The Beginners Method for Soprano and Alto Recorder, Book 1 by Sonja Burakoff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I picked up the Kindle version of this book first. Later I ordered the paper version so I would have the book online or without electronic aid. I had a soprano recorder I was learning to play and decided to try the alto, too. I love how the book showed the fingering for both recorders and even combined to make duets that both recorders would play a part.
Every couple of pages, the book gives a new note or two. I am happy to say that I have played all the songs in the book, the soprano melody, and the alto melody. I am glad they were, for the most part, easily recognizable folk songs. That meant that this first go-round, I could concentrate on the fingering, which is far different from the piano that I’ve played all my life.
After a music hiatus, this book was the perfect way to get back in and enjoy music.
Though I have played the melodies, I plan to use this book the following way. I have an app or two that will help me. One will play the metronome, and then I will record each part of the duets presented. It seems like a fun way to get even more acquainted with the fingering I have mastered. I know I still need work on breath and tempo.
After this book, I have many more beginning recorder books to play with. Each has different approaches and ways to perfect what I know to get to the next level.
Darswords 
Good to know – I have an alto recorder that I have been working on, but of course my fingers want to play flute fingerings, which doesn’t work very well, even if the fingering will produce a note, suddenly my supposed G is a C. I have been working through Orr’s book one simply because I could get it at the library and likely can renew it as often as I like, but the library does not have a book 2. I love Team Recorder as well! Her review of methods books was fun, but so many in German – alas, I studied French.
Nice to meet a fellow recorder player. Wish I would have thought to check out a library copy.
The library is good when it works, but if I want book 2, I will have to find it elsewhere. That’s ok – between the flute and recorder and how rusty I have let myself get, it will be a while before I need another book. I just printed out a set of scales and arpeggios that will keep me busy for a while as I get my fingers working smoothly. Fun stuff – I am hoping that I can find some people to play with and thought maybe we could play at the local senior housing by next Christmas, assuming that people can do things in person by then…
I understand the need to find scales and arpeggios. I need to find those. Do you have a website for those? Recorders and I suppose flute are far different from piano that I was raised on. My fingers can finally cover all the holes on soprano and alto recorders and get decent sounds. But I’m so slow I’m sure to others the song doesn’t sound familiar. I’m just happy I hit all the notes in the right order. Arthritis plays against me, but the movement is good for me.
I have been a vocalist with a madrigal/Renaissance recorder group. We played wherever we could, often in senior centers. It was fun. I agree it would be fun to be a part of the recorder group here–or even a Zoom group to play for each other learning to harmonize. Group playing, singing just feels so good. And even better if brings joy to others.
And yes, let’s hope by next Christmas we can perform for those who can’t get out anymore.
I don’t have a website per se, but have used MuseScore to just chart them myself, then you can save as a PDF and print them. I used http://openmusictheory.com/contents.html to refresh my memory and hope eventually to chart some minor scales as well, but figured the major scales would be enough to get me started. I use some of the same warm ups that I use for flute for the recorder, such as hitting a note, the octave above and then the fifth above that, like G4, G3, D3, for example, but a lot of my flute warmups are focusing on the lips, bot the fingers so much and it is really interesting to me hen I find that a fingering pattern on flute is more challenging than the same notes on recorder. We have a local community band that I hope to join this year, at least for flute. We shall see if I find anything for recorder. In the meantime, just playing and improving. There is a flute choir in Madison, WI, and they are good, but I know that realistically, I don’t really want to have to go back and forth, so I am looking for people in Sun Prairie to play with. I used to play flute in a quartet in Seattle – coworkers, we would play after work in a conference room and put on performances for our coworkers. Good fun!
Thank you. Yes, of course, I can write up my own scales. I was hoping to see them in fingering as a music major I know how to play them all on the piano and know the notation. I think my ear can tell, though sometimes the books tell me this is an F sharp yet a different fingering makes the sound better to my ears. Learning the accidentals is odd for me.
By the way, I noticed on your blog that you found Bring the Torch Jeanette Isabela and Ash Grove music. I got to sing those with my little group. In fact, as my grandmother was dying I was somehow singing Ash Grove in my head. My cousins wanted me to sing aloud but it seemed too weird, somehow.
I hope you find a way to get into a group to perform. I miss it. It is so fulfilling.