Recorders!
The fourth and fifth grade students are continuing to learn the skill of recorder playing. They have learned the basics, such as how to hold the instrument and how to produce a tone and play their first few songs. Learning to read the language of music is a life-long skill. Here are some tips for parents to help the practicing at home be more rewarding:
- Try to have your child practice every day at the same time.
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Only fifteen minutes each day at first is plenty.
- Try to have your child practice in the same place each day.
- Your child should begin each practice by reviewing the notes and rhythms learned so far in class.
- End each practice with something fun. Parents love to have spontaneous concerts. Each day should bring improved playing!
- Students should swab out their instrument once a week. You need to get your child a small thin square block of material. (Old bandanas are perfect.) The material is wrapped around the cleaning stick carefully before this stick is used. Remember nothing made of paper should go into the instrument!
- Once a month swish the instrument clean with a gentle antibacterial soap. Recorders can be scientific experiments if not kept clean!
- Keep the recorder safe and away from siblings and pets. The recorder is not a toy for the entire family. It is a required tool that your child needs for music class. Your help and support is greatly appreciated on this issue.
- Storing the recorder and the lesson book in the student’s book bag each night helps to prevent damage and insures that your child is prepared for music class.
A bit of history: Did you know that recorders are descendants of ancient instruments called shepherd’s pipe and the present-day recorder has been traced back one thousand years? The recorder was the most popular instrument during the Renaissance and Baroque times. It was even an instrument of the orchestra until 1750 when a flute replaced it. Bach and Handel both wrote compositions featuring this instrument. King Henry VIII was an accomplished musician and loved to play the recorder.