Arranging and composing for recorder consort

February 27, 2024 in Hints and Tips

The recorder has a wider range of native repertoire than many instruments thanks to its long history. We have Renaissance consorts (many of which were composed for unspecified instruments so they’re definitely fair game for recorders), a plethora of Baroque sonatas and concertos (even a smattering of consort pieces from the period) and a vast array of works composed since the recorder’s 20th century revival. But still we have a perpetual desire to broaden the range of music we play. This invariably leads us to raid other sources for music we can borrow, including vocal and instrumental repertoire.

If, like me, you want to explore beyond the recorder’s native repertoire you have three choices - transcriptions of pre-existing music, making more creative arrangements or composing something from scratch. Let’s consider each of these in turn…

Transcription

I would class this as a piece where you can take a work and transfer it quite simply to recorders. You might need to change the key of the music (more about that later) or play a little with the parts to make them fit, but otherwise it’s generally a fairly simple process. This approach often works well with vocal music and many Renaissance instrumental works will translate easily to recorders too.

Creative arrangement

In this category you might choose to create a new piece from a tune you already know - for instance combining folk tunes and adding your own twist of creativity. I think this could also include arrangements of music which isn’t immediately obviously suitable for recorders. Perhaps a piece for piano where you have to create individual lines from a more homogenous texture.

Composing

Here the only limit is your own imagination!

You have complete control over the choice of instruments, style of music, level of difficulty and much more. Whether you feel comfortable composing may depend on your musical knowledge and level of experience, but I would argue there’s nothing to stop you having a go. As with writing a novel, I would suggest you begin by drawing on your own experiences. Perhaps start with your recorder, noodling around with the sort of musical shapes you enjoy playing and if something great comes to you try writing it down. You could begin with a single line and work on from there. Even if you never share the music with anyone else you’ll learn from the experience and it’ll give you a greater understanding of what composers do. You don’t need fancy music typesetting software for this - all that’s required is some manuscript paper, a pencil and eraser. You can even download and print manuscript paper from the internet these days. Blanksheetmusic.net will even insert the clef for you before you print.

I’m going to focus mostly today on arranging as that’s my main area of expertise - I’ve never been much of a composer. But many of my tips will apply just as much to composing, so if that’s what tickles your fancy do read on…

Let’s say you fancy trying your hand at arranging or transcribing - where’s a good place to start?

Again, personal experience of music can lead you in a particular direction. Is there a piece of music you’ve heard that you’d like to try on recorders? Or maybe you have a favourite composer who neglected to write for your favourite instrument? These ideas may be enough to get you started, but I have some other ideas about the type of music you could mine.

Vocal music

Don’t be overambitious to begin with - pick something simple for your first arrangement. Vocal music often works really well because the range of the human voice is very similar to that of the recorder. Maybe begin with a hymn tune or a simple piece of Renaissance choral music? If you have a work for soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices, the chances are it’ll fit perfectly on descant, treble, tenor and bass recorders.

Renaissance instrumental music

Many pieces from this period don’t specify the instrumentation and may work well on recorders. If the music was originally for viols you might have to change the music from alto or tenor clef to something more familiar. You may find the notes need a little adjustment (shifting occasional low notes up an octave for instance) to fit the recorder. Unless you’re arranging the music for low recorders (tenor downwards) you’ll almost certainly need to shift all the notes an octave higher to make them fit, but we’ll talk about recorder pitch later.

Later music

Music intended for modern orchestral instruments may have lines which are too long for a single recorder to play, but we’ll look at how to cope with this in a while. It’s often tempting to try and fill the classical and romantic gap in the recorder’s repertoire, but sometimes pieces just don’t translate to recorders well. Many years ago I heard Wagner’s Procession to the Minster from Lohengrin played by a brass band and wondered if it might work on recorders. A brass band is a monochromatic ensemble (all the instruments basically make the same type of sound), just like recorders, so it seemed logical. Of course, a brass band has a much wider dynamic range and sadly I discovered a recorder orchestra (even if it’s made up of 130 people) just doesn’t have the same impact as a brass band at full power. It was a useful learning experience though, even if the music has only been used once!

If you’re considering arranging music originally intended for a symphony orchestra it’s worth bearing in mind the effect the transition to recorders may have on the impact of the music. Orchestral music derives a lot of its colour from the use of different instruments - for instance a melody played by a solo oboe against a string accompaniment. With a monochromatic recorder ensemble we lose this variety of colour so you may need to find ways around this. For instance, you could double a line an octave higher (say, a treble line doubled by sopranino) to bring a little sparkle. Some orchestral music will work this way, while other pieces just seem to lose their magic. That said, don’t be afraid to try - if nothing else you’ll learn something in the process!

The example below comes from my arrangement of The Shepherds’ Farewell by Berlioz. You can see that at bar 45 I’ve chosen to give all the music to the lower instruments to create a contrast of tone colour.

Keyboard music

A recorder transcription of keyboard music which contains clear musical lines (a fugue for instance) can be very effective. On the other hand, keyboard music (whether for piano, harpsichord or organ) can take many forms - single lines for each hand, chords or arpeggio patterns. These can require some imagination and creativity to make them work on recorders, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend keyboard music as the ideal starting point if you’re new to arranging.

The examples below come from Bach’s Little Fugue in C major. The original (on the left) is composed for keyboard, but the different voices are clear within the music so it transfers very easily to four recorder parts (on the right).

Listen to music for inspiration

As you listen to music ask yourself if you can imagine it being played on recorders. This is where my arrangements often start - sometimes I’ll hear a piece which immediately strikes me as being ‘recorder-like’ in some way. For instance, the Palestrina Sicut cervus I shared as a consort last year was something I discovered via YouTube. Its beauty and simple lines immediately struck me as being recorder-friendly so I went in search of the music.

Where to search for music?

Actually tracking down sheet music has become immeasurably easier over the last twenty years. Once upon a time you had to buy a physical book of sheet music or hope to find it in your local library. Now a search online can be all that’s needed. My first port of call is always the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) which is a vast repository for music that’s out of copyright. If you’re looking for something by a composer who died more than 70 years ago there’s a good chance you’ll find it here.

Other useful sources are the ChoralWiki (previously known as the Choral Public Domain Library or CPDL), 8Notes and the Mutopia Project. All of these sites offer free access to public domain music, but many have a paid tier to remove adverts or allow you unlimited downloads.

Getting started

Whether you’re arranging or composing for the recorder here are some basic pieces of practical advice which will help you get started.

Notation

Recorder notation can be confusing at first and sometimes trips up the unwary. You’ll often hear people talk about recorders in F and recorders in C. This suggests they’re transposing instruments, like the clarinet (which comes in B flat, A and E flat varieties). In reality all the letter describes is the pitch of the recorder’s lowest note. Therefore a recorder in F (treble, bass or sopranino) plays an F if all the finger holes are covered. Unlike real transposing instruments, any note on a recorder is written at its sounding pitch.

This brings us onto clefs….

Recorder clefs

All recorders either play from the treble or bass clef - which clef largely depends on the pitch of the instrument. Generally, any recorder down to the tenor plays from treble clef, while bass and lower use the bass clef. Having said that, some bass and great bass players prefer to play from treble clef so they don’t have to learn to read bass clef.

One small complication is the use of a little 8 above some clefs. This indicates that the instrument in question either sounds an octave (eight notes) higher or lower than the written pitch. This is a purely practical thing, so no one has to read too many leger lines. If descant recorder music was really notated at playing pitch, the lowest note would be in the third space of the stave and the high C would have five leger lines, making it very hard to read! As a result it can look as though treble music is higher in pitch than descant music because it tends to have more leger lines - something often confuses people.

Here’s a chart showing the clefs and sounding ranges of each type of recorder - you can see how using the octave clefs results in far fewer leger lines for some of the instruments:

Recorder ranges

While we’re thinking about notation, let’s also consider the range of notes you might use for each recorder. For most recorders, the easily useable range is two octaves and a note. Yes, higher notes are possible, but not very user friendly. It’s a good idea to think about the type of players you’re arranging the music for. Professionals should be able to play the entire compass, but if your intended audience is made up of middle of the road amateurs I would go for a more modest range. Fluent players will probably be comfortable with two octaves, but if you’re aiming your arrangement at those who are less confident I would restrict yourself to around an octave and six notes from each instrument’s lowest note.

Here’s another chart showing the written ranges for each instrument. Each instrument shows the range you could expect from advanced players, followed by an easier playing range for those who are less experienced.

Choose your instruments

Before you start arranging you need to decide which recorders you’re planning to write for. If you have a particular group in mind, do they have the full range of instruments? It’s no good writing a piece for the classic descant/treble/tenor/bass (SATB) quartet format, only to find that no one plays the bass! If you have access to more players, doubling up the inner parts (say, two treble and/or two tenor parts) can add richness to the sound because it allows you to write more layers into the music.

The following example comes from A Thousand Christmas Candles and you can see how the arranger has chosen to have two treble and tenor parts to increase the richness. He also uses octave doubling of the melody (shown by the circled bars) to create greater depth.

What sort of sound world are you aiming to create? An SATB quartet can be quite high pitched, while a low consort of tenor, bass, great bass and contrabass creates a much mellower effect. If you have enough players at your disposal, doubling lines at the octave can also be an effective way to enrich the sound. This works especially well in Renaissance music where the texture and harmony is often quite simple to start with.

In my arrangement of Bach’s By the Rivers of Babylon I chose to double the tenor melody line on great bass to enhance and enrich the sound.

Key signatures

Here I would encourage you to be kind! I’m sure you know from experience that playing in keys with many sharps or flats can be difficult on the recorder. This is largely because the accidentals often require forked or cross fingers (think of E flat on the treble, or B flat on the descant). These notes not only have a slightly different tone colour (sometimes weaker) but because such fingerings are more complex they can be difficult to play at speed and tuning can also be more of a challenge.

Many years ago a tutor on a course I attended arranged the Hebrides Overture by Felix Mendelssohn for a massed playing session in its original key of B minor. Two sharps isn’t so bad, but by the time we got to the point in the overture where the music shifts into F sharp minor only a small handful of us were actually able to play the fast moving semiquaver scales in three or four sharps!

Sometimes such difficulties can be overcome by transposing the music into another key entirely. For instance, I’ve recently arranged a part song by Sir Arthur Sullivan, originally composed in A flat - a key signature of four flats. I knew most recorder players would find this very difficult, so instead I shifted every note down a semitone into G major (just one sharp in the key signature) and every group I’ve tried it with has thanked me for my kindness because it’s much more playable!

Beware of troublesome notes

There are a handful of notes which can be particularly awkward, regardless of the playing ability of the musicians and it’s sensible to avoid these if you can.

For example, top F sharp on the treble can only be played in tune by using the top G fingering and then stopping the bottom of the recorder with your knee. (The same applies to top C sharp on the descant). This requires a degree of gymnastics more easily achieved while sitting down, but even then there’s a small risk of clouting one’s teeth with the recorder if you’re not careful! Professional players will be practiced at this technique but less advanced players often hesitate when faced with a top F sharp and the resulting sounds can be very variable. One way around this is to place the line requiring a top F sharp into a descant line, where it will be placed in a more comfortable part of the instrument’s range.

There’s other note which requires less dental jeopardy, but nonetheless is also probably best avoided - top C sharp for the bass recorder. This fingering works well on smaller instruments, but for some odd reason it’s reluctant to speak on many basses - in particular plastic models. If you really need this note to be played by a bass there is an alternative fingering (shown below) which produces a sweet tone, but it can be tricky to find if you haven’t practised using it. Alternatively, slurring to the C sharp from the previous note will sometimes overcome the problem.

A fingering for top C sharp which works on all bass recorders.

Think about the voicing of your musical lines

As I’m sure you’re aware, not every note in a recorder’s range is dynamically equal. The lowest notes are quiet and fragile, while the tones in the upper register are stronger. You can use this to your advantage when arranging. If you need a melody line to sing out from the middle of the ensemble you might be better to place it higher in the range of a tenor recorder rather than low on a treble. This way you can influence the way any one musical line will either pop out of the ensemble or recede into the background.

Dynamics and range

This topic relates to the previous one because you can also use the natural characteristics of the recorder to create dynamic contrasts.

