Monday, February 1, 2016





Beginning Alto Recorder


Tips and Encouragement


A Gateway to Music


by




Paul and Brenda Neal

Copyright © 2015, Paul and Brenda Neal. All rights reserved.



To hear music is Divine.


To play music, to Be the Music, is More Divine


Paul and Brenda Neal


The recorder is the easiest musical instrument


entry point gateway


to playing music.


Paul and Brenda Neal


The Recorder – the Musical Instrument


Recorders are under appreciated, undervalued, a hidden treasure. In the U.S. most people don't know the recorder exists. The recorder is one of the oldest musical instruments in existence. It was used during the Baroque and Renaissance Periods. Henry the 8th had a collection of 76 recorders!


A short video about the history of the recorder -




The recorder is considered to be one of the easiest musical instruments to play. Some schools offer recorder programs for their students.


Opinion: The Alto Recorder is the Best



An Alto Recorder compared to a Soprano Recorder –



The Soprano Recorder unfortunately, except in the hands of a master can on occasion sound, we hate to say it – shrill. The lowest note on a Soprano Recorder is middle C. The lowest note on an Alto Recorder is the F below. Oh what a difference shifting the range down a fifth makes!



[Note: Though the lowest note on an Alto Recorder is the tone below middle C, music for the Alto Recorder is written starting with the lowest F on the first space, rather than the F that is two lines below the middle C note.]



Relatively Inexpensive



A plastic recorder can be purchased for around $20, truly economical! The advantages to plastic are that they require little care and temperature extremes won't bother the instrument. A plastic recorder can sound as good as a wooden one. A plastic recorder does not need a fancy case and is virtually understandable.



A Radical Suggestion for a Beginner



Tape the two smaller holes on the lowest position of recorder. You say What? Tape 2 holes closed?



Yes. Why would we suggest such a thing? We have had trouble getting an acceptable sound especially for the lowest note but also some difficulty for the one above.



The ring and little fingers are not as coordinated and flexible as the thumb, pointing, and middle fingers. For us at least, it is harder to get especially the little finger to co-operate to keep the small and large holes both covered adequately to consistently get a pure note rather than an awful, worse than dissonant, jarring clunker.



Question – Does covering the two small holes with tape affect and compromise the pitch on all the notes?



We wondered and used a small electronic tuner to test the pitch. For our results at least, we were getting a true pitch.



If you want to play a melody that calls sharps or flats for either of those two lowest double holes, remove tape as needed. Personally, we have never needed them.



Another Radical Suggestion



Pretend the Alto Recorder is in the Key of C. Why on earth would we have the audacity to suggest this extreme departure from reality? The reason is that the musical range of the soprano and tenor recorders, being in the key of C, are notated nicely in the middle of the treble musical stave.



The Alto Recorder, on the other hand, with the lowest note on the first space of the treble clef requires reading, decoding, notes on lines above the stave. We, personally, find this more difficult to read. [We will admit that we are not good sight readers.] Therefore, if we are playing a melody written in the Key of D, for example, we realize that it is really in the Key of G.



This is only a problem if one is playing with other musicians playing different size recorders or different instruments. However, if one is playing by oneself or duets with another musician who is also using this bogus system, there is no problem.



Those Low Notes!


The two lowest notes, especially the lowest note with all the holes covered C [low F, if you are not using our alternate notation music range], can sound awful or weak, even with tape on the smaller hole. A different breath control is what is needed. It takes experimenting to get the precise breath control needed. Once one has figured out the amount of pressure to blow one can get a consistent good sound.


Before playing a tune requiring that low C [F], one can play the G [C] above down to the C [F]. Somehow approaching the note gradually from above helps one to achieve it.


The high notes, above the high D [high G, if you are not using our alternate notation music range] also require a different breath control approach.


Our Recorder Journey



As mentioned before the recorder – the musical instrument – is under appreciated, undervalued, a hidden treasure. In the U.S. most people don't know the recorder exists. In the mid 60s I, B., heard that recorder lessons were offered in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Recorder? All I knew about recorder was a tape recorder. Someone told me it was a flute like instrument.



A few years later in college we were required to take a music appreciation course. We barely squeaked by in the course. This required course that we grumbled about exposed us to a whole new world including Medieval and Baroque music. The college book store happened to have a sale of some water damaged merchandise including a record, In a Medieval Garden. We bought it together and loved it. I figured out that there were recorders in some of the tracks. We were inspired to go to a music store which had two recorders for sale, one made of maple wood and the other made of pearwood. We chose the blond pearwood which was a little less expensive. The recorder cost around $30. which was a lot of money then!



With an instruction book Paul taught himself to play. At his parents' apartment a German lady heard him play through an open window. She said it reminded her of her childhood.



I still had a mental block about learning to read music so did not do as well. The recorder lead us to other instruments, guitar, autoharp, dulcimer, banjo, keyboard, bodhran, and others. Paul taught himself some strumming styles on the banjo. Eventually in our late 20s we found our instrument, harps.



In addition to our harps, we have come full circle back to loving the soothing simplicity and beauty of the Alto Recorder.



Previous Experience Not Needed



To approach the recorder it doesn't matter if one has no previous musical experience. It doesn't matter if one has mediocre, pathetic, or even abysmal previous experience.



Paul was kicked out of the elementary school band. No one gave him lessons on the coronet or even suggested lessons. Just out. He was also kicked out of the elementary choir. I, on the other hand, for short interludes took flute, violin, and piano lessons. Reading music remained Greek to me. Friends and my older sister had more aptitude so I drifted away from music.



