures, and the ever important sound production, then putting it all together and playing songs.

💡 You’ll find lots of tips and tricks whether you’re a new teacher introducing the recorder for the first time or looking to refine or shake up your recorder teaching approach.

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A condensed lesson plan outline is at the bottom of this post. The top is to use with your students as you teach.

Introduction to Music Reading

Learning about the treble clef and the note names is a long game. Students don’t learn it instantly or retain it without lots of practice. And let’s face it, the frequency we see our students isn’t conducive to learning notes and retaining the information. Besides this TedEd introduction, you can use lots of other vehicles for learning treble clef notes.

Knowing these notes is not a pre-requisite to beginning the recorder.

Lots of beginning recorder playing is echoing, creating, improvising, and playing from non-standard notation such as numbers, colors, and letters.

Can All Students Learn to Read Music Notation?

From my own experience, I’d estimate that 10% will become proficient treble clef readers, 40% will have moderate ability reading from a staff, 30% will have limited ability meaning they can do 3-5 note songs, and 20% will never be able to make the note/instrument connection. In a class of 30, that’s 3 super readers, 12 moderate, 9 needing limited notes, and 6 that won’t make the connection.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment below.

But guess what? We all can still learn together as we play, create, and make beautiful music!

How to Read Music from TED Ed

StaffWars App

StaffWars is my favorite app for iPads that kids ADORE! Play as a class, in centers, or if you have the ability, individually.

Introduction to the Soprano Recorder

Recorder History & How It’s Made

The Recorder Family

Now’s a great time to get out your recorder collection and show it off during class. There’s nothing like seeing and hearing them in person. You can invest in lower cost plastic models and still find great quality.

Hear Low to High Recorders

Hear the bass, tenor, alto, soprano, sopranino, & garklein (aka sopranissimo or piccolo)

Recorder Consort

How Low? A Sub Contrabass Recorder

How to Play the Recorder

Recorder Hand Positions

Left Hand Relay

To solidify the left hand goes on top, have students sit in two lines with their right hands behind their backs. Give a recorder to the first person in each line. Students have to pass it down using only their left hand on top. The winner is the first line that passes the recorder correctly to the end.

Articulation & Breath Control

The Feather Game

Put a small feather in your hand and your hand in front of your mouth. Echo rhythms on tu or du without blowing the feather off your hand.

Song Playing Ideas & Techniques

What Notes Do You Begin With?

Years ago almost all beginning instruments began with ONE note that you played with a variety of rhythms. So for recorder it was B. Then you’d added A and had B-A songs. Thankfully, we have gotten away from that way of learning!

What notes do you begin with when teaching recorders?

BAG, GE, CA? Pros & Cons

Now the question is whether you begin with BAG, GE, or CA. I’ve tried them all and each has their pros and cons!

BAG is easier to get some initial good sounds but then that pesky right hand is (even though you tell them to put their right thumb on the back) everywhere but where it should be. By the time you’re ready for E they’ve gotten into some bad habits.

Beginning with GE means those hands are beautifully set in place. YAY! But getting that E out means you have to have SIX holes covered really well. That can initially be frustrating plus there’s a serious lack of anything musical sounding with only G and E.

Starting with C and A has lots of sound success because only one finger needs to move. Also, it teaches C early on which is so handy to come back to after learning lower notes. You also can play in F (add some ukuleles), C pentatonic, and Am. The cons are that again you have the bottom hand not being engaged as quickly and high C is HIGH. Of the 3 choices, it comes in last for me personally.

In the end, I don’t think it matters. Just pick one and go with it!

The below Recorder Orff Pack has a BAG song and a GE song so that you’re starting notes don’t matter. Take a look!

BAG E Warmup Trick

Here’s a little trick. If you start with BAG, have them learn E sooner rather than later so that they learn to set that hand. Here’s an echo play warmup using numbers that’s loads of fun and accomplishes that hand set.

Recorder Orff Pack

Your students will love recorder playing with Orff activities, games, movement, and fun accompaniment music genres!

This resource GUIDES you through the teaching process!

Tone Tracker

A Game Changer! Evaluate EVERYTHING they play as a class in a FUN way! We’re looking for a pleasing tone. (see below for more info)

Mary Had a Little Lamb or Hot Cross Buns

I love starting with these time-honored favorites! Begin with NO playing but articulating (too, doo, etc) as you move your fingers on your recorder.

Practice & Assessment

Give students practice time with a partner. Talk about what it means to be a good partner. Partners can take turns playing for each other and offer advice. A partner can see if your finger isn’t covering a hole. Voila! Squeak fixed!

As partners are practicing, call up students 4 at a time or walk around the room and ask students to play Mary for you in small groups. Make finger adjustments and offer verbal advice.

Assessing at a very early stage can help students tremendously and get them going in the right direction.

Deedle Deedle Dumpling (G & E Song)

Echo speak and clap the rhyme. Students clap the rhythm as they think the rhyme. Students articulate (too or doo, tu or du) as they think the rhyme.

Play the rhyme using G on the black words and E on the red words.

Recorder Composition Units & Projects

There are so many ways to get students composing on recorders. One of the easiest ways is to give them a poem/rhyme and have them compose a melody for the rhythms. You give them the available notes they can use. Common ones would be GAB, EG, EGAB, DEGAB, CBAG.

Partner composing is helpful because the collaboration supports both students musically and creatively. I’d have everyone use the same poem to see all the creative variety that will happen.

