Video: How to Play the Recorder

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When learning how to play the recorder, hand position and a few basic notes are the first steps to playing this simple instrument. Play the recorder with tips from a music teacher in this free video music lesson.

- How to Play the Recorder

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Video Transcript

Hello, my name is Loren Green. I'm an elementary music teacher near Austin, Texas. Today, I'm going to be telling you about how to play the recorder. First, I'll like to tell you about how to buy a recorder. There are two main types of recorders plastic and wood. I'll recommend for a beginner to get a good plastic recorder which can start around three or four dollars. Ninety-nine cent recorders are not very good. You get what you paid for. When you buy a plastic recorder you need to keep it clean. What you can do by washing it in the dishwasher on the top rack or just rinsing it out in the sink. The first thing about playing the recorder is that you always have left hand on top. So, a good thing to remember is to put your fingers in the shape of an L to where it looks like an L to you and you put your thumb on this back whole the very top. Then your pointer finger goes on the top hole. This is your first note. It is a B. The next step would be to add your very next finger to the next hole. So, now you have your thumb, your pointer and your middle finger covering three holes. Your two left fingers remaining are in the air. Your right hand is at the bottom in order to stabilize it. So, you have B and A. The next step would be to add G which is adding that third ring finger. So, now you have B, A and G. There are several familiar songs you can play with B, A and G. And so on. When you have your left hand and you have your right hand here at the bottom in order to add more notes, you take your right hand, you put your thumb on the back to stabilize and you would add fingers as you go down. There are many fingering charts available on the Internet that tell you where you put your fingers if you would like to progress pass B, A and G. So, that is the very basics of how to start playing the recorder.

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How to Play the Recorder

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