If you want your piece to end with a quiet chord, place the notes low in the instruments’ range. In contrast, if you’re after a triumphant fanfare to finish you’ll be better placing the notes higher in the range for added strength. Equally, if you include dynamics in the music, don’t be surprised if a top C on a descant isn’t played pianissimo - it just isn’t the nature of such high notes!

It’s worth noting that the recorder is capable of playing genuine dynamics, but how successful they are will depend on the ability of your players. Varying the speed of breath creates some dynamic contrast, but the pitch will often slide up or down a little with high or low breath pressures. Advanced players will frequently employ alternative fingerings to combat this issue - for instance playing a slightly sharp fingering for a quiet note so they can blow more gently and remain in tune. For many players this may be beyond their technical comfort zone, so be realistic about your expectations.

Ensure everyone has some musical interest

There’s nothing worse than playing in a consort and realising the descant line is the only one to contain a melody. Yes, accompanying is an important and enjoyable part of ensemble playing, but the joy can wear off if all you have is oom-pah-pahs! When arranging music, do try to ensure everyone has at least a small slice of the action. It might be you’ve chosen a piece to arrange which has a cracking bass melody in the middle section, or perhaps you could decide to give the tenors the tune while the descants and trebles play a light accompaniment above them. Your players will thank you if you give everyone some interest rather than just an accompaniment of long notes.

Get creative with accompanying patterns

If you’re creating accompaniments from scratch rather than just transcribing another composer’s lines, don’t be afraid to play and explore different textures. There is a place for sustained long notes, but sometimes you can add rhythm to create more variety. For instance, an ostinato rhythm (one that repeats) can add a sense of excitement and drive. In this extract from my own Polish Folk Song Suite, I’ve used arpeggio patterns to create a more interesting texture around the melody.

Articulation and slurs

While the recorder may not have a huge dynamic range, it does excel in its variety of articulation. Using staccato, accents and slurs can add so much character to a performance so don’t forget to employ these in your arrangements.

Recorder players often have a love/hate relationship with slurs - largely because the more complex nature of our instrument’s fingering makes some of them challenging. Most players are happy to play short slurs of two or three notes, but if you choose to use long, melismatic slurs it can be hit and miss whether they’ll be played. If you really want them played as slurs (rather than just indicating the length of a phrase) it’s worth noting this in the score, although that still doesn’t guarantee the players won’t inadvertently cut them down into smaller slurs anyway!

While we’re on the topic of slurs, it’s worth noting that some are harder to play than others. For example a slur across the transition from low register (covered thumb hole) to upper register (pinched thumbhole) can be a little ‘clicky’ because of the number fingers that have to be moved. It’s always good practice to take the time to play through all the parts yourself to see if they work comfortably. Doing this gives you a chance to make any tweaks before releasing your carefully honed work into the wild.

Coping with long melody lines

If you venture into less obvious musical realms (for instance music for orchestral instruments) you’ll sometimes come across melodies which are too wide ranging to be played by a single recorder. This problem can be solved by sharing the melody across two instruments, with a note or two to link up between them. Below you’ll see two examples of places where I’ve done exactly this. The first is from my arrangement of Bach’s Esurientes, where the alto vocal line was a too long to be played comfortably by just the tenor recorder. Here I’ve shared it out between tenor and bass (the red lines show the path of the melody), so the breath demands are easier and the melody is always played in a strong part of the recorder.

My second example comes from an arrangement of Eric Coates’ London Bridge March. He writes a wonderful swooping melody which fits beautifully on the violin, but has too great a range for one recorder. Instead I’ve shared it between treble and tenor recorders and each voice switches back to accompanying figures when it doesn’t have the tune.

Exploring extended techniques

This may be a new term to you, but it describes the way composers sometimes use less traditional methods of playing a recorder. Our instrument is capable of so much more than just blown notes, such tapping the recorder with your fingers, blowing across the labium, using the just the head joint - the possibilities are endless! These effects are often used in contemporary music and can be a great way to create pictorial effects in your music. This example comes from Judith Bush’s Midwinter Miniatures. Holding one’s fingers across the labium creates a whistling tone which enhances the impression of a frozen winter wind whistling through the house and is so effective in performance.

Extended techniques is a subject large enough for an entire blog, but if this concept intrigues you I encourage you to watch Sarah Jeffery’s video about the topic.

Learn from other arrangers and composers

As you begin your journey as an arranger or composer, one of the best things you can do is to learn from others. Find every opportunity to play in consorts, using the score to see how the composer or arranger has constructed the music. Take note of where the melody lines occur within the ensemble and how the composer/arranger voices the other instruments so as not to obscure the tune. Look at the way he or she uses dynamics and articulation markings to bring light and shade to the music. Exploring music from the inside can be so inspiring.

Listening to music will teach you a lot too. Listening to recorder consorts can open your ears to the way different instruments have an impact on the sound of the music, while exploring repertoire played by other instruments may give you ideas for pieces to arrange.

Always be curious and don’t be afraid to explore unfamiliar types of music - you never know where inspiration will strike.

Talk to other composers and arrangers

The recorder world is a very friendly one and if you meet a composer or arranger at a workshop or playing day the chances are they’ll be only too happy to chat with you. One of the best ways to pick up advice is to ask questions of those who already have experience, so don’t be afraid to speak to people you already know or meet at recorder events.

Over to you…

Is there anything I’ve missed out? Do you still have questions? If so, do leave a comment below and I’ll endeavour to fill any gaps. Or perhaps you’ve already had a go and you have tips of your own. Please feel free to share you thoughts and ideas with us in the comments so we can all learn more about composing and arranging.

Maybe you’ve already made some arrangements or compositions and you want to share them with others? Over the years several of my Score Lines subscribers have contacted me with their own arrangement and compositions and some have appeared in my consorts library, becoming popular downloads. If you have a piece you’re proud of why not get in touch and perhaps we can bring your creations to a wider audience - don’t be shy!

Recorder playing as a team sport

September 26, 2023 in Hints and Tips

One of the greatest joys of playing any instrument is coming together with others to make music in an ensemble. Recorder players do this in many ways - teaming up with a duet partner, playing consorts in a small ensemble, becoming a member of a recorder orchestra, joining in the fun with your local branch of the Society of Recorder Players or revelling in the sound of massed recorders at a large-scale event. We’re lucky to have so many options open to us and I know many people who play in several ensembles of different types.

One request I’ve received several times is for a blog about this topic, specifically aimed at those who play in or run recorder groups organised by individuals rather than large scale orchestras. Here in the UK, this often takes the form of a u3a group or a small ensemble which meets regularly in someone’s home. There are probably as many different types of ensemble as there are composers, so catering for every scenario is all but impossible. However, I have lots of practical advice to share, and I hope you’ll read through and make use of whichever points are helpful for your situation.

While researching this topic I sought out the thoughts of several recorder playing friends who run amateur groups in their own homes and local village halls. I see a huge array of ensembles as I travel around the country, but a single person can’t foresee every possible challenge. As I anticipated, my friends had lots of advice to offer in the light of their own experiences. Much of it I already had on my ‘must include’ list, but their thoughtful emails contained points I hadn’t considered too. This just goes to show that five heads are better than one, so I’d like to say a huge thank you to the folks I contacted - you know who you are!

Starting an ensemble

If you’re still at the planning stage, there are some things to consider before you even hold your first rehearsal. I don’t think there’s any need to cover each of these points at length - it’s more a checklist of things to consider.

Who are you intending to play with? Do you need to recruit players or perhaps you already have group of recorder buddies who are itching to get started? Word of mouth can be great way to find people, but your local music shop may know of other like-minded players too. If you’re a member of an SRP branch (or the equivalent in your country) don’t be afraid to ask if others would like to join you for some additional playing.
Where will you play? For a small group, someone’s living room may be sufficient, but if you’re planning a larger ensemble you may need to consider booking a room in a local hall or community centre. You’ll need good lighting, adequate ventilation (and heating for the winter months) and suitable seating for playing. If you’re hiring somewhere, do remember to check the chairs don’t have arms as these get in the way when playing the recorder!
How often do you intend to meet? You may prefer weekly, monthly or on a more spontaneous basis. Do discuss this with your members and agree whether everyone is expected to attend every session. You may prefer an informal arrangement where folk come along as and when they can. But this could be restrictive, especially if you wish to work on the same music for a period of time.
What are your aspirations for the group? Are you after fun or education? Maybe your aim is to simply explore unfamiliar music, or perhaps you want to really work at pieces to improve your musical and technical skills? It might be you even want to work towards a performance. I’ll talk about this possibility again later. The most important thing is to talk to the other musicians and make sure you have the same aspirations.
Do you have a good range of instruments? If you want to play a variety of music it’s helpful to have a mix of different sizes of recorder at your disposal. One of the pleasures of ensemble playing is being able to use different sizes of recorder, so it can be frustrating if one person gets stuck on the bass all the time. If your ensemble has lots of members who only play descant or treble this might present a good opportunity to convert some or all of them larger sizes of recorder. There are tutor books aimed at those who want to learn a new fingering but I’ve also written a blog about this topic which may be a useful starting point.

Sourcing music

One very important factor when running a recorder group of any kind is choosing the music you’ll play. Historically, printed sheet music was required - often bought from your local music shop. These days most small music shops are unlikely to stock a vast array of recorder consort music, but fortunately there are lots of other sources for music. Let’s look at the various options…

Printed music providers

The most comprehensive source of printed recorder music here in the UK is Recorder MusicMail. They stock a huge array of repertoire for any number of recorders, and if they don’t have what you’re after they can usually get hold of it. They stock publications from the big mainstream publishers (Schott, Universal Edition, Moeck, Faber etc) as well as pieces from the myriad of smaller publishing houses such as Hawthorns, May Hill Music and Willobie Press.

Recorder MusicMail offers an excellent mail order service, but this doesn’t allow you to browse the music and see what it actually looks like. For this it’s worth attending one of the large-scale recorder events (such as the SRP National Festival and some of the larger recorder courses) which take place annually where they often have a presence. Taking an hour to leaf through the boxes of music allows you to see the score and judge how hard the parts are.

I’ve focused on the supplier I use most often here in the UK, but I’m sure there are similar shops in many other countries. Please do share your recommendations in the comments below.

Free online editions

There are many websites offering free or low-cost digital editions of music – especially repertoire which is now out of copyright. These are some of the ones I use most. Do leave a comment below to share other sites you use to source music. Click on the titles in red to visit these music providers.

International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) - a huge outlet for music which is out of copyright for every possible instrument. You can search by composer, instrument, ensemble, title, musical period and more. There are masses of original and arranged pieces for recorders, and a huge array of other music (instrumental and choral) which is ripe for arrangement. You have to be prepared to dig around to find things if you don’t know the exact title you’re searching for, but I’ve discovered a multitude of gems here. If you have a particular number of parts you’re looking for (quartets for instance) a good starting point is to type 4 recorders into the search box. This will bring up a choice of original pieces or arrangements and you can browse from there. The website is free to use, albeit with a delay of a few seconds in loading some of the pieces for free users. For a small annual subscription (currently $32 a year or $3.49 per month) this delay is removed and you’ll have the warm feeling that you’re helping keep this amazing site going.
Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL) - a vast repository of vocal music, much of which will work very well on recorders as the human voice has a similar range to the recorder. There is a degree of overlap with IMSLP, but it’s worth exploring both sites.
Gardane.info - another large online library of music for recorders (some original and some arranged) run by Andrea Bornstein. To access this you need to register for a free account and you’re welcome to make a financial contribution to Andrea to help support the site if you wish.
My own website - (apologies for the shameless plug!) I’m sure the vast majority of people reading this will already have rooted through my consort downloads page, but if you’re new here and haven’t yet discovered it, do take a look. I share a new piece every two weeks (many of them my own arrangements, made specially for you). All are available to use free of charge, but I’m grateful to anyone who makes contribution towards my professional time and helps me keep the site running.

Arranging your own music.

If you’re up for creating your own arrangements there are endless pieces on the sites I’ve listed above which could be purloined for recorders. Many choral and viol consort pieces work with just a simple transcription - transferring each voice straight to the appropriate clef for recorders. More complex arrangements are possible too, but this may require a greater knowledge of music writing than you’re comfortable with.

