Playing Your First Note
The first note you will learn to paly is the B note shown on the previous page. Place your fingers in position to play the note and put the tip of the recorder into your mouth. Use your lips to seal off any air from escaping out the sides of your mouth and blow smoothly and steadily into the recorder. Don't blow too hard or start the note too suddenly, or you may cause the note to sound at the wrong pitch or cause the recorder to squeak. If you are unsure what the note should sound like, listen to example 2 on the CD try to imitate it.
Tonguing
To control the beginning and end of a note, the technique of tonguing is used. To prepare for this technique whisper the sound "taa". The sound begins with your tongue sitting behind your top teeth, blocking the passage of air, and you make the "taa" sound by quickly withdrawing it, and letting a stream of air begin from your outgoing breath.
The next step is to do this with the recorder in position to play a B note, with your tongue lightly on the hole in the mouthpiece. As you withdraw your tongue, the note will have a well articulated beginning.
The "t" part of the sound gives the note a definite starting point, and the "aa" part of the sound keeps your throat open so that the flow of air remains constant and the note sounds even. To end the note, you put your tongue back on the mouth piece rather than stopping your breath. This will end the note as crisply as it started. It is worth practicing the tonguing technique many times on a single note until you are comfortable with it.
Tuning Your Recorder
The pitch of the recorder can be altered by either pushing the headjoint further onto the body or pulling it back a bit. Before you begin tuning to the CD, make sure the headjoint is not pushed fully onto the body, or you may have no room to move if your recorder is out of tune.
The first track on the CD contains a B note for you to tune to. Cue it to the start of the first track and then play a B note. Listen carefully to the sound and try to keep it in your mind when you finish playing the note. Then start the CD and see if the B note sounds the same as the one you just played. If it does, you are already in tune with the recording.
If you think your B note is lower than the B note on the CD, you can make it higher by pushing the headjoint gently a little further onto then body. Be careful to move the headjoint only a small amount at a time, or you may put the instrument out of tune in the opposite direction; i.e. you may make the note sound too sharp instead of too flat. Once you have moved the mouthpiece, play the note again and check it against the CD. Repeat this process until your B note and the CD note sound the same.
If your B note is higher than the recording, you will have to move the headjoint in the opposite direction - pulling it back out away from the body a small amount and then checking your note against the CD. Once again, repeat the process if necessary until your B note and the CD note sound the same.
If you have trouble hearing the differences in pitch and matching them evenly, don't worry, this is common and tuning will become easier as your lips and facial muscles develop and you get a better sense of the sounds of notes in general.
