I played strictly as an amateur for about 10 or 15 years. A year ago I quit playing because I wasn't sure where I was going with it. You've renewed my interest and I am again practicing regularly. Thank you!
Thank you for your videos. I've always wanted to play a musical instrument. So now that I'm 60 I've decided to learn. Someone said that the recorder is fairly simple to learn and not expensive for a beginner. Found your videos and this one is just what I need since I don't read music. Thank you again 💜
Recorders are also a great way to learn the basics of music. I used to know how to play recorder, and I was pretty good, but I stopped playing after my teacher hadnothing more to teach me.Now I forget how to play.
Thank you so much for this. Greetings from Philippines 🇵🇭 Just want to say that your vlogs is such a big help with my music ministry in our church (me as a recorder player) Keep inspiring us🙂 GOD BLESS you and your family❣️
I’m sorry I fell a sleep in class again. Lol. I’m 60+ and still can stay a wake. But you are so much more fun then my old school teacher so I’m going to sit and watch the video again because I must learn. Lol
Starting recorder has helped me get back into sight reading. I have played piano for years and basically scrapped reading score once I found that I could play along to falling bars on online pianist and never have to figure out notes ever again. So for many years I have been learning songs on my ipad because it is so much easier and more fun. Then in December I started to learn the recorder after watching all of your great videos. So as a beginner and because they don't do falling note midi for recorder I have gotten back into reading music again. It is soo nice to only have one note at a time to read you are so lucky lol. As a pianist you can have 7 or more notes and a pedal. So not having to work out chords is nice too. I like though that there is so much to playing recorder not just notes. I feel as a pisnist most of your time is taken up getting the notes and finger patterns right but with recorder I feel much more free to work on the actual sound, rythm feeling etc. This is really helping my piano practice because I am much more sound and passion focussed rather than getting the notes perfect focussed. So thanks a lot for your inspiration.
Ah well that convinced me. No point in carrying on trying to learn to read music. It's math based and no matter how hard I tried I never even grasped learning my math table. Read the same "my first recorder book" for DECADES but nothing goes in & stays in same as maths. I have consistently spelt minutes wrong all my life & continue to do so. I'm now 62. Spent all my life in work, ran my own business for over 30 years so its frustrating and makes me furious and angry with myself I just can't seem to absorb things kiddies have no problem with. Although my dear Granny was a excellent pianist but couldn't even whistle a tune without sheet music yet both my parents could play any tune "by ear" mainly keyboard instuments. So don't be put off by this excellent instructional video if you do struggle like me. Everyone can get great enjoyment playing any instrument even if they can't read a note of music. I do.
I was just thinking if I had not read and practised using Stephen Goodyears books then I'm afraid I'd be a bit lost too. Maths was a big problem for me (still is) however I seemed to remember fractions, back in the 60's we cut up cake and sorted out sweeties and so the notes to me are maltesers and sponge cake : ) I only started to teach myself aged 50+ so age should be no problem. Stephen Goodyears books - for me, were great! There are two small books for descant/tenor and one for treble/sopranino and another for bass (if you can get hold of one) and the're printed in black and white with a picture for each finger position (really clear no distracting bright cartoons) and it takes you through one note at a time and after you've got to grips with about three notes then you play a tune and so on. They won't tell you everything but the're a good starting point. The Clarks tin whistle book is also a good one and was my first attempt to play music before switching to the recorder ..... Go on give it go. Thank you Sarah for all your tips and clips they are so useful and you make me laugh too. It's also a disadvantage that I have to read the music to be able to play anything! I will check have you covered how to memorise the music - my next greatest challange I think, especially as my memory has never been that good!
That's like me and Italian Translation. I get money for translstion work so am proffessional in some definition but it is extremely rare and acounts for about 0.01% of my income lol.
2:45 One other clef, among many, is the alto or C clef - for all you aspiring viola players. 😊 ♫ 🎻 BTW: 8:07 There’s two for the books, the key signatures: C flat major and C sharp major that are hardly ever seen. And let’s not neglect the F flat major signature. That one has six flats and one double flat - Wow! 😲
I actually really appreciate you making these videos and teaching us how to read the sheet music and notes and how to play. I've been learning to play for my son☺️
Ms Sarah, you are a delight! I read a bit of music but your explanation made many aspects a great deal clearer. I’ve restarted learning the alto recorder and look forward to binge watching all your videos. Cheers!
I LOVE your series. I just signed up for TeamRecorder on Patreon. I am finding all aspects of learning how to play my alto recorder really fun, including how to read music.