If you want to make your own arrangements there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use a pen/pencil and manuscript paper - there are even lots of websites where you can download manuscript paper to print at home. If you prefer properly typeset music you can spend a lot of money on software such as the full versions of Sibelius and Dorico, but there are free options available too, such as Musescore, Sibelius First and Dorico SE. There’s a bit of a learning curve when you first begin typesetting music, but it’s a skill worth acquiring if you find yourself making lots of arrangements.

Selecting the right music for your group

Armed with knowledge about where you can source music, the next step is to find the right sort of music for your group - one size doesn’t fit all. If you have a well-matched ensemble, where everyone is pretty much at the same standard, this may be fairly straightforward. You might even be able to club together and ask the members to bring along their own music to share.

If you have a mix of abilities it can be trickier to keep everyone happy though…

When I find myself working with a mixed level group I aim for a standard that allows everyone to at least have a go at the music. I try to ensure less confident players have someone who’s more advanced alongside them to offer a helping hand and reassure them that perfection isn’t an absolute requirement.

With a larger group you may be able to work on repertoire which is slightly harder because the weaker players will be buoyed up by the stronger players around them. There’s a lot of satisfaction to be had from playing with musicians who are slightly more advanced than you as it helps you lift your own game. On the other hand, don’t be over-ambitious. Sometimes it pays to select something simple which you can play really well. This allows everyone more brain space to think about technique, good tone and tuning - not just survival!

How many parts?

Some of your members will no doubt be confident holding a line on their own, while others may need support. Try to be sensitive to this and offer help where it’s needed. If all your members are confident readers you may be able to have the same number of parts as players, but it’s always wise to have some smaller scale pieces handy in case a piece doesn’t work. Whenever I work with an unfamiliar ensemble I take along far more music than I expect to use. That way I always have some back up music in case the group romps through things quicker than expected, or need something a little less challenging.

What style of music?

Many recorder players feel most at home with repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque periods – after all, it’s the music we play most often. Don’t overlook pieces from the last 100 years or arrangements of repertoire from the Classical and Romantic periods though. It’s always good to expand your musical horizons. Exploring different styles will stretch you musically and technically and will no doubt help you play everything better.

Why not theme your sessions?

There’s no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy a variety of different music at your playing sessions – just as with food, a varied musical diet is no bad thing! However, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t theme your rehearsals too. You could do this by period (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, jazz), musical form (dances, madrigals, fantasias) or by composer. This can help bring a focus to your sessions, allowing you to see the commonalities and differences between related pieces of music.

Ten more practical tips…

Get to know the music from the inside.

If you’re responsible for directing the group it pays to at least be able to play through the parts, so you know from personal experience where the danger spots occur. No one expects you to spend hours learning every part perfectly, but some practical experience will help you understand where the musicians are most likely to encounter difficulties.

Prepare the score

Half the challenge of leading an ensemble is knowing what should be happening in the music beforehand. Before I lead a group (be it conducting or just as a coach) I will look through the score and get to know it. I’ll take a pencil and mark in places where parts come in so I can give a gesture if it’s needed. I’ll look for melodic themes which pop up in different parts and mark them so I can easily see the structure of the music. Very often I’ll do this initial preparation in silence – simply seeing what jumps off the page at me. Then I’ll take the next step…

Listen to recordings of the music

Years of experience and practice mean I can often get a sense of what a score will sound like in my head. However, there’s no shame in listening to recordings of the music if you can find them. I use two music streaming services (Apple Music Classical and Idagio) to listen to recordings. With arrangements of music composed for other instruments or voice I’ll often listen to the original version if I can’t find one played on recorders.

If you don’t already pay for a streaming service a huge number of recordings can be found on YouTube free of charge (as long as you don’t mind putting up with some adverts). Listening to different performances can help you decide on your preferred speed and guide you about the right musical style. This is especially helpful for early music, where the composer provides just the notes and rhythms. Listening carefully to good performances can help you judge where the articulation needs to be more legato or staccato, and will encourage you to listen more critically to your own playing too.

With a conductor or without?

Whether you or someone else conducts the ensemble may depend on the size of the group and how experienced the players are.

Don’t be afraid to have a go at conducting – it can be so rewarding and you’ll learn a lot, even if you never do it in front of an audience. I’ve written a blog about conducting which contains lots of information to get you started. Most players aren’t expecting you to be the recorder equivalent of Simon Rattle – a simple, clear beat and the occasional lead at difficult entries is enough to be helpful. Spend some time learning and practising the basic beat patterns in front of a mirror to start with. Doing this against a metronome beat will help you maintain a consistent pulse and you can always try conducting along to recordings for some variety.

Would you like to see a blog post about taking your first steps in conducting? If you would, do leave a comment below and I’ll add it to my list of topics!

Warming up

It pays to spend some time warming up before you launch into any challenging music. This could be as simple of playing through a hymn or simple folk song. The important thing is to pick something that’s well within everyone’s technical comfort zone so they can play the notes without worrying about difficult rhythms or complex key signatures. I have some lovely (and modestly priced!) hymn tunes and Bach chorales in my online shop which I often use with ensembles, but there are plenty of other such offerings available elsewhere online.

Allow the group to just play for a while before you leap in and offer any criticism. If the players have had a long journey they’ll need some time to wind down from their travel and they may be feeling nervous at first.

Stopping and starting

If someone is conducting, giving a bar in will probably be enough to get everyone started, but there’s no harm in warning the players of the likely speed first.

But if you play without a conductor you need to consider other ways to get going. You could verbally count a bar in but how often do you see this happening in concert? Being able to lead a group with your breath and body language is a really important skill and one that all players should at least try.

Before you do anything, look through the first few bars of the music and feel your chosen tempo. When you’re ready to lead off, move the end of your recorder at that speed – imagine you’re conducting with it instead of a baton or your hand. As you give the upbeat, breathe in at the speed of the pulse and the other players will hear and feel the beat with you. Don’t be afraid to move clearly – body language can be a very powerful tool, so throw off your inhibitions and talk eloquently with your movement! Eye contact is helpful too, so don’t bury yourself in the music and do encourage others to look up at you. Try to encourage everyone to have a go at this. Leading an ensemble in via your body language will bring you greater musical understand and confidence as you get it right.

In this video of the Woodpeckers playing a Vivaldi Concerto you’ll see how they use breath and movement to start and end the music cleanly. They also have lots of eye contact and body language throughout the performance, although you might find the choreography is a step further than you’re able to master in your ensembles!

When you come to the end of a piece, body language and eye contact are just as important. Nominate someone to bring the group off, using a small movement with the end of their recorder as they stop their final note. Share the task between you and then everyone learns this useful skill. Talking of body language - don’t be afraid to move a little as you play. I’m not suggesting everyone should nod incessantly like donkeys, but subtle visual cues can help you maintain better ensemble. Of course, if moving causes you to make more mistakes, playing the notes needs to take precedence!

Playing in tune

Unless you’re accompanied by a keyboard instrument, playing precisely at A440 concert pitch isn’t crucial, but you do need to listen to each other and play in tune with each other. I often hear musicians whose tuning doesn’t match, but they have difficulty knowing who is flat and who is sharp. To agree on a unison note, the best way to do this is by playing musical ping pong. Ask each musician to play a short note in turn, bouncing the note back and forth between them. You’ll find it much easier to hear which note is sharper or flatter than the others and often a small adjustment to the speed of breath will fix this. Do remind your players that tuning should always be done with the same breath pressure they’ll be using in the music. It’s no good going through this exercise, only to find that everyone tunes up with a gentle piano dynamic, and then plays the music at mezzo forte as the intonation will be completely different!

It’s also important to remember that recorders are manufactured and tuned with a particular breath pressure in mind. Uncertainty about tuning often leads to tentative playing, an undernourished tone and flat intonation. Under-blowing cause some notes to be flatter than others and distinctly sour chords are likely to be the end result. Instead, aim to play with a positive, confident breath pressure at all times and a lot of your tuning woes will ease immediately.

Setting and maintaining the tempo

Anyone who’s been to a playing session conducted by me will know that I usually make the players sight read the music at full speed, no matter how scrappy it may be initially. This might be counterintuitive, especially if this means lots of notes get dropped on the floor at first. It may seem more sensible to start slowly and build up the tempo, but I know from painful experience that this rarely works. The first tempo you play tends to be the one that sticks in your memory. No matter how hard you work to wind the tempo up, the players will often drift back down to the slower speed. It’s better to have a stab at full speed, even if it’s very rough round the edges at first. Having lodged the correct tempo in your players’ brains, you can then go back and work on sections more slowly before working back up to full speed.

If your music requires a rallentando or accelerando somewhere someone will need to lead this change. If you have conductor it’s part of their job, but if you play without one you need to decide who will use body language and recorder movement to indicate the increase or decrease in speed. Obviously, the rest of the group need to be watching them or it’s a waste of energy and effort!

Find a balance between criticism and encouragement.

My final tip is to enjoy yourselves and don’t overlook the fact that you’re there to have fun!

It’s important to remember amateur musicians are (by definition) playing for the love of it – as you may well be too. Yes, criticism is important if we want to improve our skills, but don’t forget that encouragement is just as crucial. The satisfaction gained from creating a good sense of ensemble and successfully playing music together can be immense, but sometimes it’s just as enjoyable to romp through some new music, warts and all. Aim to include constructive criticism, fun and positive encouragement into every session and everyone will be happy!

Going public – performing to an audience

Many smaller amateur recorder groups would run screaming from the thought of performing in public. They’re there to play for enjoyment and simply don’t want the pressure of preparing for a public performance. But don’t discount the idea out of hand, as performing can be an immensely rewarding experience. I conduct several concerts each year with my recorder orchestras, and I love seeing the buzz they get when it goes well and the audience applaud enthusiastically. Yes, mistakes happen (as they do in professional performances too!) but audiences rarely dwell on these (if they even notice them in the first place) and they’re always willing the performers on to play well.

Now I’m not suggesting you hire a concert hall and put on a full evening’s recital, although some amateur groups do exactly that. But performances come in many shapes and forms. Simply preparing for a performance focuses the mind more clearly and makes you think about how your music making sounds to others. Perhaps the village fete, coffee morning or bring and buy sale would like some informal background music? Or maybe you could play a piece in the local music festival, where you’ll receive a gentle critique and encouragement from the judge? Or perhaps there’s a local showcase you could join in where you’re one of a number of groups performing a short piece of music. You could even have an informal get together at the end of the term/year where you invite partners, spouses and friends along to listen to the music you’ve been working at. Offer some coffee and cake too and you’re bound to have a sympathetic and appreciative audience!

Are there other questions you have about running an ensemble? Or maybe you have your own tips? Either way, do leave a comment below – we can all share our ideas to make our music making even more enjoyable.

Metronome - friend or foe?

July 18, 2023 in Hints and Tips

Many musicians have a love/hate relationship with their metronome. It’s intended to help keep our rhythms on the straight and narrow, but used in the wrong way it can feel more like a musical tyrant. This week’s blog is intended to help you make friends with your metronome. Used in the right way, a metronome can be an immensely powerful tool, and I hope my words will help you understand some practical ways you can make yours work for you rather than against you.

What does a metronome do?

For those who’ve never used a metronome, it’s simply a tool that plays a regular pulse at a variety of speeds. These speeds are measured in beats per minute, just like your heart rate. There are many different ways you can use one, but we’ll get into that shortly.

The wind up mechanical metronome was patented in 1815 by Johann Maelzel under the title “Instrument/Machine for the Improvement of all Musical Performance, called Metronome”. This wasn’t the first such device, but earlier ones depended on the use of a pendulum and made no sound.

For those who are interested in the etymology of words, the term metronome comes from the Greek words metron (measure) and nomos (regulating/law). With this derivation it’s no wonder we sometimes feel our musical time keeping device is laying down the law to us!

Which type of metronome should I buy?

If you’ve never owned a metronome, the choice can be bewildering.

Traditional metronomes tend to be pyramid shaped, with a small weight mounted on a metal bar which swings from side to side, like an inverted clock pendulum. These models are clockwork so you do need to remember to wind them up from time to time or your chosen speed will gradually slow down. They can be beautiful (in my youth I had a hankering for a classic mahogany one but never had enough spare cash) and produce a satisfyingly analogue clunk, but aren’t very portable.

If you’re after a more compact option, there are plenty to choose from. For many years I used a small battery powered metronome which had a good, loud tick. The tempo on models like this is controlled with a dial or buttons and many have a light which flashes too.

