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Hi everyone,
I’m new here and thought I’d introduce myself by telling you what I’m currently playing and asking what repertoire you are all working on. On descant I’m playing Al hebben de Princen haren from Der Fluyten Lust-hof and cheating a bit with modo 2, playing the semiquaver runs slurred. Usually I learn the hardest parts of a piece first, but for DFL I think it makes sense to know the theme and easy variations first, so I can really get the tune and phrasing in my head. I’m not sure I’m enjoying having the hardest bit last though!
On treble I’m learning Christmas Pastoral by Robin Milford. There’s a couple of lovely examples of it by professionals on Youtube.
This forum seems quiet, but knowledgeable. I’m hoping to contribute constructively. In the meantime, I’m interested to know what you are all playing.
Jacqui
Descant and treble recorders.
https://www.instrumentalists.freeforums.netHi Jacqui – welcome to the forum!
What I’m playing is, mostly, the same old stuff ;( I really need to make a bit more of an effort to start something new and, given that summer daylight saving has just ended, I’ve decided to be positive and regard the winter months as an opportunity to use the time to explore some different things.
I have made a bit of a start by doing some work on Gordon Saunders’ Eight Traditional Japanese Pieces as I quite like Japanese flute music. I’ve actually had the book for a while but it has been difficult because I don’t know any of the tunes and I can’t really grasp how they should sound from the sheet music alone. However, I recently found one on youtube and have been working on that which has been fun. The Christmas music is a good idea and I think I’ve got some somewhere, I must look for it. I also did a couple of the Telemann solo fantasias a while ago (I picked the easiest two and I’m still not very good at them but the challenge is good). I should probably start another one of those, and maybe also a van Eyck, though choosing the right piece is a bit of a challenge.
Not specifically playing anything at the moment, though I keep looking at what’s on my music stand and pondering a resumption of music (it’s getting close)…but I had to say hello as another transferee-newbie to this forum
Hi, I’m new too.
On the treble (which I’ve just started again) I’m playing some really simple, very short tunes. I have the first octave and I’m just starting bits of the second. It’s kind of ‘Bobby Shafto’ stuff. On the descant which I’ve been playing a lot longer and in theory ought to be further along the road, I’m really struggling as I’ve had quite a long break from it and the treble seems to make the descant worse. I’m hoping this is temporary. Anyway, I’m working my way through Bowman and Heyens’ Baroque Anthology 1 and ditto the Renaissance volume.
It’s interesting that you tackle the hardest bits first, Jacqui. I sometimes do that too but I try to finish sessions playing something really easy so that I try to end up thinking that I’m doing OK!
I too am itching to start Christmas music but I’m making myself wait until December. I love carols on the recorder.
I keep looking at what’s on my music stand and pondering
So I went and had a proper look:
* Telemann – Fantasia #7
* Ball – 12 studies, number 10 (double-tounging)
* Handel – either the last two movements of G minor sonata or first movement of A minor (depending on which page I was on…)
* Pachelbel Canon in D – a version for treble and a version for tenor (here for serious nostalgia reasons)
* And a piece of paper which lists the scales and scale alternatives for Trinity grade 8, which I shall be popping in the recycling since should I ever get to that point again I’ll be printing off up to date requirements!It’s lovely to see you here guys. And thank you to Pavane for the warm welcome. Why Trinity Maizie? Do you feel their repertoire choices are more interesting? There’s a new syllabus coming out in Nov according to the website. I really do rely on the exam syllabuses to find repertoire at a suitable level. I have 5 UK ones, plus the Canadian, Irish and Australian ones and some in German from Germany and Switzerland. Now I’ve written that down I look a bit of a syllabus obsessive don’t I? I actually think the latest ABRSM one is quite interesting, although they took a couple of my favourites out of the early grades.
Descant and treble recorders.
https://www.instrumentalists.freeforums.netAnd another newbie! I’m actually relatively new to recorder too, having started soprano 18 months ago and alto a year ago. I’ve just added a tenor to my collection.
