Recorder Time with Recorder Karate!
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Recorder Time! On this page students will be able to find the esesntials to playing and reading music on the recorder. Recorder Karate gives students many different songs to learn and practice that will help them earn their white belt, through their black belt, and even past their balck belt to book three to earn their gold belt. There are visual and interactive fingering charts, techniques on how to play, trouble shooting, song to read, songs to play along with, quizes to earn their belts, and videos that will help students be able to learn and be succesful on their recorder. Let me know if you would like more resources and I would be happy to add them to the page. Have fun and enjoy! lashele.warren@d11.org
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Proper Techniques to Remember When Playing Recorder
Use your left hand to cover the top holes:
∙ The recorder is built for the left hand on top, right hand on
bottom.
∙ The recorder belongs in the woodwind family, and all
woodwind family instrument are played with the left
hand on top, right hand on bottom.
Use warm and soft air:
∙ Warm air - like fogging up a window in the wintertime.
∙ Soft air - like blowing 1 humungous bubble.
Use your tongue to separate each note:
∙ Think "too too too too" or "doo doo doo doo" while you blow into the recorder
softly. You don't actually say this into the recorder, but your tongue moves as
if you are.
∙ The job of the tongue is to interrupt the flow of air to stop a note and start a new
one.
∙ If it squeaks, then try blowing softer.
Use your fingerprints to cover the holes:
∙ Don't cover any holes you don't want covered.
∙ Covering holes will change the pitch of the note produced by the recorder.
∙ If it squeaks when you play and you are using warm and soft air), check your
thumb to make sure it is completely covering the back hole. Check other fingers
as well.
Reading a Recorder Fingering Diagram
If a circle is filled in, it means to cover that hole.
If a circle is not filled in, it means to leave that hole uncovered.
As you cover holes from top to bottom, you force the air to go further down the length of the recorder, which in turn produces a lower note. (music principle: longer = lower)
The circle on the upper left outside the rectangle represents the back hole for the thumb. It is marked "B" not because you are playing the pitch "B", but because you are playing a recorder modeled after a "Baroque" style recorder. Baroque is the name given to a time period when music was being standardized, pretty much how we see and read it today.
The 3 circles in the top rectangle represent the holes covered by the left hand (pointer, middle and rings fingers - no left pinky is used to cover holes). The 4 circles in the bottom rectangle represent the holes covered by the right hand (pointer, middle, ring, and pinky).
Below is the chart of all the recorder fingerings you will need to complete all 4 books. We will use a lot of these fingerings through to the end of 5th grade.
Click on the links below to access interactive fingering charts that students can use to learn and double check their work.
Recorder Fingerings Links
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Interactive Recorder Fingering Chart
What fingers do I need to use for these notes? Just press the note on the staff and the recorder will show you!
Recorder Karate Belts
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Book One
White Belt
Yellow Belt
Au Claire de la Lune
Yellow Belt Songs 1
Yellow Belt Songs 2
Yellow Belt Songs 3
Yellow Belt Songs 4
Orange Belt
Hop Old Squirrel
Hop Old Squirrel MP3
Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily we Roll Along MP3
Orange Belt Songs 1
Orange Belt Songs 2
Green Belt
Improvisation:
Use this link to create yourown song using these notes and rhytms
Green Belt Improvisation
Blue Belt
Blue Belt Songs 1
Blue Belt Songs 2
Blue Belt Songs 3
Blue Belt Songs 4
Purple Belt
Purple Belt Songs 1
Red Belt
Composition:
Use this link to print out and create your own song using the notes and rhythms you learned on the recorder
Brown Belt
Pink/Brown Belt Songs 1
Pink/Brown Belt Finger Chart F#
Black Belt
Quiz yourself!
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Soprano recorder fingering quiz
Interactive quiz to test your knowledge of what fingers to use on the Soprano recorder