Composition Lesson Plan

A lesson order for EGAB might be:

Introduction

• Introduce the rhyme/poem
  • Clap it, speak the rhythms.
• Compose a Melody as a Class
  • Explain home tone/key of Em so their song needs to begin and end on E.
  • Use a whole-class example to show them exactly the process.
    • Should you use staff notation or letter names below the rhythm? I think notation would complicate the creation process so I’d begin with letter names. When complete, I’d have students add notation on the staff.
  • This is a great time to talk about the power of repetition in song writing. Give your piece a title!

Partner Composing Process Begins

• The composing process begins with teacher circulating.
  • Hand out the rhythm of the poem using paper/clipboard or dry erase sleeve so that they can write the letter names below each note.
  • Partners raise hand when finished for you to hear and check if rhythms are correct and that it begins/ends on E. Give a time limit.
  • As you circulate, if some are having trouble, remind them to use repetition.
  • All share their song (and title).
  • Have a few students share which song would get 5 stars from them and why.

Performance

• Accompany the pieces using an E-B drone (or whatever fits with your chosen set of notes) on barred instruments.
  • Your whole-class song example from early in the process could become your A section and you could have it return between all the duets for a super RONDO form!

Writing Notation

• Take the whole-class example and put the notes on the staff. Add composer name, date, and a title.
• Partners then transfer their piece to a staff. I’d hand write them but if you wanted to then try writing them using Noteflight or similar, that would be a further extension. These final copies would make an AMAZING bulletin board display.

LESSON PLAN: Recorder Unit Multi-Day

This is one possible order of activities to begin a unit on recorders.

The activities at the top loosely follow this outline.

Introduction to Music Reading

1. Introduction to Music Reading
   • Treble Clef Notes-Introduce or review the notes of the treble clef
   • Rhythms-Review basic rhythms

Introduction to the Recorder

• History of the Instrument & How It’s Made
• The Recorder Family
• Listen to Fun Examples of Recorder Performances

How to Play the Recorder

• Hand positions, finger numbers, indentations on fleshy part of finger.
• Articulation, tonguing
• Echo speak 4 beat rhythms on articulation syllable too, tu, du, doo, etc.
• Discuss warm air, cool air
• You want your birthday candle to barely flicker NOT blow out. You may even want to say, “You are NOT blowing into the recorder as much as whispering our special articulation word for every note.”

Recorder Routines

• Discuss how to get recorders
• Discuss how to put them away
• We practiced putting the instruments into their cases and placed across their laps by the time I counted to 10. I’d say, “Please put your recorders away in 10, 9, 8, etc.” We practiced until the entire room did it correctly.
• I always had them hold the foot and put them head first into the case. That protected the mouthpiece from being touched.
• Have a resting position during play/instruction time (across lap, hold on shoulder) I never had them put them on the floor to prevent being stepped on or accidentally grabbed by the person next to them.

Get Your Recorders

• Students FINALLY get their recorder and practice the routines above.
• Practice making indentations with left hand thumb and 1, 2, 3
• Echo Time (using a 4-beat rhythm such as ta ta ti-ti ta) and thumb and 1 (B)
• Whisper with articulation syllable
• Play
• Continue echoing different patterns with syllables and then playing

The Tone Tracker

• The Tone Tracker-Use a visual chart that indicates their tone as a class. You can use dynamics where piano is a top score and forte is bottom. Other possibilities could be rainbow/thunderstorm, cat/lion, Black Panther/Hulk. Almost every time they play, adjust the chart to reflect how they just played. All classes in a grade level were on the same chart so they could compare how other classes were playing. When I started doing this it drastically reduced silliness, on-purpose loud sounds, and indifference to their personal quality of sound.

Playing Songs

• Start with (Mary Had a Little Lamb (or Hot Cross Buns) if you start with BAG)
• No Recorders
• Begin with echoing and articulation warmup like above.
• Echo speak Mary
• Echo play Mary
• Get recorders & repeat no recorder activities
• Partner Practice-partners check for holes covered and correct fingerings
• Play as a class and use a Tone Tracker

Practice Time & Assessments

Using partners and quick assessments is essential. I sometimes partnered students up with someone of similar abilities and sometimes a high/low mix. The variety of partners kept things interesting and valuable for all.

Storing Recorders

How should I store a set of classroom recorders?

I have enough for a full set for each class but no cases and need a way to number them or put names on them  also.  I keep them in a plastic drawer but I want a way to keep the mouthpieces from laying on each other. Any ideas, cost effective is a plus!

Cases

• Use plastic bags
  • Gallon bags, easy to write on, put a paper towel inside to absorb moisture.
• Sew cases
  • Costly in time. I made them from fleece (fun colors but hard to use Sharpie on) or muslin (super cheap).
• Purchase
  • Purchase cloth bags from West Music (bulk buy for $0.93 each)

Storage

I’ve used wine boxes from Trader Joe’s, cardboard mailboxes to keep them sorted, Sterilite plastic boxes, and shoe or stuffed animal organizers.

I kept the recorders sorted by rows (so 4 slots) and had row leaders get the recorders for their row and pass them out. (saves SO much time)

I used over the door shoe holders. One slot for each row. If you don’t have a door, you can hang them with sturdy hooks or nail into wood.

Numbering

I used a silver Sharpie on dark recorders and a black Sharpie on light recorders and cases made of plastic or fabric.