When I was a student I had the ultimate in portable metronomes - a flat, credit card sized electronic model. This was super convenient to carry to college, but its high pitched ‘peep’ was less helpful when practising the smaller recorders or harpsichord as its sound got lost among the notes!

These days most of us carry around a smartphone and there are many metronome apps available to download for iOS or Android phones. Some are free, others cost a few pounds, but this option offers the ultimate in portability in today’s world. If, like me, you always have your phone in your pocket you can quickly check a speed whenever and wherever you need to. I use a free app called MetroTimer, which makes a satisfying noise, like two woodblocks being knocked together.

There are a couple of other options I’d not come across until recently. The first is a metronome within an earpiece. Korg make such a model and there are others too. If you find it hard to focus on the sound of the beat while playing, this may be helpful, although you could also use earphones with one of the smartphone apps. One of my pupils introduced me to this type of metronome and told me she finds it harder to ignore than the traditional type!

Finally, while researching this post I learnt about yet another variety - a metronome watch which vibrates on your wrist to remind you of the pulse. The model I came across was made by Soundbrenner (costing around £100 at the time of writing) but there are other makes available too. This may be a little too niche for many, but it’s worth considering if you really want to feel the pulse.

Metronomes with benefits

You may find the simple ticking of a metronome is all you need, but some models come with added tools. The most common is the ability to have a different pitch sounding on the first beat of the bar. If you find you wander from the beat while playing you may find this helpful, although of course it might just be an added distraction! The app I use offers this option but I can honestly say I’ve never used it because I prefer the ability to repeat patterns without having to wait for the first beat of the bar.

Tempo guidance

Many metronomes have markings which bring the beats per minute together with the Italian terms you’ll often find in music. For instance, Allegro may be shown as somewhere between 120 and 160. You may find these helpful, but in my experience they often bear little reality to the music I find myself playing! The correct metronome mark is very context dependent, so don’t be afraid to ignore these indications if they don’t fit with the music you’re practising. It’s also worth mentioning that the definition of some expression marks (Vivace, for instance) has changed over the centuries, so the tempo your metronome suggests today may not be appropriate for a piece composed in the 17th century.

Tune up!

Some metronomes also play a tuning note - usually A=440. This may be handy occasionally, but the important thing is that you play in tune with the other members of your ensemble, even if the overall result doesn’t strictly adhere to an absolute pitch. I would also argue that if you really want to check the pitch of your playing across the whole range of the recorder, it might be worth purchasing a tuner (or a tuner app for your smartphone) rather than relying on just one note.

Want a metronome with a difference?

Another discovery while researching this is the plethora of metronome options on YouTube! If you want to make your practice time more funky, just search for ‘metronome drum beat’ and the speed you desire and you’ll probably find an entire drum kit at your disposal, like this one. Maybe not the ideal accompaniment for Bach, but for those who are ‘mature’ enough (I count myself in this category) it may remind you of the 1980s Hooked on Classics craze for “improving” famous pieces of classical music with a funky drum beat!

Why use a metronome?

There are two main reasons why you might use a metronome - to improve the regularity and evenness of your rhythm or to increase your speed. I’ll look at these two uses in more detail shortly, but first I have some useful exercises to help you make friends with your metronome.

Let’s make friends with our metronome

I’ve taught many pupils over the years who struggled with their metronome. Used in the wrong way, it can feel as if your metronome is a sentient being, actively working against you. Go on, admit it - you’ve cursed yours at one time or another, haven’t you?!

This often happens because we’re either not truly listening, or we’re being overambitious with our speed. If you struggle to play in time with your metronome try these simple exercises to help you really zone in on the pulse.

Set your metronome to a comfortable speed, say 100 crotchet beats per minute. Listen to the beat for a few seconds - and I mean really listen. Don’t get distracted by the other sounds around you, focus on the pulse and count along silently with the beat in your head: 1-2-3-4.
Now quietly tap along with the pulse - use your fingers on the table, or against the palm of your other hand. Make it a small movement rather than big hand claps. Close your eyes and listen to your tapping against the metronome. Are they truly together?
While we’re going back to basics - make sure you never tap your foot while playing with a metronome. Your foot is part of your body and if there’s any internal conflict you’ll always revert back to following your foot rather than the metronome!
Once you’re happy your tapping and metronome are matching neatly, grab a recorder and play repeated notes against the beat. Don’t try and play scales or melodies at this stage, but instead keep it really simple. Close your eyes and really focus on coordinating the movement of your tongue with the pulse from the metronome. Once your beat has settled, then double the speed of your tongue strokes to play quavers instead of crotchets. Are they absolutely even, or do they vary in speed? Don’t be afraid to experiment - play smoothly and staccato and try out different rhythm patterns against the beat.

Hopefully by now you’re really in tune with the pulse from your metronome. Now adjust the beats per minute, faster and slower and repeat the exercise. With each different tempo, take a few seconds to really listen to the beat before you start tapping or playing. So often I hear students jump in feet first without stopping to internalise the speed of the pulse first. If you haven’t done this you’re unlikely to play in time, at least for the first few beats!

As you vary the speed of this exercise, try to be aware of where your weaknesses are. At first glance, playing quickly may seem difficult, but slow music can be just as challenging. Tapping and playing against a slow beat takes great control, especially if the pulse is slower than your resting heart rate. Keeping a pulse of 70 beats per minute going consistently is one thing, but when the rate slows into the 40s and 50s the beats can seem an awfully long way apart. Try this same exercise at 40 beats per minute and you’ll quickly see what I mean!

Moving on from the basics

Having made friends with your metronome, the next step is to use it to benefit the music you’re practising. As I explained earlier, there are two main reasons why you might use one so let’s look at those.

Improving your sense of rhythm

One reason to play with a metronome is to improve your rhythmic control. Our sense of rhythm can be a very flexible thing, easily thrown by concentration (or lack of), or imperfections in our technique. Here are my top tips for improving the consistency of your rhythm and making the notes more even…

You don’t need to play entire pieces

I almost never play complete movements with the metronome. Quite apart from the danger of turning oneself into an automaton, there’s every chance things will unravel at some point, creating frustration. Instead, pick out a short passage to work on. Once you’ve made some progress then move on to the next section.

Really listen to your playing

Decide on the section you want to work on and play it with the metronome. Remember to listen to the pulse for a few seconds before you begin to really internalise the tempo. When you play, focus on your rhythms and ask yourself if the notes are genuinely even.

Try double time

If you find your fingers are rushing or slowing relative to the pulse it may be you’re struggling to judge the distance between the beats. If the pulse is slow your brain may find it easier to play evenly against a faster beat. Double the beats per minute and try playing against that instead. For instance, if you were practising at crotchet = 56, double the speed to 112 and play your quaver beats against that. This reduces the distance between the beats and can make it easier to play evenly.

For instance, this is a passage from Vivaldi’s Concerto in A minor, RV108, which I recently performed in a concert. When practising, this passage threw up a few problems which I solved by using my metronome. To tidy up my fingering I used exactly the process I’ve just described, starting with a quaver speed of 96 to make sure my fingering was completely even before speeding the music up again.

Don’t pick an overambitious speed

If you struggle to play in time with the metronome you may be stretching your technical abilities beyond breaking point. Attempting a speed which is too fast simply means you have more multitasking to do - feeling the pulse, getting around the fingerings, tonguing neatly, remembering the correct rhythms and more. As we’ve discussed before, humans are pretty bad at multitasking, so taking the speed down a few notches may well give you a better chance of success. We’ll look at how a metronome can help you increase your speed later.

Tackle unevenness with different rhythms and articulations

Do your fingers get out of control during what should be even runs of notes? If so, try changing the rhythm from even notes to dotted rhythms. Then play the rhythms with the note values reversed, so the short note comes before the dotted note, like Scotch snaps. When you can master this, playing the simple, even notes will seem easier by comparison.

For instance, the example below shows the first bar of the same piece of Vivaldi, first with dotted rhythms, and then repeated with Scotch snaps:

Sometimes slurring can bring challenges too. Your fingers are more likely to become uneven and uncontrolled when you slur. For some reason, using the tongue to articulate notes often helps control the finger movements. Slurring removes most of the tongue strokes and often induces unevenness in the fingers. Quite why this is I’m not sure, but I’ve seen it in so many pupils’ playing that it can’t be a coincidence!

When faced with long slurs, try breaking them down into smaller groups, slurring in twos, threes and fours. As you regain control, gradually lengthen the slurs until you can play long strings of notes evenly without the aid of the tongue. Focus on the quality of your finger movements, making them small and quick - use no more energy than you need to. If you can play every phrase even and slurred, tonguing the notes should be easy by comparison!

Here’s that same Vivaldi bar, this time with different slurring patterns. I used exactly these patterns while practising and once I could play all of these neatly and evenly, playing them all slurred or all tongued felt easy by comparison!

Close your eyes

In problem areas, memorise short bursts of notes and practise them with the metronome with your eyes closed. Removing visual distractions helps you listen more carefully and notice unevenness sooner.

Break the music down

Never be afraid to dismantle the music, choosing short passages to work on with the metronome - perhaps even just a few beats - and repeat them lots of times. Playing long passages demands sustained concentration and by the end you may have forgotten mistakes made earlier. As you put these smaller fragments back together again, vary where you start playing from. If you can confidently pick up a piece of music from any note in any bar you’ll have much more confidence and security.

The need for speed

Increasing speed is another important reason to practise with a metronome. When faced with a new piece of music it’s so tempting to push the speed on too much too soon. Doing this increases the risk of introducing new mistakes and then reinforcing them. We all know how hard it is to break bad habits - so why not avoid creating them in the first place?

Identify problem areas

With any piece of music many of the notes will become fluent quite quickly, leaving you with a handful of stubborn problem areas. These are the areas you need to focus on with your metronome. I tend to remind myself of their locations with a pencil mark in the margin, but you may have your own favourite annotations.

Find your starting speed

It’s easy to be obsessed with the finishing line and reaching your ultimate speed, but for now put that out of your mind. Instead, play the short passage which needs work and find a speed where you can comfortably and reliably play it correctly well. It doesn’t matter if this initial tempo is stupidly slow - your aim at this point is for consistent accuracy.

Below you’ll see a photo of another passage from the same Vivaldi Concerto. Here you get a glimpse into my process, with a mark in the margin to show I need to work on this bit, plus a metronome speed of crotchet = 76. This is at least 20 notches slower than the final performance tempo, but this was my starting point - a speed where I could consistently and accurately play the passage without errors.

Try subdividing the beat

If your chosen speed results in a really slow pulse, don’t be afraid to subdivide the beat into smaller units. For instance, if you’ve ended up at crotchet = 50, the beats can feel an awfully long way apart. So why not double the speed of your metronome beat and play at quaver = 100. This doesn’t change the speed you’ll be playing at but makes it easier to slot your notes in against the metronome.

Preparing to speed up

Play the passage with the metronome at this speed a few times and really focus on your technique. Check your fingers are finding the notes cleanly and without any feeling of being on the edge of your comfort zone. Is your tongue working smoothly and evenly to articulate the notes? You may be playing the music at half speed or slower, but that doesn’t matter - you’ll soon begin to increase your velocity.

Fool your fingers into going faster

Before you go any further, take a moment to listen to the speed of your metronome. Let’s assume you’ve set it to quaver = 100. Really feel the pulse as the metronome ticks. Now increase the speed a tiny amount. On some metronomes the next step may be 104, so select that and listen again. It doesn’t really feel any faster, does it? Now play your chosen passage with this increased metronome speed. Is it still comfortable? The chances are you won’t really notice this tiny increase in speed but you’ve already taken the first step towards your final destination.

Play the passage a couple more times to reinforce the new speed and then notch your metronome up another step - say, quaver = 108. Continue this process, incrementally increasing your tempo. When you reach a speed where your fingers and/or tongue begin to falter, really focus on their quality of movement and try to identify which finger(s) is letting you down before you go any further.

Break things down even more

When your reach a tempo where your fingers move with less ease, don’t be afraid to break the music down. You could divide the passage into single beats and repeat each one several times before moving onto the next. If you do this, it’s also a good idea to continue to the first note of the next beat at least some of the time. This way you have a connection between the beats and that’ll be helpful when you begin to slot things together again.

