A book for teachers who are musical, creative, and busy

Introducing the Recorder and Music Theory, Book 1, 150 pages

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Introducing the Recorder and Music Theory acquaints students who have never studied music with the music-making process from beginning to performance. Students learn to read music, play a real musical instrument; understand meter, rhythm, and phrase; and otherwise become musically literate. Although designed for the beginning student, the approach is fresh enough to challenge more experienced musicians to explore and deepen their understandings of music. The revised edition corrected errors and ambiguities in the original edition and includes indexes of songs, poetry for improvisation, and music theory worksheets. Pages are designed to be removed from a binder and handed in or shown to the teacher. Students have enjoyed learning and performing the songs and pieces in Introducing the Recorder, whether on the concert stage or in the classroom.

Preface

From the Preface to the Revised Edition of Introducing the Recorder

With Introducing the Recorder and Music Theory students learn in classroom settings to play an actual musical instrument, the soprano recorder, and discover basics of music theory at the same time, seamlessly, logically, and easily.

The text has been field tested and has proven to produce students who are musically literate and who also are fluent sight-readers on the recorder.

Students first learn to play by ear folk tunes and to improvise their own tunes; and then they learn to relate these skills to sight-reading printed music.

While some books that emphasize the recorder utilize only the key of G Major so long as to offend the sensibilities of the musician-teacher, in this book students learn after only 3 pages to begin transposing and playing in new keys.

Ensemble performance is emphasized from the beginning.While the text is written in language that sixth or seventh grade students can understand, older students also will find the materials stimulating and challenging.

Socratic and discovery questions and exercises are liberally sprinkled throughout the text, prompting students to understand the materials in depth as they read.

Students explore and perform all musical elements in this first text: pitch, harmony and texture, rhythm (from whole notes through sixteenths), meter (including eighth, quarter, and half-note pulses), phrase and form, articulation, tempo, and dynamics. The book is organized around scales: students first learn to be proficient with a fragment of the pentatonic scale, then with complete pentatonic scales, with five-note diatonic scales in major and minor modes, and finally with the complete major and minor scales.

Recorder technique exercises and tips also are included.

The text includes over 65 songs and pieces presented in over 80 different ways, all of which are either real folk tunes or melodies written by master composers such as Praetorius, Handel, and Beethoven. No “teaching pieces” are used in this text.

In addition, music theory worksheets appear on nearly 80 pages of the text. Designed to help students master music theory and notation, they are seamlessly integrated into the text.

The Revised Edition includes indexes for the songs and poetry, the music theory worksheets, and recorder technique exercises on pages 149 and 150.

Ensemble suggestions and pieces give teachers opportunities to be creative in their use of the materials. Ensemble pieces from Unit 2 on are suitable for concert performance for beginning music students. Included are six pieces with piano accompaniment.

The Teacher’s Supplement in the teacher’s edition of the book provides 20 pages of suggestions and practical guidance for teaching the seven skills explored in the book. Answers to the crossword puzzles also are included.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents (selections)

Unit 1 – Three-note Melodic Range

  • Playing by ear

  • Fingering on your recorder for these songs

  • Improvising

  • Taking dictation

  • Sight-reading

  • Transposing

  • Recorder technique

  • Ensemble playing

  • Learning about music theory

  • Notation

  • Steps, skips, and repeats

  • Scales

  • Half steps and whole steps

  • Harmony and texture

  • Phrase and form

  • Rhythm and meter

  • Worksheets

Unit 2 – Pentatonic Melodies

Unit 4 – Diatonic Melodies – Eight-note Range in Major and Minor

Additional Practice Worksheets and Crosswords

Contents of the Teacher's Supplement

Music theory facts and concepts covered in this text

The philosophy: experience, analysis, more experience

The seven skills explored in this book

How to teach the seven skills

  • Teaching playing by ear

  • Teaching improvising

  • Teaching transposing

  • Teaching recorder technique

  • Teaching sight-reading

  • About rhythmic chanting1

  • About shaping the melody

  • Teaching dictation and use of solfège2

  • Teaching ensemble performance

Reading the text

Playing by ear songs (notated)

Additional practice worksheets index

Answers to crossword puzzles

Music theory facts and concepts covered in this text150

The philosophy: experience, analysis, more experience. 150

The seven skills explored in this book. 151

How to teach the seven skills. 151

Teaching playing by ear. 151

Teaching improvising. 153

Teaching transposing. 153

Teaching recorder technique. 153

Teaching sight-reading. 155

About rhythmic chanting. 155

About shaping the melody. 158

Teaching dictation and use of solfège. 159

Teaching ensemble performance. 160

Reading the text160

Playing by ear songs. 160

Additional practice worksheets index. 163

Answers to crossword puzzles. 164

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1. The author advocates an approach to rhythm and meter similar to that used in the Orff Schulwerk.

2. Use of solfège syllables and Curwen hand signs as employed in the Kodály Method complements the text and facilitates learning.  A "moveable Do" approach with Do-based minor (a parallel approach) is recommended for use with this text.

Teacher's Supplement

Facts and Concepts

Facts and Concepts Introduced

Notation and intervals

  • Skips, steps, and repeats

  • Whole steps and half steps

  • Sharps and flats

  • The keyboard

  • The grand staff

2)      Scales and key signatures

  • Solfège degrees for Major and natural minor

  • Pentatonic and diatonic scalar organizations

  • Scale degree names (such as tonic and dominant)

  • The order of sharps and flats in key signatures

  • Major and minor key signatures

3)      Harmony and texture

  • Monophony, polyphony, and homophony

  • Ostinato textures

  • Tonic and dominant functions

4)      Phrase and Form

  • The four-measure phrase

  • The period

  • How to label forms with letters (such as AB and AA’)

5)      Rhythm and meter

  • Duple, triple, and quadruple simple meters and duple and triple compound meters

  • Note values from whole notes through 16th notes

  • Dotted rhythms

  • Metrical counting

  • Identifying strong beats

  • Conducting patterns

6)      Vocabulary

  • Barline, measure, ending bar, repeat sign

  • Pianissimo through fortissimo dynamics

  • Legato, marcato, and staccato articulations

  • Ties and slurs

  • Andante, allegro, moderato, and largo tempos

  • Ritardando

  • Melody and harmony

In addition, all of the notes of the first register of the soprano recorder and many of those in the higher register are presented and used.  The text uses moveable DO solfège throughout.