I've always learned that Ritardando is slowing down over a short time (i.e. 2 bars) and Rallentando is over a longer period of time (i.e. 8 bars). Words like this get so confusing after a while, I always tell my composition students to use the language they are most comfortable with. Amongst many others, terms I would use here are "slow down", "getting slower", or "slow down lots". It avoids the inevitable trumpet player asking what "Largo non troppo" means.
And then there's also ritenuto, which is slowing down abruptly. And it doesn't help that it's abbreviated "rit." just like ritardando can be. And in the end all of it is up for interpretation anyway. Which varies not just from person to person, but even for the same person on different occasions. Which is a good thing. I am a composer, but I always stress (especially to beginners) that music is never made by the composer, it is always made by whoever is actually making it. It is a living thing. Any well-crafted piece will account for that. And if a composer does need more clarity, then as you said: they can just use more or clearer words. Simple, really.
Hey Sarah! Great video. You ought to have mentioned that recorders all read at concert pitch! That is sort of relevant to reading music on the recorder, I’d say. 😅 Perhaps make a follow-up video in the future that includes interval/ear training as well? As always, thanks for all the hard work you do in keeping us all informed and entertained! 🎶
A few alternatives: in the US, it's staff not stave, but the plural is still staves. The horizontal bar above/below a note is a tenuto, if over there it's a portato. Portato as a bowing instruction for viols is written like demi-staccato, dots under a slur. And the portato and tormato are musical nightshades (not really). My teacher called a fermata, a hold. Don't know how widespread that is, though.
Hello Sarah, once again you prove yourself an excellent video-didactitian. It was all very clear and easy to understand. Of course musical theory can be a bit of a lump to swallow, but there is no way around it. My problem is with solfège: I can read a rhythm decently but after so many years I still cannot "hear" the music just by reading the notes. It is something that bothers me a lot and I look forward to a future video where you give us tips on that as well?
I gather it takes a lot of practice, and is very hard to learn as an adult. Dad used to recommend the books he used at Juilliard in the 1930s, George Wedge's two books on "ear training and sight singing." There are also apps that can help, but I never mastered it either.
You are brilliant! I so enjoy watching your enthusiastic presentations. Although I don't expect to take up recorder playing at this late stage of my life, watching you does tickle my creative instinct as well as puts a smile on my face. I learned a lot from this presentation that satisfies my curiosity. Thank-you, Sarah Jeffery! 😀😀
As for 3:33: if it's any consolation, we have funny names, too, in Italy; but regular (fraction) names also. So we have fancy names and logical names, you choose whichever you like :)
Yes, all very informative Sarah - for those who don't already know. It's really not so hard or daunting as many who have never read music seem to imagine. But I would have to say that, if one were looking for the most ILLOGICAL system conceivable of notating all the elenents that you enumerate - then the, now universal, system which we have would certainly fit the bill! The old Renaissance system of TABLATURES was at least for sure LOGICAL. The only problem was: while it certainly worked well for many of the *stringed* instruments which were so popular in that time ... like the lute and its relatives, or the viols say - it was pretty useless and impractical for WIND instruments of the day - like indeed the RECORDER (!) and not much help for players of the keyboard instruments then popular - like the clavichord and the (early) harpsichord. Furthernore, of course, these *tablatures* were not transferrable as a notation system between instruments. Music written in LUTE tablature, for example, was of little use to a VIOL player; none at all - obviously - to a CLAVICHORDIST. Oh dear! You would have had to - painstakingly - 'transliterate' the entire piece for your own instrument (mixed consorts of course would have had their own problems over notation systems!). The inventor of the AUTOHARP (Charles Zimmerman) thought he had designed an instrument which could only be played (and could be used to teach) his own (invented) alternative notation system of letters and numbers. But, as we know, it never caught on! In very truth it was no less unweildy than the standardised notation system - so illogical as that is - which we are all 'stuck with'. Of course you'll get some musicians - especially in the world of jazz and blues (and some folk and ethnic 'world' music too) who would insist that they 'play by ear' - and some might be to 'proud' (?) of what they do to ever even deign to learn to read a single note of music. INDIAN (CLASSICAL) MUSIC .... with its complex body of theory based on the RAGAS (of which there are, in theory, over 200 - though only a few if these are widely used in most performance)... but it is an IMPROVISED music; there is no notation system as such. Maybe some day someone will come up with (where Zimmerman failed obviously .... though he did, as a by-product beqeath to the world a nifty new North American (but now much more widely used) folk instrument; or succeed where Stockhausen et al - with their 'tone rows' and 'twelve note' (or 'atonal') systems failed to be universal either... maybe some day someone will come with a UNIVERSAL and NOT OVER-COMPLICATED notation system that *is* logical, but is also PRACTICAL??? Maybe - but I for one am not holding my breath waiting for it!!