It may be the transition between just two notes that’s tripping you up, so practise moving between them, ensuring your finger movements are clean and precise. I call this process of breaking the music down into smaller units forensic practising. It may only take a couple of minutes to tidy up a short passage but it’s worth being thorough. By doing this you’re reinforcing the finger patterns you’ve learnt, building strong muscle memory.

Don’t accidentally gain speed

Always play your repetitions of these smaller units against the metronome beat. If you turn it off you’ll almost certainly speed up in frustration and undo some of your good work.

Putting the jigsaw back together again

When the individual beats are neat and precise again, begin to join these small musical units together once again - half a bar at first, then whole bars and so forth. Don’t be ruled by barlines either - you could begin mid-bar and play across to the centre of the next bar. This is all about removing barriers in the music so everything joins up fluently. If all’s well you can then begin to gradually increase the speed of your metronome again.

Build up speed in short bursts

The process I’ve described may seem complicated and tedious, but you may be surprised how effective it is. Don’t try to reach your ultimate speed in one sitting though. It’s better to do a short burst each day (or even a couple of times a day if you can), creating staging posts on the way to your final destination. At the end of each session, pencil the speed you’ve reached into the margin of your music. This gives you a sense of achievement and will remind you where you need to start next time. As you have success with this technique it’ll encourage you to keep going.

When you come back to the music next time you may find things have slipped a little. Say you’d reached quaver = 126 in one sitting, you might need to backtrack to 120 briefly and work up from there. This ‘three steps forward, two back’ approach is entirely normal so don’t be disheartened.

Changing down a gear

At some point there will come a point where your metronome’s quaver pulse begins to feel very fast. This is the stage where you need to halve the number of your metronome mark and revert back to crotchet beats. Before continuing further, do play the music through with your new, slower crotchet pulse to get used to the change. From there you can continue the same process and eventually you’ll reach your final speed.

Putting things back together again

Every so often I would recommend slotting the passage you’ve been practising back into context, playing through the whole movement, warts and all. Don’t fret if you still make mistakes. Doing this allows you to take stock and see just how far you’ve come.

After a few practice sessions you’ll arrive at your final tempo with the knowledge that your fingerwork (and articulation) is really secure. This process may take a little while but, in my experience, it’s a surefire way to conquer a difficult passage and increase the speed in a reliable way.

Quick tips to hone your metronome technique

Finally, a few handy hints which didn’t quite find their way in elsewhere…

Don’t overuse your metronome

While the metronome is a valuable tool, there are times when you should put it aside. Don’t get into the habit of always playing with the metronome, or you risk sounding like an automaton. The pulse is a framework on which we hang the notes we play. The major beats need to be in time, but for music to really sound fluid and expressive there needs to be some flexibility. A metronome doesn’t allow you to stretch individual notes or take a little extra time to breathe between phrases. Don’t be afraid to put the metronome to one side from time to time and focus on putting your humanity back into the music.

You’re human - sometimes you’ll disagree with your metronome!

Your relationship to tempo naturally varies day to day. If you’re tired you may play at a more leisurely pace, but after a really good night’s sleep you may be pumped up and raring to go faster. This is entirely natural, so don’t be afraid to increase or decrease your metronome speed a little if the two of you disagree sometimes!

Don’t run before you can walk

Never be afraid to reduce the speed of your metronome if you need to. By hammering away at a speed which is beyond the ability of your tongue and fingers you’ll just reinforce your mistakes and make it harder to unlearn them. Going back to a slower tempo helps you regain control and make your playing more secure in the long run - slowing down isn’t an admission of failure!

Close your eyes

When we remove one of our senses the others work harder to compensate. Playing short passages (or longer ones if you’ve memorised the music) with your eyes closed will focus your ears on your playing even more. If you’re playing with the metronome, listen critically with your eyes shut and ask yourself if you’re really in time with it. You may be surprised what you notice!

* * *

Do you think you’ve found a way to be friends with your metronome now? Yes, you’ll no doubt curse it from time to time, but a metronome can be such a powerful tool when used in the right way. If you have your own tips for metronome practice please do leave them in the comments below - I’d love to hear your strategies too and we can all learn from each other.

Bass is beautiful

July 04, 2023 in Hints and Tips

How deep do your recorder foundations go? Do you enjoy playing the full range of recorders, or are your eyes still focused on the highest instruments?

Today we’re going to take a look at the bass branch of the recorder family tree. If you already play a bass instrument I hope I’ll have some useful tips to help you improve your skills. And for those who are yet to dip a toe in these deeper waters perhaps I’ll open your eyes to the possibilities and joys of larger recorders.

It’s amazing how the recorder world has expanded its horizons, just within my adult life. When I first attended the Recorder Summer School as a teenage student there were a good number of bass players, but the larger sizes of instrument were still rare - maybe just one or two each of great and contrabass. I was so excited by the sound of these larger recorders in the massed playing sessions I even sent my parents a postcard to tell them all about it!

These days it’s not unusual for us to welcome between 10 and 15 great basses and a similar number of contrabasses to massed playing sessions at the Recorder Summer School. We often have a handful of instruments which are larger still, bringing even greater depth to the music. These wonderfully sonorous instruments offset the potential shrillness of highest recorders, creating a range of tones which would have been unimaginable fifty years ago.

My first foray into the bass recorder world

I first discovered the bass recorder early in my teens. Rummaging in the school music cupboard, I found an old bass recorder with thick orange varnish, a good layer of dust and home to at least one spider. Evidently no one had touched it in years, so I asked my teacher if I could try. She said yes, so I took it home, evicted the spider, washed out the crook and gave it a go. I’d recently begun playing the piano and could read bass clef, so I set about figuring out where the notes lay on the recorder.

We’d been working on James Carey’s Mock Baroque with the school recorder ensemble and presence of the bass meant we now had a full consort and no need for the optional piano part. That made me indispensable and I was hooked!

Several years later, at my first Recorder Summer School I included a PS on that postcard I sent my parents, nonchalantly adding, “Please can I borrow some money to buy a bass recorder”! Cheeky, perhaps, but I did already have the money saved up at home and I couldn’t wait to play an instrument of my own with those rich low notes - far better than the wheezy old school bass!

Why play the bass recorder?

Put simply, bass really is beautiful!

Renaissance bass recorders, where you blow directly into the windway.

The mellow tone of the bass (sometimes also called a basset) is just gorgeous and you’ll find a warm welcome in any recorder ensemble. There’s a great deal of pleasure to be derived from playing the bass line in consort music - you’re helping create the foundations upon which the rest of the music is built. In some music (especially Baroque) you form the musical powerhouse, while in polyphonic music (for example Renaissance consorts) you play an equal role in the interplay between voices. Yes, there are some pieces where the basses draw the short straw and have less to do, but in general composers today understand the need to write interesting parts for everyone - not just the high voices.

If you really want to enjoy the gorgeous tones of the lower recorders it’s becoming more popular to offer eight foot ensemble options at many courses and playing days. This is a group where the highest line is the tenor recorder, with multiple parts extending down to the contrabass and sometimes beyond. Playing the bass recorder in one of these allows you to enjoy these mellow tones from the centre of the ensemble, really feeling you’re part of the action. I conduct such a recorder orchestra (you can learn more about METRO here) and I regularly welcome between 40 and 50 people to our playing days to luxuriate in the lush tones.

The benefits of playing the bass recorder

All recorder players understand the need to work on breath control and tone production. The bass can be a tremendously useful tool here because it makes greater demands on our lungs. Filling the larger bore of the bass with air requires you to breathe more deeply and efficiently to produce a good tone. Even if you can’t manage to play long phrases, the very act of practising the bass recorder will improve the way you use your natural lung capacity, meaning you’ll be able to play further on one breath on the smaller instruments too.

Another benefit of playing the bass is the way it opens up your awareness of other elements of recorder technique. Let’s think about some of these bass specific tips, but remember they’ll help your technique on smaller recorders too.

Top tips for bass players

Breathing and tone

Finding enough air is a challenge for everyone who plays larger recorders. You might assume you need to blow really hard to fill the larger bore of the bass, but you’d be wrong. Yes, a bass will swallow up all the air you can throw at it, but if you overdo things and blow too harshly your tone will be coarse and forced. The principles are just the same as any other size of recorder - make a full, rounded tone, but don’t force things. If breath control and tone production is something you know you need help with, do take a look at the blog I wrote about just this here.

**You will run out of air!**

Unless you’re superhuman you’ll find your lungs run dry more often when playing the bass recorder. Just how soon this happens will depend on your natural lung capacity, and you may need to accept that full four bar phrases just aren’t possible, at least at first.

To combat this, get creative and find more places to breathe. In passages with lots of detached notes you’ll probably be able to take small top ups between notes. In more sustained music it may be necessary to make room to breathe. Use this as an opportunity to reconsider your phrasing.

Whatever you do, you mustn’t compromise your tone or tuning. So often I hear long notes which sag towards the end, losing tone quality and pitch. This simply isn’t acceptable or pleasant to hear. Instead, find somewhere extra to breathe so you can support your tone to the end of every phrase.

If you find yourself playing in an ensemble with several players per part there are other strategies at your disposal. I often ask ensembles to, “make it sound like you’re playing a four bar phrase”. Note the language I used there. I’m not asking them to play four bars without a breath, but instead to give the aural impression they’re doing that. Bass playing is often a team effort. Have a chat with your neighbour and agree where each of you will breathe. Perhaps one could breathe in at the most musical places, while the other takes breaths in really daft, unmusical spots. This way there will be at least one person playing at all times and you will give the impression that you’re collectively playing the full phrase! Talk to any contrabass player and you’ll find they do this all the time.

No chiffing please!

If there’s one thing that’ll spoil an elegant melodic bass line it’s an ugly ‘chiffing’ sound at the start of each note. Bigger sizes of recorder are particularly prone to this - a by-product of the instrument’s larger windway. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, grab your bass recorder and play some notes with really strong tonguing. Close your eyes and really listen. Do you hear a percussive sound at the beginning of each note? That’s what I mean by chiffing.

As with the breath, it’s easy to assume a bigger recorder needs stronger tonguing. In reality, because bass recorders are so prone to this effect, you need the opposite - gentle tonguing. For high notes this may seem counterintuitive, but as long as your breath is moving quickly enough, even the highest notes don’t need anything more than a gentle tongue stroke.

Yes, there may be pieces where this percussive effect is required or even desirable, but in 99% of cases you should aim to avoid chiffing.

Fragile low notes

All recorders suffer from the same challenges at their extremities. Bass recorder music rarely ventures up to extreme high notes (that’s not really the point of the instrument), but being able to play the lowest notes cleanly and clearly is vital. Gentle tonguing and slower moving air will mostly help you achieve this, but stretching your fingers to the lowest notes can be challenging, especially if you have smaller hands. I wrote about the challenges of extreme low and high notes recently so do check this out if you haven’t already seen it.

Before you begin playing, take a moment to check your bottom joint is in exactly the right position. Scan through the music and see whether you need bottom F or F sharp most often. If you only need one of those notes, why not position the footjoint so you can reach that key most comfortably. If you play one of the square Paetzold bass (or larger) recorders do check your instrument’s joints are firmly pushed together too. Even a minor leak at one of the joints can stop your bass notes singing clearly.

Flexible fingering

As you venture lower in the recorder family you’ll find a need to be more flexible with your fingerings. Standard fingerings, which work so well on higher instruments, may not always be in tune on a bass. For instance, low E flat is often out of tune when played with the standard 0/1-34 fingering. If your instrument came with a fingering chart, check what it recommends for E flat. Many suggest using finger 5 rather than the usual finger 4 on the right hand. It may take a while to adjust to this change but you’ll find it easier to play in tune with others.

Spend some time playing slow scales on your instrument and get to know its foibles. A tuning meter can be useful here as a way of checking which notes are particularly sharp or flat. If you have a smartphone there are several free tuning meter apps available to download. Don’t be afraid to refer to your instrument’s fingering chart to check what the manufacturer recommends. To get used to these different fingerings, find easy tunes and scales you can play to build up the muscle memory.

A handy alternative fingering for top C sharp.