I’m having lessons (I didn’t know there was so much to learn about recorder playing!) and enjoying it immensely. Just now I’m practising Corelli’s Christmas Pastorale for a Carol service in December, set in trio form. As this will be my first recorder “outing” I don’t know whether to be vaguely excited or just terrified!And hello from another newbie here. I’m also Der Fluyten Lust-Hof-ing – my favourite set in there is still Wat Zalmen, but I have a very bad habit of doodling my way through whatever catches my eye in there and keep finding (and then losing) new gems. I play them on an alto recorder because the descant ends up giving me tinnitus after prolonged playing, and am slowly getting my fingers round the peculiarities of my Mollenhauer Kynseker. The holes are so large that sometimes I feel almost as if my fingers might get stuck in them….
Other than that, my go-to things are the Bach flute partita – the sarabande if I’m feeling timid, the other movements when I’m feeling braver – and random Telemann sonatas when I’m lucky enough to have access to an accompanist.favourite wood - box (but fruit woods will do)
favourite recorder - voice flute (but still can't read the music for it...)
favourite extended technique - tone bending (or maybe my fingers just missed)It’s nice to see some more from our old stomping ground. We’re looking for a new ‘home’ because our old forum is in the process of closing – just in case anyone wonders why a load of recorder players has just turned up!
Why Trinity Maizie?
Short version: scale requirements
Long version: I’d stopped playing at 16, then been reunited with my recorders in a house move aged 30, but it took me a year or three to go from having them to going to SRP to getting a teacher. That teacher was a baroque specialist, and we both agreed on a curriculum of “let’s play this, that and the other, and head towards an exam at some point”. Trinity was his preference for a couple of reasons, and I had no objection.
First reason, he did actually work with Trinity Juniors, and had advised on at least one previous Trinity exam syllabus (though I’m not sure that biased him towards them – he was pretty scathing about their administrative abilities, but I think it was a case of better the devil you know!)
Second reason, I was an adult and the scale learning could be put on me, but from his teaching of school pupils – who could not be trusted to do their scale learning without encouragement, and many of whom had a half hour lesson. For higher grades with AB, that meant spending more than half of a lesson on scales which was no fun for anybody…so the Trinity fewer scales or scale alternative was something he was a fan of.
Third reason, I think the supporting tests options were something he liked, i.e. you could choose what suited your strengths and no having to sing!
By ludicrously happy coincidence, I had been in an Oxfam bookshop a couple of months prior to lessons starting, where someone had clearly given in the Trinity G1-5 materials – I spent £24 and came out with so much good stuff. At the end of my second lesson, he said ‘OK, your choice, 5 or 6?’ and I went for G5 because the previous exam I had taken had been G4 in 1990 (also Trinity!) So we tootled our way through much of the G5 material before taking the exam once I’d played lots and decided what pieces I liked. But not just the exam pieces, e.g. if the exam piece was a movement from a sonata, I’d be attempting all of it. Or if the exam piece was in a book of many pieces, we’d find a piece or two or three from the same book to have a go at. Also, the way the lists were arranged then, you could do G5 as an entirely baroque programme, which really suited us both!! Subsequently did G6 and G7 in the same way before he retired.
Got another teacher a couple of years after that, but that didn’t last too long before I had major health problems. Did have another teacher for about six months or so before lockdown, and I just haven’t been brave/motivated/anything enough to get back in touch – but I will see her in early December at the recorder orchestra I’m in, so I might have a chat then.Hi everyone, I’m here too! Very glad that this new home is here and hope to meet old and new recorder friends.
I’ve now caught up on this thread. Goodness, you’re all playing so many wonderful things. In contrast, I do own a recorder but it’s been sitting in its case for, er, a long time patiently waiting for me to pick it up (and play it in again I expect).
Maizie – Sounds like you had a good teacher who was preparing you for more than the exam! Did you concentrate on one kind of recorder or did you play more than one in the exams? That sounds very awkwardly phrased but I hope you can figure out what I mean!
AdLib – Hello!!!!
And one more….
Relative beginner here. I mainly play the tenor at the moment – perhaps it’s not the best for learning on, but it’s the instrument I really wanted to play! I do other musicky things, mostly for keyboards, voice and fretted strings.
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