I've got one. Maybe it will sound silly, but it can actually help - if your hands are warm, it can really help with moving fingers. I had to practice a quick part which was not that hard, but I kept doing mistakes over and over. I was so frustrated I went to make a tea lol... and I realised my palms and fingers were so cold, and stiff! Haha, warming them near the cup did the thing and I was able to move swiftly and play quickly. :)
Sometimes I need to wear fingerless gloves even after doing my hand/finger warm up exercises. I bought some pretty ones so they would suit the happiness of playing music.
O. M. G. Same for us in piano gang too. I didnt even think of that since the weather got cold, was wondering why my recorder playing was nosediving lately (well it also has something to do with trying to play Bach?)
Record yourself playing. It has helped me no end recording my piano and posting to Instagram and making RU-vid videos. Pieces and songs I thought were fine I now know I can improve. I think so much more about sound and not just about playing the right notes. When you record yourself you notice the good things and bad things more. You feel great when you record something nice. I just recorded my recorder playing which was very scary as a beginner and it gave me pride that it sounded nice and gave me confidence to keep playing two instruments. I don't mean that you have to post to Facebook or insta or RU-vid I mean just record and play back. You notice hesitation or when a note is cracking or when you aren't quite getting the rhythm. Also this prepares you for playing for other people. If you can ignore a microphone and play your best then you can ignore an audience and play your best too.
I am one of the (I'm sure) many people who have bought a recorder due to watching this channel as a beginner, as I did recently, and I don't even remember how I found this channel to begin with. And I've definitely seen other comments about people coming back to it after a break. Looking forward to trying out these tips, thanks for the great engaging content and positivity!
Yep I have over €500 worth of recorders now and I am a piano player 🤣. This channel brought my passion back and from that moment in November 2019 when I bought a crappy yamaha €8 Soprano I went on to get back into piano and now have a beautiful (rental) upright classic that I play 2 or 3 hours every single day and my band of recorders which I play when I want for pure enjoyment and I have lessons in both. Playing music finally gives me joy again.
Me too. It all started with tumbling over Sarah's videos, awakening an old wish for learning. I started last year on my own, began with lessons in january, started the alto about two months ago and by now got my very first simple Telemann Sonata from my teacher. And I have upgraded to a good wooden soprano and similar alto about two months ago, too.
I ain't a recorder player but a violist (yes yes I know we're shot an all of those jokes) but some of Sarah's tips are really great for any musician no matter instrument I think. So I'll definitely try to apply the tips that I can during my own practice sessions :)
Thanks for the video! I recently moved to Australia from the US, and I wasn't able to bring my euphonium along, but I happened to grab my old fourth grade recorder on a whim. I recently have been missing band, choir, and music minor life and have been hoping to pick up an instrument. Unfortunately buying instruments can be really expensive. Initially I was not that thrilled that all I had was a recorder and a few harmonicas, but after doing a bit of reading and watching some of the videos on your channel I feel a lot more excited about playing the recorder, and my respect for the instrument has grown a lot in the past couple of days. It's just one of the cheap plastic soprano ones, but it's still a lot of fun!
I currently refresh myself in playing my recorder and I found your channel. Your teachings are very helpful to me and I find your way of teaching so engaging. Thank you
Because I'm somewhat finger-length-challenged, I've found that on both the recorder (esp. tenor) and the flute if I use the finger that is most likely not to be aligned to a hole be the first one I place when I'm positioning, then I'm a lot less likely to get a bad seal and consequently a missed note when I start playing.
Hi, my teacher, Nigel Martin, often asks me to do my articulation aloud before I play the piece “say before you play”, this helps you to get how you are going to articulate the piece clear in your mind. Another thing I do is to play recorder music in the car and articulate aloud to it. The tongue is a muscle, it needs exercise!
From a bassoonist standpoint, no. 2 was the most helpful, especially with my alto. I have to use a seat strap on bassoon, so I'm used to the instrument being in a good position IF my posture is good, but these two things become separate on recorder, so I never even thought about raising it.
I am just so happy to see your videos! I don't play music but as a performing artist myself it is very very refreshing to see someone in the art world so happy to do what they love to do. Mistakes are always a part of the art and our practices and we need to remember that. Art would be boring without mistakes. Thank you! Love from Greece
another very useful one for me has been to play long notes with a drone tone. I let the drone play the tonic of a scale while I play unison, third, fifth, octave, etc. This has really helped my intonation.
