I started learning the recorder (and music!) just about one year ago. When I started, I didn’t expect to still be at it now.
In the following sections, I sum up a bit what I have learnt this past year.
Practice
Practice makes perfect… and I am still very far from perfect, but I still practice every day.
Even if I do not have the time, I try to give it a short for 15 minutes. Even though I am often tired after a long day of work, I unexpectedly found that playing the recorder a bit calms be a bit and remove some of the tiredness. My guess is that it has to do with breathing.
Getting a teacher
Since one year ago, I decided to get recorder and a bit of music lessons. I study one hour / week both the Soprano and Alto recorders.
The first weeks were really quite difficult to follow as my teacher is quite “speedy”, but in the long run I think it helped a lot with posture, notes and bad habits.
I think one notable area where it helped me the most is getting on the Alto. The instrument is much bigger than a Soprano, and it felt very clunky and hard to use at first. Now it is beginning to be more easy to play, although I still prefer the Soprano overall.
The other part where it helped a lot is learning to play in rythm which is very hard for me. I still have a lot to learn, but I really feel I am now much better than a few months ago on that part, and that it would have been more difficult to do alone.
Not optimized practice
Even though I now take lessons and practice every day, I would not say I “optimize” my practice time. I try to practice scales and a music piece on either Soprano or Alto, but I do not have an agenda on what to practice and just want to take pleasure in playing the recorder.
Going too quickly
One my main problem as a beginner is wanting to play a piece of music to quickly. I don’t know the notes yet, reading music is much more fluent thant before, but not that fluent, and the rythm is really instable.
Due to that, hard passages with either lots of cross fingerings or very speedy become a mess.
Even if it seems obvious, I needed to learn to start slower and first try to “read” or “understand” the piece a little bit before starting blindly.
Reading music is still hard
As said a bit above, I am still not fluent when reading music, but I know I got a lot better. I can start a piece and start to feel where are some “musical” changes (for a lack of better term for me).
What I still lack is music theory knowledged. I sometimes do not fully understand what the teacher is saying… Circle of fifths, Arpeggios, a piece of music in C minor, D major, … are still a bit hard to understand…
Rythm is still the hardest
But it gets better… I have to practice with the metronome to be stable, and it is one of the exercice that I hate the most as it is one of the hardest. I sometimes feel that I am OK, just to start the metronome later on to find out that I am actually not stable…
So better start with the metronome first and then turn it off.
Some good habits
Revisiting previously studied music
I sometimes go back to playing some music pieces that were played several months ago.
What I found challenging at the time has now become much more easy: my mind and fingers remember the piece, but I am also much more agile on how to play it.
Recording when revisiting a piece of music compared as before gives an example of the progress made in between.
Going to some concerts
Since last year, I have started going to a few classical music concerts (mainly featuring recorders). I find that I can “appreciate” (if that is the good wording) a piece much better that a few months ago. More so if it involves the recorder as I can begin to understand how it is played.
I also went to see one concert featuring the oud with a friend. It was a really different experience mixing some traditional and more modern music. I find I still much prefer traditional and classical music as compared to modern one.
Another different interest involved a colleague singing in “Saint John Passion” by J.S Bach. I sometimes play some small pieces of Bach on the recorder, but this was totally different.
I must say that the piece was quite long and hard to follow… but still a nice experience (and my colleague sings really well!).
Playing different composers
In the first few months, I mostly played some pieces from Esprit Philippe Chédeville. Some are easier and some are much more difficult… but they all look very much alike.
Adding some variations on some pieces by different composers also allows playing different styles and rythms.
I recently really enjoys Vivaldi and Boismortier.
Putting consciousness into the practice
Something I still find very hard to do when practicing music is focusing and putting consciousness into practice. When I play the recorder, my mind usually turns off and I go into “auto” mode…
Because of that, I make a lot of mistakes and I am not in rythm. But there are so many variables to take into account together that it is really difficult to focus and synchronize (fingerings, reading, tonguing, breathing, rythm, …).
I really need to learn to put more consciousness into my daily practice. I find that I have the same problem when doing some Yoga, so it may have to be with synchronzing the body and the mind.
More recorders
(Not sure I can put that into “good habits”.)
A friend also gave me:
- a Moeck Rottenbugh Soprano in boxwood
- a Kung Alto in Palissander
- a Kung Sopranino also in Palissander that I unfortunately seldom play, mainly because of lack of proper music and that it’s too piercing for my family
The Alto is much heavier than their plastic counterparts, so I am still learning how to properly handle it.
I play them several times a week, and the Soprano much more than the Alto as I really love playing it.
Since last year, I also bought a few more plastic recorders:
- Yamaha YRS-402B (which is similar to the Yamaha YRS-302BIII that I bought last year) for Soprano and Yamaha YRA-402B for Alto
- Aulos 503B for Soprano and Aulos 509B for Alto
I find that I actually prefer playing and practicing with them than my previous plastic recorders (although they are honestly not that different). I usually take lessons with the Aulos and play the Yamahas at home. The Yamaha YRS-402B is really similar to the Moeck Rottenbugh Soprano (they are supposed to be based on the same historical model) and I find their handling and responsiveness to be quite close. Of course the Moeck sounds way better and less “plastic” than the Yamaha, but it gives a really similar vibe.
The Aulos are also really easy to play both in the lower and higher register, but I find it is sometimes too easy to play a note as opposed to the wooden instruments, that is why I try to switch between recorders.
Overall, I still prefer the Soprano to the Alto. I have some place at home where they are all stored together.
Onto year two
In the previous year, I really enjoyed playing the recorder and intend to continue next year, and I hope the year after.
Although I think that my progress may have been faster by more focusing on regular practice and exercices, … I really feel the difference compared to when I started. It is going at a speed that suits me, and that is OK, as I am in no rush to reach some unknown level. I have time and I take the time accordingly.
Music is harder than I thought, it involves a dedicated practice, a daily routine and also some passion.
But I love it a lot, so let’s keep going, there are surely more music players than developers out there!