One notable quirk of many bass recorders is a difficulty with top C sharp. Most plastic bass recorders simply won’t play the note with the standard fingering unless you’re able to slur up or down to it. You won’t need this particular note very often, but it pays to be ready when you do. Happily, there’s an alternative fingering which works really well on almost all basses - see the diagram here:

As you can see from the chart, this fingering is a little out of the ordinary, but you’ll be grateful you learnt it when you suddenly need a top C sharp!

A word on clefs

The most common clef for bass recorder music is the bass clef. That seems logical, doesn’t it? Well, yes and no! Bass recorder music is notated with the lowest note appearing just beneath the bottom line of the stave. Look closer though and you’ll see a small 8 just above the clef - that means every note sounds an octave higher than written.

If you were to rewrite the same music at sounding pitch in the treble clef you’d find the lowest note is just five notes beneath Middle C! Compared to a cello, bassoon or tuba (all of which can play notes at least an octave an a half lower still) that barely counts as a bass instrument at all.

Of course notating the music in bass clef makes it easy to read because you’ll encounter relatively few leger lines. For this reason alone it’s worth getting really comfortable with the bass clef. Try to read the notes for what they are rather than relating the pitches back to the treble clef and doing a form of transposition. Not only does it make reading quicker but it also means you’ll always know the name of the note you’re playing at any time.

Although the bass clef is most commonly used for the bass recorder, it can be useful to practise playing it from the treble clef too. Occasionally you’ll find bass recorder parts printed in treble clef and being able to play treble recorder music on the bass can be handy if, for instance, you spontaneously want to try a piece of Renaissance music out an octave lower with an ensemble. This sort of mental flexibility is always worth cultivating, much as it sometimes pays to be able to read treble recorder music an octave higher.

Advice for new bass players

If you fancy having a go on the bass recorder but haven’t yet taken the plunge, the prospect can seem a little daunting. To help you take those first steps here are my thoughts on how you might get started.

Which type of bass recorder?

Unlike the small recorders you probably began with, basses come in many different forms. This can be bewildering at first, so let’s take a look at the options.

Straight or Knick?

Praetorius’s illustration from *Syntagma Musicum* which shows bass recorders (3rd and 4th on the top row) plus their larger and smaller siblings.

Look at images of historic instruments and they all tend to be straight. Renaissance basses are generally designed so the player blows directly into the instrument. This offers the benefit of a clear, full tone because your breath has a clear path through the windway to the labium. The disadvantage of this design is you do need quite long arms to reach the fingerholes!

One solution to the long arm problem is to add a crook - a curved pipe which leads to the headjoint, shortening the distance from mouthpiece to fingerholes. Larger renaissance recorders (great basses and lower) used this design and most 18th century bass recorders did too. While this may be more comfortable, the narrowness of the crook can make the sound a little less direct. You may also need to anticipate the beginning of notes as the breath has further to travel before it reaches the labium. That said, some players prefer an instrument with a crook so it’s very much a matter of personal preference.

A new innovation over the last thirty years has been the knick bass. This is fundamentally a straight recorder with an obtuse angle built into the headjoint. You retain the ability to blow directly into the windway, but this bend brings the main body of the recorder closer to you, so pretty well anyone can play one. In recent years this type of bass recorder has become by far the most popular, simply because it offers a great balance between tone and comfort.

Basses by IKEA?

Herbert Paetzold with his family of square recorders.

Another twentieth century innovation has been the development of square basses. They’re quite a common sight on recorder courses these days, but I’ve often heard non-recorder players ask if they were purchased from IKEA! These instruments were first developed by Herbert Paetzold in the 1950s on the principle that if you could have a square wooden organ pipe that sounded like a recorder, surely it must be possible to make a square, wooden recorder. Initially they were made from marine plywood (water resistant and cheaper than exotic hardwoods) but today you can also buy 3D printed models made from a material called Resona. The first of these square recorders were the larger great and contrabass variety, but more recently they’ve become available in bass (and even tenor) sizes too.

Plastic or wood?

This choice may come down to budget. Relatively inexpensive plastic knick instruments are a great way to begin exploring the world of the bass recorder. These begin at around the £200 mark for a Triebert (the Early Music Shop’s own brand model) and increase to £325 for a Yamaha.

If you want to venture into wood prices begin at around £1000 so you’ll probably need to be sure you’re going to stick with the bass before taking the plunge. And that brings me onto another consideration…

How many keys?

For larger recorders to be played comfortably keywork is needed. At its simplest this may just be a single key for the right hand little finger so you can reach bottom F. However, for many people having just one key may makes some of the holes impossible to cover. Most knick basses have at least one extra key for both the left and right hands - a feature which makes the bass playable for pretty well anyone. Many basses require a smaller hand stretch than a tenor recorder.

For this reason alone, a plastic knick instrument is a great place to start your bass recorder career. They produce a good tone, offer a comfortable playing position and are relatively inexpensive compared to wooden or square models. If you already play in an ensemble ask around and you may even find someone who’s upgraded to a wooden instrument and might be willing to loan you their plastic bass to try.

When it comes to wooden recorders, I really would advise you to find a shop where you can try some instruments. This way you can learn which shape recorders suit you best and understand which ones have keywork that fits your hand shape. If you don’t live near a recorder shop (and sadly few of us do) it’s worth looking out for recorder courses and summer schools as many of them host pop up recorder shops on site.

Getting comfortable

If you’ve figured out which type of bass recorder fits you best you must also consider how to support your instrument. All basses tend to come with a sling supplied and this may be all you require. It hooks onto the back of the instrument so you can suspend the recorder from your body. Most people hang the sling around their neck, but don’t overlook the option of lengthening the strap to stretch it from one shoulder across your body instead. This reduces the strain on your neck and may be more comfortable for long periods of playing.

Another option I sometimes use when sitting is to cross my legs at the ankle. I then rest the bell of my recorder between the bottom of my calves. This takes any strain away from the neck and means the body of the recorder is vertical between my knees. Of course this won’t work if you’re wearing a short or fitted skirt, but it’s a handy solution when wearing trousers!

If you like this idea but don’t find resting the bass on your ankles comfortable, a third solution is to use a spike. These attach to the bottom of your instrument and you adjust the length of the spike to rest it on the floor. The ground takes all the weight and you can play your bass vertically between your knees or to one side if you prefer. Some wooden basses now come supplied with a screw-in spike (the Kung Superio model, for instance) but you can also buy after-market ones which attach via an adhesive Velcro ring stuck to the bottom of your recorder. This is perhaps the most comfortable way to play, but if you like to stand up the spike is unlikely to be long enough unless you rest the end of it on a stool or chair.

Bring your bass to you

My final piece of advice with regards to playing position is as important as your choice of support.

I often see players stretching their chin forward to reach their bass recorder. This puts a tremendous strain on your neck and can cause injury over long periods. The key thing here is to find a playing position which is comfortable and then bring the bass to you. This may be as simple as shortening your sling or moving the bottom of your spike a little closer to your body. Don’t forget too that most knick basses have two points of adjustment in the headjoint. A slight tweak to one or both of them may mean you don’t need to strain or bend your neck awkwardly. The best solution is to sit in front of a mirror and see how your posture looks. If it looks uncomfortable it’ll almost certainly feel uncomfortable after a long playing session!

Don’t forget to consider the height of your seat too. This is particularly pertinent with great and contrabass recorders as they’re often less adjustable than a regular bass. Look around any recorder orchestra and you’ll see many of the contra players bring their own seats or stools to ensure they’re at just the right playing height. Sometimes a couple of chairs can be stacked together to increase your height, but take care as this can also make you less stable.

Books to get your started

Over the years many books devoted to the bass recorder have been published, with several designed for complete beginners. These are the ones I’ve found useful to help my pupils get started over the years….

Denis Bloodworth - The Bass Recorder Handbook (Novello)

The original bass recorder tutor book and still handy today. The music increases in difficulty quite quickly, but it’s packed with helpful information about fingerings so I think it’s still a great addition to any bass player’s library.

Rosemary McGillivray - Mrs McGillivray’s Welcome (Hawthorns Music TT01)

A bass recorder tutor book with a Scottish flavour. Rosemary brought together lots of lovely tunes to get anyone started on the bass recorder. The book begins with a fingering chart, an introduction to the bass clef and some helpful advice, followed by lots of carefully graded tunes to play, many of which share Rosemary’s Scottish heritage. Each time a new fingering is introduced there are plenty of melodies to help you put it into practice. Very well thought out and my top recommendation for new bass players.

Hugh Gorton - Recorder Practice Books 16-23: Grades 1 to 8 (Recorder Music Direct)

A series of graded books, each packed with tunes to get you practising the bass recorder. Each book contains hundreds of melodies, providing you with almost endless repertoire to build your confidence and technique.

Playing the bass with others

One of the main reasons to play the bass recorder is to make music with others as part of an ensemble or orchestra. Playing any new size of recorder with others for the first time can be daunting, but don’t let that put you off. A good place to begin is in the some of the easier ensemble sessions at recorder courses, or at a massed playing session at larger recorder events. You’ll find safety in numbers, meaning you can play as much or as little of the music as you’re able to at first without fear of standing out.

Of course, if you don’t want the pressure of playing with others face to face straight away, don’t forget there are lots of easier consort pieces and video recordings over on my own Consort Downloads page. These give you the chance to make mistakes without feeling you’re holding anyone else up and you can repeat them as often as you wish! Look for anything that’s marked *Easier* as your starting point.

Heading deeper still…

Let’s assume you’ve taken the plunge with the bass recorder and you’re enjoying its rich tones and the chance to be part of the music’s engine room. What’s next?

How about one of the bigger basses?

It’s worth taking a moment to talk about the naming practices for big basses as this isn’t always consistent. You’ll notice among my consorts I use the terms great bass and contrabass. These are the names most commonly used here in Britain, but there are other systems too. As the range of bigger basses gradually expands the British system runs out of options. Below the contrabass we have the subcontrabass (sounding an octave below the great bass) - all logical so far. But when you reach the next member of the family (an octave below the contrabass) you run out of names - should that be the sub-subcontra?

In Europe and the US a different system has been adopted where the contrabass and lower have names which usually relate their size to the smaller types of bass. This is entirely logical, but not consistently used in Britain yet. The clearest way of explaining this is perhaps illustrated by the table below, showing the two naming systems, along with an explanation of their relative pitch. The two largest sizes are still relatively unusual, but they’re gradually increasing in popularity.

The keys of a Paetzold conrabass recorder

Many recorder ensembles now have a great and/or a contrabass player among their number. If you’ve heard them in action you’ll understand how powerful these instruments can be. Of course I don’t mean powerful in terms of loudness, as they’re relatively quiet compared to a tuba! However, even a single great or contra can add to the impact a recorder consort simply through its depth. The best comparison I can make is sound difference when an organ has a pedals - doubling the bass line alone somehow seems to increase the gravitas of the regular bass notes. This is why I was so blown away by that massed playing session at the tender age of 16, even when there were just a couple of contras among a massed group of 140 recorders.

Now buying a great bass or contrabass is an expensive business, so it’s not something you’ll necessarily want to leap into straight away. However, players of big basses are often generous souls and are sometimes willing to allow others to try their instruments if they see the potential to win more folk over to the deep end of the orchestra.

Even if you can’t try an instrument out for yourself, grab every opportunity to sit near the big basses when playing in an ensemble. Just playing the bass among the big boys will give you an aural glimpse of their wonderfully lush tones. I should warn you though, once you’ve dipped your toe into the deep, warm big-bass waters you’ll be spoilt for life - it’s addictive! I personally love playing the great bass in larger ensembles because you’re part of the bass team, but can also find yourself in the enveloped in the midst of the harmonies.

* * *

After our exploration of all things bass, have I tempted you to dip your toe into these deeper waters? Or maybe I’ve made you think about ways you could improve your bass playing?

Either way, I hope you’ve found some useful advice among my words and I’ll leave you with the Berlin Recorder Orchestra playing the Albinoni Adagio almost entirely on low instruments. Turn up the volume and luxuriate for eight minutes in the sound from their forest of big basses!

Survival skills for ensemble playing

October 11, 2022 in Hints and Tips

When you first start playing in ensembles it can be overwhelming. We all sometimes experience imposter syndrome - the feeling that everyone else in the group is better than you and you really shouldn’t be there. Can I tell you a secret? You’re not alone! In any massed ensemble there will be others who are feeling exactly the same. What are they doing differently? It’s probably just that they’ve developed more survival skills over the years and have learnt how to cope when the music gets tough.

