Reinforcing A & C on Soprano Recorder
Throughout my teaching career, I have played around with different ways of introducing notes on recorder. I’ve gone the BAG route, and that can be great, but sometimes, I like like to start with A & C to have it connect to “mi-so” and Solfege. There are benefits to each approach, and certainly is dependent on the group of kids and other repertoire we are working on.
This year, I started with A & C; One of the bonuses to introducing notes this way is that it lends itself so easily to adding Orff instrument extensions and creates opportunities to work in small groups (which is so helpful with recorder—it can be hard for the kids to hear when everyone plays at once and it can be difficult to assess and support articulation).
When we do A & C, I can pick a song they know from the past (ex: “Apple Tree”) so that they are already familiar with the melody and rhythm patterns. By going this route, it’s easy to add Orff instruments, non-pitched percussion, and perform the song with the game component (the bigger kids still appreciate playing the games from their earlier years—sometimes even more than new ones because it hearkens back to their “childhood”).
One of my favorite ways to work on the finger positions for A & C is with the song, “Off to the Zoo.” I follow a process similar to what I described above using this song and it works like a charm. Take a look at the video below where I walk you through the process. You can find this activity in my “Rockin’ Recorders” Curriculum (Google Slides & PDF versions available).
And, if you’re looking for some recorder classroom decor, I have three different styles of recorder finger charts to choose from: