Beginner saying hello

Recorder Forum Home Page Forum Teaching and Learning Beginner saying hello

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  • #191
    Maggie Jones
    Participant

    Hello everyone. I am a beginner, teaching myself alto recorder. I am currently using THE RECORDER GUIDE and THE NEW NINE-NOTE RECORDER METHOD by Penny Gardner.

    I am progressing slowing on my own and fear I am learning bad habits that are impeding my progress. A year or two ago, I managed to arrange with a very nice recorder teacher, a few lessons but financially, could not keep them up. I hope to be able to reestablish them again. I get frustrated with my timing. I am finding some help with MuseScore. MuseScore, for those not familiar, is a free-ware notation program. In the books I am using I am able to copy duets into MuseScore and then play back only one recorder and I play the other (I hope that makes sense). I can set the tempo of playback and increase as I improve.

    Glad this forum was created and hope to see it grow and get to know more recorder players and any tips for self-teaching beginners welcome.

    Cheers,
    Maggie

    #192
    Louis Lima
    Participant

    Very nice to meet you Maggie! My name is Louis Lima and I started to learn the treble recorder in December 2013. I’ve been on my own as can’t afford a recorder teacher, and there aren’t any around here anyways. I have a YouTube channel called “Getting in Treble” which is a “diary” of sorts šŸ™‚

    I agree the hardest part for us self-learners is that we might be picking bad habits along the way. I try to listen to what I do and tend to be very self-critical, but also like to have fun…

    Hey, I have that book and did 2-3 duets with my daughter last year. I tried dueting via Skype with someone in England, but it really didn’t work very well. Anyways, if you want to try my Skype handle is louislima and my e-mail address is louis.lima@yahoo.com

    Cheers,
    Louis

    #193
    Luca Dragani
    Participant

    Hello everyone and good music to all!

    #194
    Maggie Jones
    Participant

    Hey Louis. I just checked out your YouTube channel and have become a subscriber. You play really well and your daughter is adorable. You started 2013; did you have any prior music learning experience? I am 49 now and have been trying to teach myself, on and off, (more off than on) for about 10 years, bouncing between recorder, harmonica, guitar, ukulele, something called the xaphoon, ocarina and now back to recorder. I’d start with one instrument, get a ton of instruction books and/or subscribe to a course online, not see enough progress or musicality and give up. This cycle has been repeated with every instrument mentioned for the last 10 years. All this music and still can barely play a complete tune at 80 bpm without stopping {sad face}. I am not deterred, however. As you noted: never too late to learn. I wholeheartedly believe that a higher power has planted this desire in me to continue to pursue music for a reason so I continue my journey. I look forward to watching more of your videos for inspiration. As a self-taught musician–it gives me much hope.

    I would welcome an opportunity to play via Skype–just need to get over my anxiety of playing where others can hear/see me–I am a closet recorder player :). I love this instrument. Out of all the others, particularly the treble, it speaks to me the most.

    Maggie

    #195
    Maggie Jones
    Participant

    Hello you too, Luca.

    #196
    Patricia Tapiav
    Participant

    Hello Maggie, Luis, Lucca and everyone! I was so happy to find out this morning about this forum, in the group of recorder players in FB. I am also a self -taught recorder player. I tried earlier to learn (about a couple of years ago) and I couldn’t go pass simple tunes and with a lot of mistakes in them. So I put them away. I feel it really helps to know the piece you are trying to play. The ear knows where to go or guide you. Since I donā€™t have a teacher either, I usually pick pieces I can listen to and that I truly love, this is how I have learned the fingering and to play the recorder by my own. I do a great deal of listening, specially the great recorder players. They are my teachers! I try to imitate what they do or what I believe they are doing. I have discovered some sounds or how to produce them by listening. Sounds I didnā€™t know I could make. I have been playing the recorder for about 8 months now and I am playing mainly Baroque, I love Vivaldi! his music is my reason for wanting to learn the recorder. At one point I was experiencing pain in my hands, forearm, shoulder ! too much tension, and I was probably grabbing the recorder with too much force. So I had to basically learn to relax while playing. I was really worry! I feared I would have to give it up. That has been the enemy for me. Tension, (fear of making mistakes) I am trying to be very careful of my posture ( watch videos of Alexander technique)and I try to play as relax as I can, so much sometimes I feel my recorder is going to fall out of my hands. Besides deciding to dedicate myself completely to only one type of recorder at the time(alto in this case ) and the other thing that has helped me greatly (Miracle!!!) was an article I read about the difference between a virtuoso and the rest of us. It said that the difference is about 10.000 hours (practice) approx. That would mean we would have practice for at least 3 hour each day for 10 years. But it also said the virtuoso usually concentrate or practice what is wrong, their mistakes. This is the best advice I have ever read. Till then I used to practice everything from beginning to end, (Piano & voice) I would keep on going with all kind of mistakes, sound, tempo phrasing etc. then do it all over again. No wonder I cannot play well one single piece on the piano!! (One of my piano teachers told me to keep on going not matter what, to concentrate on the melody). So my old way of practicing was time consuming and fruitless. So it seems, I have ā€œlearnedā€ to teach myself and practice basically. I do not have as much free time as I wish for practice. So, now when I practice, I try to practice every day even if is only 15 minutes, I go over the sections which are the most difficult; I pick 2 or 3 bars at most. And do them until I get them as good as I can. Or until I can sense I am not ā€œfeeling itā€ or is beginning to sound too mechanical. Then learn another 2 or 3 bars. Then at the end I let myself go and play the whole thing. So I can have the ā€œfunā€ I cry sometimes, I feel overwhelmed with emotion when I sound ā€œgoodā€ Which is not that often. Yet each time I go back to the piece is better and better. I have divided my practice time to the pieces I can play already, the ones I wish to play one day and lots of sight reading. I never thought I could love an instrument so much as I love my recorder. It has taught me so much. As Luis says we have to be good listeners and our best critics. Lastly if it hurts, we more likely are doing it wrong, or perhaps practicing too much. Our bodies have to get use to something new.
    Thank you Tony for this forum!!

    #197
    Louis Lima
    Participant

    I tried learning the classical guitar about ten years ago without success or any real enjoyment, so it’s my first real musical dive as well as learning to read music. I do enjoy every moment with the recorder, whether it’s practice or playing – I have met my muse! šŸ™‚

    #198
    Louis Lima
    Participant

    Very nice to meet you! I couldn’t agree more. Aldo Bova said he has learned most about the recorder from listening carefully to great performances.

    #199
    Patricia Tapiav
    Participant

    Hi Luis! I tried to learn classical guitar also, after I couldn’t learn the recorder I guess? =)). I would like to go back one day to it. I love music! the recorder happens to be the one allowing me to express myself more freely. Something about it.

    Aldo Bova was the one to make me want to learn or play the recorder actually. I still recall seeing one of his videos in which he speaks about Vivaldi in Ospedale della Pieta and then he plays the Largo of the Concerto RV 443. I was hooked. I subscribed to his channel and soon after that I bought my first real recorder, a wooden sopranino. (cause this whole “mess” started when I bought a cheap transparent soprano in a music store out of curiosity) Before that I didn’t know a thing about recorders other than “the-plastic-for-kids”…like the pink one I bought that day.
    And as embarrassing as it may sound, I didn’t know there were concertos and sonatas written for it!!

    #213
    Maggie Jones
    Participant
    … and the other thing that has helped me greatly (Miracle!!!) was an article I read about the difference between a virtuoso and the rest of us.

    Do you have a link to this article–I’d love to read it.

    #1969
    bridget murphy
    Participant

    Hi there! Thanks a bunch for checking out my channel and subscribing, I really appreciate it! It means a lot. To answer your question, I did have some prior music experience, but it was minimal. I started playing guitar in 2013, mostly self-taught with the help of online resources.

    I totally get the struggle of bouncing between instrumentsā€”I’ve been there too. It’s awesome that you’re determined to keep going despite the challenges. Your passion for music is inspiring, and I believe that dedication is the key to progress.

    If you ever feel like a Skype jam session, I’m totally up for it! I understand the anxiety, but it’s all about enjoying the music and having fun. We could play together, share tips, and make some great music. Let me know when you’re ready to give it a shot!

    #1970
    Kevin Pfeiffer
    Participant

    “Bridget Murphy”, it would seem, is an AI-Spambot. She (it) has also posted such nonsense to other music-related forums, including an advertisment for a guitar-related business (or website). Unfortunately the former administrator of this forum seems to have disappeared into thin air. šŸ™

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