My Thumbs. Both ones. The right thumb used to be in a position where I started to cramp when I was playing low notes because it made my hand position all weird and the left could never figure out the high notes (half holing does not always mean half, but sometimes quarter or covering almost the entire hole!)
I love your videos They kind of remind me of Wonder Woman telling a little girl that she can be anything they want. I am old but they gave the courage to pick up the recorder. Ok so i will never compare to beautiful playing of you and your husband but it brings me much joy!
I'm just starting on the bass recorder, but I played brass for many years before that. The key to getting super low and super high notes isn't power, it's finesse. That took me a while to unlearn!
Love your videos. You've inspired me to pick up my recorders again. In fact, I just bought my first alto recorder - ok and some tin whistles. The only problem I'm having is that I can't stop hearing Off to California and The Wellerman in my head. Hopefully learning those pieces will help with that.
One tip I learned, not about playing per se but very relevant to plastic recorders. Mix washing up liquid with water and dab a tiny amount on the labium and into the windway. Allow to dry. Your recorder won't clog as much when playing! Don't do it with a wooden recorder though
I struggle mostly with the last thing about mistakes. I know as a teacher that mistakes are a vital part of learning but dealing with mistakes as a musician is still hard as perfection is still something most teachers ask from us. And I get that aiming for that sweet "perfect" thing does improve us, but sometimes I fell overwhelmed with how much I need to get there and fall in the despair of feeling worthless which then makes me feel worse as musician and that takes away the motivation to keep up with practice.
Becoming accomplished at anything is a process. You have to fall in love with the process itself because there will always be more time spent in the act of that process than in the results. You can only know what you know and do as well as you can wherever you are in the process, and by loving it, you will learn more and do better. 💕
I have been practicing recorder since I was 9. One day, I had a recorder competition and lose but I didn't give up. I just kept on practicing until I know all notes.
"I like playing out and proud". 😃 Me too! 🌈🏳🌈🌈🏳🌈💖 Also, I just tried it and #2 just completely solved my tenor "slip" problem. I realized I've been practically playing to my feet! Now, that's better and I'm confident I can ditch the thumb rest. Very happy! Seems obvious now , of course. But, it wasn't. Thank you! [[recorder emoji]] Regarding tonguing and articulation, I've found that with the soprano all's well with that gummy ridge; but with the tenor, it's too sharp and clicky, and sounds more "round" (sorry, I have no idea what the proper terminology is) if I touch the point of my tongue up into the palate just above the gummy ridge. Does that make sense? I don't know, as you rightly say, our bodies are all different. I hope everyone feels free to experiment and listen and just find what works for them. But your tips are fabulous for getting started on that wonderful journey. 💖
I really like the part about loving your mistakes. I like to record myself playing and then I can hear what I'm doing wrong and correct it. I don't always pick up on those mistakes when I'm playing. It's mostly articulation issues that I find that way.
Same: on piano you only notice when you play the wrong note and get a clash. Playing recorder has fought me that you can also make a mistake even when you play the correct note! Many times I play something with all of the notes intact then I listen back and you can barely hear the left hand or there is hesitation between chord changes. So then I work on the dynamics and flow of the piece.
I don’t know why but I thought it said 9 things to insanely improve your playing. 😂 I must’ve seen a different video with a nine in the title and didn’t notice the number changed or something
Just ordered my third recorder; a Mollenhauer Prima Alto to join my Yamaha alto and tenor. Depending on how I like its wood body, I'm also interested in Mollenhauer's renaissance style Dream recorders. Coming from low brass, primarily tuba and euphonium, the consort focus of the style and its more full/round tone may make me more comfortable moving upward in pitch to eventually add a soprano. Thing is, my personal music preference leans away from anything getting too close to the piecing tone of a piccolo, lol
Please have a tutorial video of Wuji (themesong of untammed)......it's originally using dizi but many RU-vidrs do a recorder version but mostly are quite unsatisfactory (sorry to say).......new subscriber🤗.......I was impressed with your Titanic themesong tutorial so I hope you can give it a try🥺.....but to be honest, it's difficult
Yass I love that song, and didn't even think of trying it on recorder. Now I want to also. Love Like a Galaxy also stars some nice soprano dizi playing and tunes, and Love Between Devil and Fairy boasts a bad guy who plays a tenor vertical flute. So many great tunes from C dramas to learn atm!