A student on one of my courses asked me about this earlier this year. She felt she needed to learn the art of ‘self rescue’ and that term struck a chord with me. Professional players are expected to be on top of every note we play; able to cope with whatever the music throws at us. But then we’ve spent decades honing our skills to do this. As an amateur musician you no doubt have equivalent skills in whatever you do for a living. For instance, a surgeon knows what to do if a patient unexpectedly goes into cardiac arrest, or a driving instructor can often predict when their student might need an intervention to prevent an accident. If you’re still developing your recorder playing skills there are bound to be moments when you feel overloaded and unable to cope. Don’t give yourself a hard time - instead, realise this is completely normal!

Over the years I’ve met many very intelligent musicians who feel they should be able to do things in music through the power of their intellect - the idea that if I can understand something I should be able to do it! It’s a painful realisation, but sometimes this just isn’t possible. Don’t give yourself a hard time if you fail to achieve perfection. Perfection is something that doesn’t come easily to any human being - even us professionals! Instead, use your intellect to be critical (in a positive way) of your mistakes and try to understand what you can do to improve your playing and make fewer errors further down the line.

My aim today is to share some tips with you which will help when you’re faced with these mental overload moments. Survival techniques which will help you keep afloat and ease your way. These will help you survive a challenging ensemble session unscathed, having learnt from the experience and with a better idea of what you need to practise to find it easier next time.

Before we look at survival skills, lets briefly consider some things you can do before you start playing. These will improve your chances of playing well and getting the most from your rehearsal.

Warm up yourself and your recorder

Doing a few simple stretches to limber up your muscles can be immensely helpful. If your muscles are warm and relaxed you’re much more likely to play well. Think about your overall posture, ensuring you sit well - this’ll help you breathe efficiently and prevent aches and pains caused by slouching. Don’t forget your hands and arms too - recorder playing makes many demands on the delicate structures in your hands, as well as the tendons and muscles in your forearms which control them. An athlete wouldn’t dream off going for a 5k run without warming up first, yet many recorder players think nothing of sitting down for a two hour rehearsal without so much as a single stretch!

The British Association of Performing Arts Medicine have an excellent sheet of warm up exercises which you can print out and keep in your recorder case. There’s a permanent link to these in my Members’ Area for Score Lines subscribers or you can download them from the BAPAM website.

Once you’re warmed up and ready to go, don’t neglect your recorder! Playing in cold churches and village halls often results in fogged up recorders, which sound like you’re playing through cotton wool. This is caused by a build up of condensation in the windway and, ultimately, the swelling of the recorder’s block. The best way to combat this is to get the head joint up to body temperature before you play a single note. Doing this ensures the moisture in your breath is the same temperature as the instrument, so the water doesn’t condense onto the block in droplets.

A simple way is to pop the head joint under your arm for a few minutes - you may have spotted me doing exactly this in some of my consort videos. Smaller instrument head joints can be put into pockets or tucked into your waistband for a similar result. With larger recorders this is less practical so I’ll sometimes use a warm (not hot!) wheat bag (heated gently in the microwave) or a hot water bottle against the head joint. I recently saw this tip shared by the Von Huene recorder workshop in the US which might offer an alternative (albeit somewhat unsightly!) solution.

However you do it, warming up your recorder before playing will avoid the need for perpetual clearing of condensation from the windway and keep your sound clear and beautiful.

Take regular breaks

If you have a long rehearsal to get through be sure to stop at least every hour or so. Get up and walk around to improve your circulation and do some more stretches to loosen the muscles you’ve been working so hard. Chat to a friend about something unrelated to the music, allowing yourself to switch off from the piece you’re studying. You’ll come back refreshed and with improved concentration.

~ ~ ~

Now let’s look at some practical tips to help you keep afloat in ensembles and, where necessary, perform some ‘self rescue’.

Hone your sight reading skills

Being able to read new music swiftly and accurately is an important skill. The ability to efficiently assess and implement musical notation is one that takes time to develop but it’s worth the effort. I wrote a post about this very topic recently so I won’t repeat everything here. If you click here you’ll find masses of tips to help you improve your sight reading and it’ll open in a new tab so you don’t need to lose your place here either!

You don’t need to play every note

It’s easy to get hung up on the need to play every single note. During an initial sight read perfection isn’t the priority. Instead your aim should be to sense of the lie of the land, form a basic understanding of how your part fits into the whole and hopefully spot the bits you need to come back to and practise. Remember too that occasional groups of fast notes (perhaps a couple of semiquavers here and there) are often the least important, musically speaking. They’re probably just the means of travelling between two larger notes but because they’re quick we instinctively feel they must be important. The result is often laboured and slows the music down. Instead, don’t be afraid to slur them together initially if that helps, or even drop a few of them on the floor! I often jokingly say to groups that we can sweep them up later and it’s not a disaster if you don’t play every note on the first reading.

The semiquavers in this piece by Schmelzer are mostly decorative and provide a means from getting one place to another so you can skate over them in sight reading rather than getting bogged down.

Conductors will often do a first read through of a new piece at full speed. This is because we know that taking the music slowly at first will set that slower tempo in the players’ minds and it’ll be all but impossible to speed things up later. Working on things slowly comes after the first read through, after you’ve got the ultimate tempo fixed in your mind. The ultimate tempo may be prove too much of a challenge at first, so try to focus on the main beats rather than every note, aiming to be with at least the first beat of each bar.

Learn to edit on the hoof

When I was studying for A level music we were all allocated another student to accompany. Our task was to attend their instrumental lessons and to play the piano accompaniments for them. I was allocated a baritone singer called Chris who had a penchant for Vaughan Williams. My pianistic skills were rather less developed than my recorder playing so I often felt out of my depth. But playing for Chris’s lessons taught me a vital skill - that of on the spot editing. Faced with a piece in five flats, I knew I couldn’t get to every note initially, so I learnt to leave some of them out! In piano terms this often meant keeping the bassline going at all costs, while thinning down what went on in the right hand (treble) part. By doing this I could provide Chris with some important harmonic support, while keeping the pulse consistent so he could focus on his singing. Over time I gradually added more of the detail back in to give a fuller picture of the music.

In recorder terms this might translate into cutting down some of the whizzy runs. If there’s a long run of semiquavers, perhaps aim initially to play the first of each beat. As you become more familiar with the music you can gradually complete the picture with more notes. The key benefit of developing this skill is the way it allows you to keep up with the pulse at all times - a vital skill for any ensemble player.

Use your conductor, if you have one

As Walter Bergmann was fond of saying, “Your conductor has been paid for. You waste your money if you don’t look at him.” Assuming you have someone standing in front of your group offering a regular beat, you would be wise to make use of them! At the most basic level, a conductor will show you the speed of the music and their beat patterns can be immensely helpful.

If you can ensure the first beat of each bar you play occurs when the conductor’s hand is heading downwards you can be sure you’re in the right place at least once in every bar! If the gestures given by conductors has ever puzzled you do take a look at my blog post, Do you speak the same language as our conductor? Here I explored the gestures we make with our hands, what they mean and much more. A good conductor will convey much more than just the pulse in their gestures so it’s worth learning what some of these mean.

Ensure you can see your conductor

As we get older our eyesight changes and it’s not uncommon to need different strength glasses or contact lenses for music reading. Reading the notes accurately is important, but if you neglect to ensure you can also see your conductor’s beat you’re missing out on some vital information. The most important thing is to be able to at least see the beat in your peripheral vision. It’s surprising how much awareness you can have of your surroundings even while you’re focusing on the music. Your conductor won’t mind if you’re seeing a somewhat fuzzy image of him or her but they will object if you completely ignore them and play out of time! Try adjusting your music stand to different heights until you find a combination that works for you. Many musicians end up buying single vision lenses which are set for the distance of their music stand. This allows you to set your stand at a height where you can easily see both the music and the conductor, even if their movements are a little blurry.

Understand your music

Before you play, glance through the music and look for significant moments, such as key and time signature changes or tempo changes. If you don’t know what the Italian (or maybe French or German) terms mean you could quickly look them up online. Alternatively, look at your conductor and you may well see some clues. I often ask groups what a given term means and there’s almost always a chorus of, “Watch the conductor!” in response. There’s no harm in making a point of learning the meaning of the most common terms and Wikipedia has a great online dictionary of them here.

Read ahead to avoid surprises

One of the most important skills to develop i your sight reading is the ability to read at least a few notes ahead. In slow music you may only need to know where the next couple of notes are leading, but in fast runs it’s helpful to be able to look a few beats ahead. This takes practice, but in time you’ll find it helps remove a lot of the surprises in the music you’re about to play.

Beware of line and page breaks

No matter how good you are at reading ahead, certain danger spots remain - usually points where you move to a new line or page. When you see a line break coming up try to read ahead a little more so you’re ready for what comes next. Such spots are governed by an unwritten law that the trickiest parts of any piece inevitably occur just after a line or page break - just when you’re least expecting them! In old manuscripts you’ll sometimes see a custos (or guard note) written at the end of each line - a warning of the first note you’ll encounter on the next line. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t write such symbols into your own music if that helps you prepare for the line ahead.

The little squiggle at the end of each line in this Sammartini Duo is a custos, indicating the pitch of the first note on the next line.

Navigating your way around bar numbers

The quickest way to restart in the middle off a piece of music is to use bar numbers, or sometimes rehearsal letters. Bar numbers come in different formats - sometimes at the start of each line or perhaps every 5 or 10 bars. It often surprises me how hard musicians find it to navigate around a score so it’s worth having some handy tricks up your sleeve. Just as an air steward warns you the nearest emergency exit can be behind your seat rather than in front of you, sometimes it’s easier too count backwards from a higher bar number rather than on from an earlier one. For instance, bar 88 is closer to 90 than it is to 80.

Rehearsal letters are handy if the music has them, and conductors will often shout them out if they know some of the players have come adrift. These letters (or occasionally numbers) tend to be placed at points in the music where something significant happens - perhaps a double bar line, key change or a moment where the mood or character of the music changes. These can be handy landmarks to check you’re still in the right place.

Learn to count rests efficiently

Apologies if this sounds like teaching grandma to suck eggs, but if this helps one person it’s been worth it! With blocks of rests, count the beats in the bar but with each successive bar replace the number 1 with the number of bars you’ve counted. So, four bars in 3/4 time are counted 123, 223, 323, 423. Counting this way will help you easily keep track of how many bars have passed.

Do you get flummoxed by large blocks of rest? When you pass ten or twenty bars it can be easy to miscount. Don’t be afraid to use your fingers as an aid! Lots of professional musicians do exactly this so you’ll be in good company. You can do so in a subtle way, with your fingers on your lap or your recorder. You can even use a two hand approach, counting each successive ten on one hand and the intervening bars on the other hand.

Finding your spot amid blocks of rests

Blocks of rests can also be problematic if your restarting point occurs in the middle of one, especially when the conductor is keen to get going again. A useful trick is to identify the bar number of when your part resumes (say, bar 72). Once you know this simply count on from the bar number where you’re restarting (say, bar 68) until you get to the point where you need to play again. Using the examples I’ve give you’d count bars 68, 69, 70 and 71 then play in 72. Much simpler and quicker than figuring out how many bars are left to count, especially if you’re faced with a long block of rests.

Don’t play in ‘bingo mode’

This is the term I use for musicians who bury their heads in the music (eyes down, as you would at bingo!) and ignore everything that’s going on around them. When you first start playing in ensembles listening to the other players can be a distraction. Conductors will often implore musicians to listen more carefully but there may well be a small voice in your head saying, “In your dreams, matey!” If this sounds familiar, try instead to listen in a general way rather than focusing on the detail. Especially when playing older music, which is in a style we’re familiar with as listeners, having an overall awareness of the sound can tell you whether you’re in the right place. Violent clashes or completely contradictory rhythms in a piece of Baroque music may well be a sign that you‘ve come adrift from the rest of the ensemble. Yes, it could be that you’re right and everyone else is wrong, but in all likelihood you’re the one who’s out place!

