Recorder

Look out for lots of links here to help to inspire your recorder playing!

Spring 2023

Year 5s are busy practising for the Spring Showcase. Can you play along with the backing tracks below? 

QueensbridgeMusic · Recorders

Use your homework sheet for the notes - you can either read the Figurenotes notation (with colours) or the standard notation. Write the names of the notes if you lose track! Scroll down this page to find a video of last year's Year 5 playing the Reel!

Here are some other resources to help you:

Practising B and A
Try changing from A to B, remembering to move only your middle finger on the left hand (not your index finger!) and keep the thumb over the hole at the back. Can you make some different patterns and tunes with just these two notes? 



You can also practise
Two At Twilight - remember to play slowly and smoothly (legato). 

Playing A:

Playing B:

Playing G

 

Practise changing from B to A to G at the same time as tonguing (doo, doo, doo) to help you to play Hot Cross buns a bit faster with the Gospel-style track below. You can also sing Pancake Day to the same tune!

February 2022

Year 5 have been working so hard in their recorder lessons and are making great progress. We are busy learning new notes using our right hand fingers, but in the meantime we have also been learning this reel - a type of dance, which here is like line dancing. We are really pleased with how we are playing together and reading the notes as well as keeping in time with the music. Next we need to work on making an even better sound and maybe making our performance a bit more lively! But we hope you enjoy this sneak peek into our rehearsals :-)

We have also been learning about rounds. These are songs or pieces of music where each phrase fits together like a puzzle. Each group can sing or play the same thing, but starting at different times. It's a brilliant way of playing or singing in harmony. 

We have been learning a famous round called London's Burning - about the Great Fire of London in 1666. Can you practise playing it at home. Maybe you could trying singing it in a round with your family, or you play while someone else sings? Here are some videos to help you. Can you believe the boy is playing a canon on two recorders at the same time?!

Lyrics:
London's burning, London's burning
Fetch the engines, fetch the engines
Fire! Fire!   Fire! Fire!
Pour on water, pour on water

Technique

If something isn't sounding right, check that your fingers are covering all of the holes. Are you still blowing gently and are you sitting or standing straight so that you are supporting your breath? Here's a video troubleshooting the mistakes we all make with recorder playing. Thanks to TeamRecorder for the top tips! N.B. We have covered nearly all of these in class!

Some inspiration
We loved listening to this in class - a lovely version of Yesterday by The Beatles played on 4 different recorders (descant, treble, tenor and bass). Can you spot which recorder is playing the melody? Which recorders are playing the harmony or accompaniment? The melody is played very smoothly (legato). Can you practise your tonguing to help you to play like this?

The second one is just a little treat - spot the tiny Sopranino recorder. Mrs Woolfenden likes to play this one!

Oh, and here's some inspiration - what happens if you fuse recorder and beatboxing (or cello and beatboxing). Do you like it? Mrs Woolfenden would love to know what you think!

Challenge pieces

Here is a challenge for you. Once you know how to play the five notes G, A, B, C and D - going from low to high, you can play these pieces. Scroll down this page for help if you have forgotten any of them. Now you are going to use all five notes to learn two very famous tunes. Here are the music notes. We have learnt to read all of these note lengths and pitches in class, except for D. D is the top note here - on the second LINE from the top. Take you time to clap each piece and then sing it through with the note names. Are any sections the same? 

There is a video of Ode to Joy so that you can play along with a backing track. 

Send Mrs Woolfenden a video of you practising or playing the piece when you have mastered it, or email me if you are stuck! music@queensbridge.hackney.sch.uk.

Good luck. Work hard and it will sound brilliant. And you know what to do if there are squeaks...

27th March - New note high D
Sorry that we can't be in school together to try our new note, but that's no excuse not to practise with your recorder at home! Watch and listen to the video carefully and join in when I ask you to. Remember our music rules - listen, improve and enjoy!

Including: don't forget to clean your recorder!

9th March - Baby Shark!
We spent lots of time practising finger changes today - swapping from A to C, and C to B etc. This helped us to start playing Baby Shark - here's a tutorial to remind you:

And can you remember how to READ the notes for Mr Cool? 

25th February
Well done with reading notes. Most of you are pretty confident with playing and reading B, A and G now. Remember to cover the holes well to make a really sweet sound on G. 
Today we had a quick chance to try playing a high C. Here's a picture to help you to practise and prepare for next week's lesson.