Hello!! Would you by any chance record a video playing the Bansuri? It's such a sweet sounding instrument and I'd love to see an amazing recorder player like you give it a go!
OK, Sarah, you win. I bought a recorder (an alto) and I should get it tomorrow. Team recorder has convinced me. I began learning music as an adult 3 years ago, in a choir. Singing was so fun, I then begun an instrument, the cello. I've been taking lessons, and it's both really hard, and fun at the same time. I found your channel when I was looking for general music advice (your videos on scales, and improvisation come to mind), and I stayed because you make the recorder sound fascinating. So, I finally caved in, and I'll (try to) teach myself the alto. I plan to take a few lessons with a teacher in the summer, when I don't have cello lessons, just to check I'm not teaching myself bad habits. I can't wait to begin my recorder journey!
This one has probably been mentioned in the comments, and was a big AHA moment when starting clarinet again. Play the full value of the note, AND try to be as legato as possible (unless staccato is specified). You think this would be obvious, but I noticed such an improvement in what I was playing once I really started paying attention to this. Thank you for your awesome videos, btw! I love music, play Clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax, irish whistle, and even ocarina sometimes. I picked up a soprano recorder, fell in love, and got a tenor recently (soprano is a maple Eastar, and tenor is a yamaha, but I did order a matching yamaha soprano too)! Thank you for helping me through my journey!
Lovely to hear someone shining a light on our ALVEOLAR RIDGE! I didn't know there even was a ridge there until doing Indo-European Phonology when I was in 6th form at skool. But it sure is there and indespensible in language sound production. And Woodwind articularion too. R, L, S, Sh, Z, T, Ch, J and their more exotic friends AND the recorder! All Hail the Alveolar Ridge. We'd be artless, soulless, grunting beasts without it! Happy days.
Tip 6 is soooo fundamental - I'm so happy to see you brought that up 😃 How one ends their notes is such an important thing - which applies to not only the recorder but to all types of instruments, even the human voice. I was in my late 20s before I realized that, and it really changed my perception of music as a whole as a performer. The way you leave the note; is the duration held; are there any modulating elements introduced to change the timbre before ending it; is it part of a larger/longer phrase and therefore needs to be emphasized before changing. Makes such a difference (to me, at least). Thank you for sharing these! 🙂
I have a question for Sarah or anyone else here who might have some advice concerning finger stretching to help my fingers better reach the holes on my tenor recorder. It is the Yamaha YRT 302BII plastic recorder. I have rather short, stubby fingers for a man my size, and I am having some difficulty reaching the holes (especially the right hand holes) properly to get the right notes. Sarah's hands don't look all that large, so it must be a matter of technique and practice to get her fingers to reach all the holes. My fingers can generally reach each hole, but too often one finger will move off it's hole as I am trying to reach a different hole. Can you recommend any excercises to help my fingers stretch to reach the holes and to strengthen them to properly cover each hole. Thanks!
If I could give you more than one Like, I would give you all that I could. Thank you for your good work, you have helped me with learning the recorder, I have started to play Soprano and Tenor recorder, with you as my only teacher. You are great, both as a very talented musician and as experienced music teacher. I am happy to find your canal, please keep up the good work.
Sarah, 1. can the same techniques for cleaning a wooden recorder (cleaning stick & sock) be used on a low D tunable Chieftain Whistle? And 2. It's interesting to hear you encouraging accepting mistakes as part of the process. Because I once had a string bass instructor who said, and I quote, "if you can't be perfect, then why play?" This, I feel really had a negative effect on my musical prowess.
How sad. If one plays to perfection, then there's nothing left to learn, i.e. the end. Love your practice. Hold your mistakes dear. Learn and be alive.
I love this channel. I've been watching and playing lately. We've had a plastic recorder for many years, and I've played guitar and piano a lot, but never tried wind instruments much. I really enjoy it! It's a different thing than I've been used to, but it makes me think more about breaths and a greater sense of what the effort that being excellent with wind instruments entails. I appreciate orchestral music even more. Thanks!
Great tips! Regarding tip 4 (airstream), I think there are exceptions. Advanced recorder (or flute) players sometimes use "breath articulation" to start a note without the tongue (and without the school recorder sound). But tip 4 is good advice for beginners.