“If all the others are wrong and you alone are right, follow the wrong.”
Walter Bergmann

Don’t always trust your hearing…

Having implored you to listen, there will be times when your hearing won’t be entirely trustworthy. The acoustic qualities of a building can be misleading, especially if it’s a boomy church. By the time a note reaches you from the other side of the room it’s bounced off several walls and the ceiling and this takes time. A half second delay can be catastrophic for coordination, so in this situation be careful to play with your conductor’s beat rather than simply trusting your ears. If everyone does the same, the combined sound reaching your audience will be in time. The same applies if you play multichoir music, where you’ll often be geographically spread around the room.

Take the best seat in the house if you can

When you have the opportunity to play with large groups of players (perhaps a massed playing session at a course or festival) don’t underestimate the effect of where you sit. So often I’ll see the musicians with the least confidence or the poorest hearing sitting right at the back, usually struggling to keep up and hear what’s going on. Instead, grab yourself a seat in the front couple of rows. You’ll find it much easier to hear and see the conductor, keep in touch with the music and you’ll have the support (musical and technical) of those around you. Conductors very rarely bite so you needn’t fear us and, even better, you’ll hear the full tonal range of sound from those behind you!

Listen to the conductor’s advice

My job as a conductor isn’t just to keep everyone in time - I’m responsible for shaping the music too. Along the way conductors will often sneak in snippets of technical advice too - tips about fingerings or perhaps the best articulation to use. Don’t underestimate the power of these tips - listen carefully and you might pick up something that’ll benefit your playing beyond the current rehearsal.

Don’t chat

If your rehearsal is also a chance to see friends try to save your chitchat for the breaks. At the very moment you’re nattering with each other mid-rehearsal you might miss out in a crucial piece of information from the conductor! Likewise, don’t tootle in the rests or when the conductor is talking - it’s very distracting for others.

Always carry a pencil and don’t be afraid to use it!

A pencil can be a very powerful tool for a musician. Jotting in accidentals or highlighting repeats ensures you get those details right next time and frees you up to concentrate on other things. Don’t be precious about writing on music (always in pencil, never pen) - professionals do it all the time and needing to annotate reminders doesn’t make you less of a musician. Remember too to write in your music in such a way that you’ll understand what it means later. It’s no good writing something cryptic in the music which you can’t translate next week - it’s always better to call a spade a spade!

Add some cues to your music

In orchestral music parts often include cue notes - small notes which show what’s going in in other parts of the score. These can be immensely helpful. For instance, during a long block of rests, you’ll hear another line playing a melody at the moment it’s marked in your score, confirming you’re in the right place. Sadly such markings are rarely used in recorder music, but there’s no reason why you can’t add your own. You could take a look at the score and pencil in a snippet of the melody from another part, but even having the words ‘tenor melody’ or ‘dotted rhythm in basses’ jotted in can be reassuring.

Don’t get hung up on trills

Trills often reduce recorder players to quivering wrecks. But in an ensemble situation don’t get too hung up on them, at least at first. If you have the spare mental capacity to put some of them in that’s great, but the main notes are more important, especially when sight reading. When you’re comfortable with the music perhaps start adding the simpler trills, which don’t require complex alternative fingerings. As you gain control of them you can gradually add in the others. If trills make you tremble why not take a look at my recent blog about these decorative delights?

Take the music home to practise if you can

If you know you’re going to be working on a piece over several sessions don’t be afraid to ask to borrow your part between rehearsals. Practising ensemble or orchestra parts can feel unrewarding, especially when faced with a passage of long notes or off beats. However, spending five minutes each day practising that tricky semiquaver run will undoubtedly give you more confidence at the next session.

Don’t worry about nerves and don’t look back!

Playing with a new ensemble or orchestra can be nerve wracking and there’s no shame in having a few butterflies. A little nervous energy will make you concentrate harder and you’ll soon find your feet.

Inevitably you’ll make mistakes (we all do) but when you’re in the middle of a run-through don’t look back at errors and berate yourself for them. Doing so will almost certainly distract you from what’s coming next and cause you to make more mistakes. Instead, try to remember where you went wrong so you can come back and fix it later. I’ll often mark trouble spots with a pencil mark in the margin to remind me to practise those bars at home.

Fake it until you make it

You often hear this phrase used to encourage people to blag their way through a situation, with the idea that if you have enough conviction everyone else will believe you. While this is frequently an oversimplification of what’s required to be successful, there is an element of truth in the saying.

I often hear recorder players being tentative in ensembles, assuming that if they try and hide no one will notice their mistakes. I can understand the logic, but in reality that strategy doesn’t often work! Tentative recorder playing tends to result in weak tone quality, poor intonation because you’re under blowing, and the rhythm often becomes mushy too.

A better approach is to ignore that scared voice in the back if your head and instead play with conviction and positivity. As a result you’re more likely to produce a good tone, be better in tune with others, and play more rhythmically. This positive experience will probably boost your confidence and help you to keep doing the same again. Yes, you’ll still make mistakes, but no one will die as a result and you can easily fix those later!

Don’t forget to breathe

Breathing in is a good thing to do, whether in music or everyday life. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment while wrestling with a difficult passage, only to run out of breath. There’s always somewhere to breathe (even in Bach!) and if the place isn’t obvious just take a breath anyway - the extra oxygen will help you think clearly as well as improving your tone quality.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

If you lose your place while playing don’t be afraid to make eye contact with your conductor to seek help. If I see someone doggedly look down at their music, wiggling their fingers while I’m conducting I have to assume they’re ok. On the other hand, if a player looks up at me pleadingly I’ll do my best to get them back in, perhaps at their next entry after some rests or by shouting out a rehearsal letter. If I don’t know you’re lost I can’t help you!

Remember, you’re doing this for fun!

Ultimately an amateur musician (by definition) plays for the love of music. Whether you play every note perfectly, or with lots of errors, you should aim to enjoy yourself. Your life doesn’t depend on your playing so don’t let mistakes distract you from the enjoyment your hobby brings.

~ ~ ~

Improving between rehearsals

I’ll finish off with a few quick ideas to help you get more from your ensemble playing.

Pick your level carefully

If you have a choice of different standard ensembles (perhaps at a festival or on a course) don’t be afraid to experiment. Sometimes selecting a session which is well within the boundaries of your technique will help boost your confidence. Equally, a level which stretches you just beyond your comfort zone can be a useful way to improve your survival skills.

Don’t forget that courses and festivals can be a great opportunity to find your feet with a new size of recorder too. For instance if you’ve just started learning the bass recorder you could give it a first outing in a large massed playing session (where there’s safety in numbers) or in an easier session which won’t stretch you beyond your abilities.

Take some recorder lessons

If playing in an ensemble highlights particular weaknesses in your playing don’t be afraid to seek out some lessons. A few sessions with an experienced teacher can be useful to help you understand what you need to work on to improve.

Practise regularly and strategically

It’s not necessary to practise for hours every day, but a few minutes spent on a few technical exercises can pay dividends for your ensemble playing. Maybe some long notes to work on your breathing and tone, and a handful of scales and arpeggios to build your finger technique - all of these will help you cope better in an ensemble situation.

Use ‘virtual’ ensembles to improve your ability to keep up

My playalong consort videos (and there are plenty of others out there too) allow you the opportunity to play ensemble music and they offer the same pressure to keep up as a real ensemble. Even better, you can rewind and repeat them as often as you like without the feeling you’re holding others up!

~ ~ ~

The most important thing you can do to become a better ensemble musician is simply to get out there and play with others. If you wait until you feel you’re ‘good enough’ there’s a danger you’ll perpetually live in fear. Remember, in every ensemble there will be others who are equally worried about getting it wrong. We learn from our mistakes so go ahead and play, safe in the knowledge that every ensemble experience is going to help you develop as a musician.

Do you have ‘self rescue’ strategies I haven’t mentioned?

If there are things you do in rehearsals to help you keep going which I haven’t covered I’d love to hear about them. Strategies which seem obvious to one person may not be instinctive to others and I’d love it if we can all learn from each other. Please do leave a comment below with your favourite musical survival techniques.

Score Lines Blog

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Hints and Tips
- Feb 27, 2024 Arranging and composing for recorder consort Feb 27, 2024
- Sep 26, 2023 Recorder playing as a team sport Sep 26, 2023
- Jul 18, 2023 Metronome - friend or foe? Jul 18, 2023
- Jul 4, 2023 Bass is beautiful Jul 4, 2023
- Oct 11, 2022 Survival skills for ensemble playing Oct 11, 2022
- Sep 13, 2022 Learning to become a musical butterfly Sep 13, 2022
- Aug 16, 2022 Taking the stress out of sight reading Aug 16, 2022
- Jul 19, 2022 How do you hemiola? Jul 19, 2022
- Nov 23, 2021 Golden rules for recorder players Nov 23, 2021
- Nov 9, 2021 Decisions, decisions… Nov 9, 2021
- Sep 28, 2021 Cracking the code Sep 28, 2021
History of music
- Mar 26, 2024 Strictly Come Dancing - Baroque style Mar 26, 2024
- Nov 7, 2023 An instrument of many different characters Nov 7, 2023
- Aug 1, 2023 Strictly come dancing - Renaissance style Aug 1, 2023
- Jun 20, 2023 A brief history of tempo Jun 20, 2023
- Nov 22, 2022 The Bassanos - a dynasty of recorder makers, players and composers Nov 22, 2022
- Apr 26, 2022 Pitch Perfect - the journey to musical consensus Apr 26, 2022
Instruments
- Nov 7, 2023 An instrument of many different characters Nov 7, 2023
Interviews
- Mar 29, 2022 Meet the composer - Steve Marshall Mar 29, 2022
Music Theory
- Nov 21, 2023 Back to basics - the theory of time Nov 21, 2023
Music recommendations
- Mar 26, 2024 Strictly Come Dancing - Baroque style Mar 26, 2024
- Feb 13, 2024 Drama and style - exploring Italian Baroque Sonatas Feb 13, 2024
- Dec 19, 2023 Sounding Pipes, Edition 6 Dec 19, 2023
- Oct 10, 2023 Sounding Pipes, Edition 5 Oct 10, 2023
- Aug 29, 2023 A Bounty of Byrd Aug 29, 2023
- Apr 11, 2023 Sounding Pipes Edition 4 Apr 11, 2023
- Mar 14, 2023 A host of Holborne Mar 14, 2023
- Dec 20, 2022 Sounding Pipes, Edition 3 Dec 20, 2022
- Dec 6, 2022 Composer focus - George Frideric Handel Dec 6, 2022
- Sep 27, 2022 Many shades of Browning Sep 27, 2022
- Aug 30, 2022 Sounding Pipes, Edition 2 Aug 30, 2022
- May 10, 2022 Sounding pipes – musical explorations May 10, 2022
- Feb 15, 2022 Composer focus – Georg Philipp Telemann Feb 15, 2022
- Oct 12, 2021 Desert Island Discs - the recorder edit Oct 12, 2021
Musings
- Feb 28, 2023 The pencil is mightier than the sword Feb 28, 2023
- Feb 14, 2023 Some of my favourite things…. Feb 14, 2023
- Jun 21, 2022 Behind the scenes with the Score Lines videos Jun 21, 2022
- Jan 18, 2022 Knowing me, knowing you…. Jan 18, 2022
- Dec 21, 2021 Do you speak the same language as your conductor? Dec 21, 2021
- Dec 7, 2021 In search of perfection Dec 7, 2021
- Oct 26, 2021 The importance of awareness Oct 26, 2021
- Sep 14, 2021 Welcome to the Score Lines blog! Sep 14, 2021
Practice
- Jan 30, 2024 Learn to love your scales! Jan 30, 2024
- Nov 8, 2022 The practice files – preparing for action Nov 8, 2022
- Mar 15, 2022 The Practice Files Mar 15, 2022
Technique
- Dec 5, 2023 Recorder tips from the real world Dec 5, 2023
- Oct 24, 2023 Everyday Recorder Keep Fit Oct 24, 2023
- May 9, 2023 The Technique Zone - Exploring the extremes May 9, 2023
- Mar 28, 2023 The technique zone - Finger training Mar 28, 2023
- Jan 31, 2023 The technique zone - Making space and time to breathe Jan 31, 2023
- Aug 2, 2022 The Technique Zone - Make your recorder sing Aug 2, 2022
- May 24, 2022 Trills without the terror May 24, 2022
- Apr 12, 2022 The Technique Zone - creating a truly beautiful tone Apr 12, 2022
- Feb 1, 2022 The Technique Zone - Are you sitting comfortably? Feb 1, 2022