Contents
- Introduction
- Taking Stock
- How to Play High D (G on Treble)
- Pieces Incorporating New Note
→ Descant: “Loth to Depart”
→ Treble: “Elizabethan Ayre”
- How to Play the “Missing” C Sharp (F Sharp on Treble)
- Exercise Incorporating High C Sharp (Descant)
- Exercise Incorporating High F Sharp (Treble)
- Using the Double Holes Correctly
- How to Play High Notes
- Tunes Employing the Difficult High Notes
→ Descant: “Freeman’s Dance”
→ Treble: “Rogero” . .
- The Importance of Playing in Tune
→ Temperature
→ Over-blowing
→ Under-blowing
→ Uneven blowing
→ Using correct fingerings
→ Pitch of accompanying instruments
- Tone Production and Expression, Breathing and Phrasing
- Vibrato
- Double-tonguing
- Dynamics (Variations in volume)
- Principal alternative fingerings and their uses
- The Bell Key
- Muted Practice
- On Playing Trills
- Trill Fingerings
- Music to Play
Introduction
- This book is dedicated to the raising of the standard of recorder playing throughout the world and a greater understanding of the unlimited powers of the recorder as a serious musical instrument.
- It is assumed that recorder pupils and teachers about to study this book have already worked from School Recorder Books 1 and 2 or have by other means acquired more than elementary knowledge of recorder playing and the ability to sight-read on descant, treble, tenor and even bass recorders. They should, in fact, have achieved sufficient mastery to enable them to gain more than a passing enthusiasm for the recorder and know that the path can now lead them towards virtuosity and the finer musical aspects of mature performance. In helping the more serious and gifted players towards these higher things, this book is also intended to reveal that the recorder is not merely a step to something else (however successfully it may have fulfilled this valuable function in various ways), but that it can become a very worth- while end in itself and give lifelong musical satisfaction. The pupil who derives pleasure from learning the recorder at school should thus be able to reach a degree of mastery which will enable him to continue and develop his playing further after leaving school, instead of automatically laying it aside along with school textbooks, half learnt, without having realized or enjoyed the full capabilities of the instrument.
- If the pupil is to derive the fullest benefit from studying this book, he should first take stock of the fundamental rules of recorder playing.
Taking Stock
- Are you tonguing all the notes (except those contained in slurs) ? Having mastered the “te” articulation use it with varying degrees of intensity. Do not let it become explosive in effect. A more gentle articulation can be obtained with the alternative consonants “de”, “le” or “re”, where more appropriate.
- Are you slurring correctly?
- Are you employing the right fingerings for all notes? Now is the time for a check-up; never be content with an approximate fingering of your own invention; the results will probably be out of tune.
- When playing “pinched” notes in the upper octave, are you bending your thumb and placing your left thumb-nail correctly in the hole? (See chapter headed “How to play high notes”, page 10.)
- Make sure that you are using the pads (not the tips) of your fingers to cover the holes and that your fingers are as nearly as possible at right angles to the recorder. Badly-stopped holes can cause a lot of trouble.
- Are you holding your recorder correctly? It should be held at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the vertical. The shoulders should be held well back to allow freedom of breathing. Never “hug” your recorder close to you nor try to read from music held on your lap or on a stand that is too low. Nor should the recorder be held artificially high, as a herald holds his trumpet!
- Are you breathing in the right places without breaking up the musical phrases? This all important subject will be dealt with more fully further on. (See pages 15-16.)
- Treat your recorder with care and respect. Warm it gently in the hands before playing. Take the sections apart after playing and always dry them inside with a cloth or handkerchief on the end of a stick. Woollen “mops” are apt to leave fluff inside the recorder, and this may impair the tone if it gets into or near the wind way.
Book Comment
E. J. Arnold & Son Ltd, Revised Edition, 1981
"Dolmetsch (Carl) - Advanced Recorder Technique"
Source: Dolmetsch (Carl) - Advanced Recorder Technique
Paper Comment
Also time recorded against "Practice - Recorder - General Practice".
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)