Oh yes, definitely! There are exceptions to all these tips of course. But yep it can be a good starting point for beginners, or for solving a problem you couldn’t quite put your finger on 😊
Another suggestion on making mistakes: if you're really struggling during a playing session, put it down! Take a break! I find coming back to a piece after a break often improves my playing, rather than continuing to bash my head against it.
8 is extremely hard for me. Due to my muscle disease, my muscles don't pick up new stuff..Muscle memory is almost dead so to speak. So I have to constantly think about what I have to do and what fingers to move. That what I learned before is thank goodness still working as should, but new... I am struggling. BUT of course, it's a challenge and challenges are good.
@@greenfloatingtoad Thank you ^^ I hope you are doing well also! Alas, no. But I have also been very busy and am struggling more with my hands than ever before. But not ready to give up yet ^^ even if only simply play a very short children's tune once every while is enough for me to be proud.
Something i cant really figure out is a clean way to end my notes. im not really sure how to just stop the airstream without making the drop off sound, or squeaking at the very end. Is there any proper method for this, or tips?
Soooo I actually just wrote a whole article about this over on my Patreon 😄 You can end with the tongue, or with a little puff of air - they have different effects so try it out!
Good morning Sarah. I'm Marco I follow all your videos carefully and I'm a fan of yours. I am Italian born in Florence, I currently live in Torre del Lago Puccini, home of the great composer Giacomo Puccini. I have been playing both soprano and alto recorder for about two years. In the video featuring the plastic flutes I noticed that you play Jacob Van Eyck's notes with both the soprano and the alto, and you play this flute like a soprano. I am curious to know if you can play an alto flute as if it were a soprano, that is, instead of doing an F you do a C. I have the following flutes: SOPRANO Yamaha 314BIII Moeck in maple Werner Schneider in rosewood Alto: Yamaha 314BIII FEHR in pear wood Moeck in rosewood. I hope you can answer me it would be very important to me get your advice. Thanks Marco
Have you ever removed the block of your Bernolin to clean it? I guess it is put in place without glue or anything like in wooden recorders, but I''m not sure.
Practical and super-useful tips, and I’m not even play the recorder 😀 (adult self-learning the clarinet). Thank you Sarah for another thoughtful, valuable and entertaining video!
After many many many years of trying to learn(messing about)on guitar/Bass I'm trying the recorder now & I'm enjoying it .Have you tried the Hohner one piece Recorder I've got a Yamaha but thought I'd give the Hohner ago for£7 seems reasonable your vids are a great help thanks.
Probably a more advanced technique but I found the advice you gave on a previous video where you practise a tricky passage using different sorts of rhythm very useful ( e.g. changing a smooth continuous passage of semi-quavers into a dotted, syncopated or swing rhythm) I find the dotted rhythm particularly useful- it seems to give you a fraction of a second longer to read what is coming next!
Wow, as primarily a clarinet player, I didn't realize you aren't supposed to articulate by touching the recorder itself! On a single reed you have to touch the reed with your tongue to get clean articulation. Thanks!
Hello thank you so much, I’m really excited to watch more of your channel as I’ve decided to try to take up playing the whistle the recorder and the Flute all at the same time. Are used to play the recorder and Flute Wayback before I had children 25 years ago, I want to play them all, there seems to be many tin whistle tutors but you’re the only recorded one I have found. It’s such a beautiful instrument thank you so much
the problem is not make mistakes, is don't know what are you doing wrong and get stuck, that was happen to me, but fortunately i founded your channel and can improve my sound so much, thanks for all.
Going down the scale on my Yamaha alto recorder the B sounds quite a bit more quiet than the A, G and F In short the B sounds so much more quiet thean all the other notes! almost breathless. anyone ever have such an experience?
I disagree with you and agree more with the title of the video I bet it will instantly improve your playing but it probably won't instantly improve it by a lot you might see instant results but you won't get to level you want right away
Do you mean to say that by following these tips to improve my playing I will not turn into an instant virtuoso? How disheartening; it's the river for me. Fishing always helps sooth the sole.
Hello! I have a problem with my plastic recorder. When I play it fills up with spit and the sound changes. I don't remember this happening the first years of playing it. What should I do? Is it my fault or the instrument's?
Keep a rag nearby. Tap the window onto it, then the foot. Remove the head joint, hold it horizontally & place your right palm flat against the end, blow throw the window forcing the spit out the mouthpiece. If it's really bad, take the entire recorder apart & clean the inside using your recorder's cleaning rod.