So, lack of experience, nor, past failures can stand in the way IF one wants to play an instrument AND is willing to put in the time to practice.



Beginning Recorder Instruction Books



There are several beginning recorder books available.



We have liked Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Recorder.



It has enough familiar melodies. Knowing a melody greatly helps poor sight readers like ourselves. Hot Cross Buns, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jingle Bells may seem silly to play but they are good stepping stones to one's own repertoire.






Music


Music is a Parallel Reality. Music a refuge.

Music expresses beyond words.

Paul and Brenda Neal



Suggestions for Practice


Recent studies have shown that practicing a musical instrument regularly may outweigh inherited aptitude in determining who is talented.

When we started in our late 20s to learn harp, we could not read a note of music. We made ourselves practice a half hour a day. Even if we had put it off until time to go to bed because we couldn't stand it. It was that bad. Even if we felt more like chopping up our harps for firewood. Slowly, by practicing, some notes began to group together and to actually sound like a cohesive melody.

Even 10 minutes a day or 10 minutes five days or two days a week will make a difference.

Playing an instrument is like meditating. One must focus. However, other thoughts float in or even intrude. It is a not a matter of combating the sneaky phantom thoughts but learning how to let them slide by, not fighting them but bumping them to the side.

Some musicians are all around geniuses. And some of us have different aptitudes and weaknesses. Personally we find that memorizing music is easier than the decoding involved in reading notes. For us memorizing the melody frees us up to be more expressive with the music, feeling it as a whole.


Is Practicing a Chore? Or is it vacation to a parallel reality?


Probably both and often in between.

There are days when practicing flows with one's day and, on the other hand, there are the mundane tedious, frustrating, once in a while even infuriating practice interludes. A voice in one's mind can ask, why do you bother? The voice can ask many disparaging and undermining questions. Over time the voice dims to a cricket in the background.


The fabulous benefits gained from playing an instrument are outlined in articles on the internet. Just hearing music causes “fireworks in the brain.” Actually playing an instrument draws on multiple areas of the brain. Three articles -


http://dana.org/News/Details.aspx?id=42947



Two Secrets to Keep Interested


Have a large enough repertoire with enough variety.

Divide the repertoire list into two, three, four, or more groups to rotate daily. Try to vary each smaller list by mood, speed, key, tempo, major/minor, lively/lilting, difficulty, and etc.

Occasionally weed out one or more songs that are not moving you and seek a replacement.


Expressive Playing


Play boldly. Recently we compared two versions of a Bach composition. Much to our surprise, we found that a lesser known musician played the Bach composition more expressively, more to our liking, than did a world renown musician.

Strive to use the whole dynamic range of your instrument.

Make a piece your own. By all means, play a melody differently from what the usual interpretation is if you feel it another way.

Nuances make a difference. Several years ago we heard bit of advice about playing music. This may have even been before we started harp lessons. On a public TV program about the Van Cliburn Piano Competition one woman judge said that in comparing musicians she looked for nuances of expression. She gave the example of if there is a series of four triplets, did the musician vary the emphasis of the beginning notes of the triplets?

For some reason this view secret of nuances stayed with us. If a melody or passage is repeated, we try to at least subtly play something differently for the listeners, even if it is just ourselves, so the ear has a different experience. [Or when playing with one or more other musicians, the backup or accompaniment can vary and change also.]


Why do we bother with the repetition of practicing?


There is no getting around the fact that practice is repetition. So why do we bother with the repetition of practicing?

Because music expresses. Because music uplifts, transforms, soothes, embraces, enriches. Even if you are the one musician and the only listener, a small transformation and elevation of energy happens.


The most joy has come to me in life from my violin.

Albert Einstein


Music heard so deeply that it is not heard at all, but you are the music while the music lasts.

T. S. Eliot


There is no truer truth obtainable by man than comes by music.

Robert Browning


Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

Ludwig van Beethoven


Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which
they mightily fasten, imparting grace,
and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful.

Plato


I know that I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music.

Albert Einstein

... only music may span that space between the finite and the infinite ... music may be the means of arousing and awakening the best of hope, the best of desire, the best in the heart and soul …. Is not music the universal language?....Is it not a means, a manner of universal expression!

Edgar Cayce, reading 2156-1


If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.

Nikola Tesla


What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter.

Albert Einstein

Each celestial body, in fact each and every atom, produces a particular sound on account of its movement, its rhythm or vibration. All these sounds and vibrations form a universal harmony in which each element, while having it’s own function and character, contributes to the whole.


Pythagoras


All that matters is that we continue to persevere and practice.




Free Scores Online


There is a wealth of free music available online. Here is one link that lists 10 free sheet music web sites –



At our website Our Favorite Melodies, single melody line free scores –




The Authors

We are husband and wife duo harpists. We have been performing since 1976. We had no music background, only a burning desire to play music. After trying several different instruments with no success, our deep yearning led us to harps.

We called a harp teacher and asked, Are we too old? Does it matter that we can't read music? Age and lack of rudimentary skills were not deterrents. Thus began our adventure with our harps.

We have played for community arts programs, arts and crafts festivals. colleges, schools, and club meetings,

We have several CDs of our music.  We began recording our music in 1978.

Two Harps videos –



Other eBooks

Our Favorite Melodies: A Collection of Public domain Melodies – Classical, Celtic and World

Secrets Revealed: A Birth Parent Search


Questions or Comments


twoharps@gmail.com




Parts of this book were used in our earlier book, Our Favorite Melodies: A Collection of Public domain Melodies – Classical, Celtic and World
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