How to Play the Recorder

Posted on May 20th, 2009 by Carmelia

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The recorder is an instrument taught in many schools. It’s relatively easy to learn, and allows students to have some degree of proficiency over a musical instrument. You can learn how to play it too, using these easy steps. Here’s how.

Put together the recorder. Some recorders come whole, but others need to be assembled. Make sure that the foot joint is turned slightly to the right side after assembling.
Put the recorder’s mouthpiece between your lips. Do not bite and don’t let it touch your teeth. Blow through it to make sure that the sound comes out nice and clear.
Now, blow through the mouthpiece again while pronouncing the word “too”. This is called tonguing and gives the note a clearer beginning.
To do a vibrato sound, say “yer yer yer” while playing.
Disassemble and clean the recorder after use.

Finger Placements

To make things easier to follow, use a numbering system for your fingers. Each finger on top of its corresponding hole will be numbered accordingly.

Left Hand Notes

0 - Thumb
1 - Left index finger
2 - Left middle finger
3 - Left ring finger
4 - Left pinky finger

The left hand notes that you can play are the following, with their associated finger placements:

B - 0, 1
A - 0, 1, 3
G - 0, 1, 2, 3
C’ - 0, 2
D’ - 2

Note that the tick mark (’) indicates a higher note than the standard chord.

Right Hand Notes

The finger numbering on the left hand notes are the same with the right hand notes.

F - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7
E - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
D - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
C - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Semtiones

Semitones are the inbetween tones. On the piano, they are the represented by the black keys.

F# - 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6
C#’ - 1, 2
Bb - 0, 1, 3, 4, 6
Ab - 0, 1, 2, 4, 5
C# - Same fingering as C, only with the larger hole of finger 7 covered, or 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7a
D# - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6a