Greetings from Russia. You're great! Every time when I watch you I find some to improve my English listening, some to know more about recorders and some to LOL =))). Thanks a lot for good sence of humor. I have my own plastic recorder, but have no time to play
Sarah, this is so helpful and really clarified things for me. Honestly a great job that I don't think many can parallel. Thank you for all your videos which I've used solely to learn to play the recorder. Best music teacher ever. ❤️
Learning music is well worth the effort as it really does open up a new world of music. Take it steadily and do a little every day: little and often. You will be surprised at how quickly you will learn it. Take care.x
We also have all these complicated terms for beats is french, ronde/blanche/noire/croche/double croche/ triple croche... so much simpler in the states! I never knew that they used that
I've been reading music since I was wee, so I hear it as I read it, but this has been an awesome introduction for my daughter, who wondered why a double-sharp isn't just written as the "next note up." I told her, "That's for another time, love." She accepted that. Her world is 440--she said, "It sounds higher than mine, daddy," and I'm not going to confuse her with anything else, yet, especially enharmonics. ;-) And I totally dig the Aeolian on C at the beginning for the first scale example. Your videos are fantastic!
@@argonwheatbelly637 Good point. I guess an explanation could add the basic idea that, on lots of instruments we use, like a piano, all the notes are the same distance apart, so a double sharp IS the next note up, but on some instruments, the notes aren't all the same distance, so we have another way to write it. Nothing wrong with finding out there are other ways to tune, other ways to break up an octave.
Helpful even for me. I learned to read music as a kid playing double bass. I didn't realize some things had more then one name...I finally know what a stave is and a few other symbols I'd never come across as a kid. Glad I learned all the italian words early on, made it easier for dynamics/tempo.
Maybe "stave" is the UK word? In the US it's a staff, plural staves. Two or more staves joined by a vertical line, like piano music or ensemble scores, is called a system.
Hi Sarah! I love your videos. They inspire me to learn something more about the Recorders and its fantastic world. Now I'm working in some new clefs: So I'm playing the C clef for the Tenor Recorder. The G clef for the Alto Recorder. The D clef for the Soprano Recorder and the A clef for the Sopranino Recorder. These two last clefs are brand new for the 21th century and. I hope one day I could show you my Recorder project work. So far so good everything in my project is amazingly awesome!! Greetings from Tijuana!
I belive it is important to remark for beginners: a bar line shows where is a strong beat, not where is a boundary between meters. (Although, this is just a matter of perception). The positions of caesurae which will divide the music into phrases, and the position of bar lines, generally speaking, are different.
Hi Sarah! Related to the topic of this presentation - would you do a video on how to use a metronome and foot tapping to keep time? i.e. how does the click or tap relate to the written and played music? Thanks.
I'm a flute player and I already know how to read treble and bass clef and bit of alto clef too, but I saw the grenadilla recorder and wanted to listen to you play it.
very informative, I went an learnt to sing in a harmony group, and understood the multiple voices bit, and the treble and bass (I'm a bass). relearning the recorder saprano and buying an alto, this video will help me to get across it all. well done!
I have been reading music since I’m 5 yo, but in French, as I’m French Canadian, but now I’m in a pipeband and everything is in English so your video is really helping me! Thanks! And I really prefer the British name for the notes! The other way is kind of boring....
Yay.BIG THANKS ! Looks like I finally have new year resolution to finally got that "dot s#it" in my brain ! Biggest problem will be counting note measures and not giving up. Your video about playing every note also very helps ! I had mussic lessons in high school but teacher was eating sandwiches before and now all I can remember is pieces of ham beetween his teeth while we had to sing patriotic songs.. All best4You
One thing I took a long time to realize is that those flags on the note tails - there's a rule for how they're joined. Notes that fall in a beat are joined together. After I realized this I was blown how much more easier it was to read music.
Yeah, It's good to keep coming back to this vid a lot. I don't understand the point of the double flat and double sharp signs. Why not just mark the note lower or higher?
Maybe a personal question here -------- do you have perfect pitch? !!!!! (as in - when you play the recorder ...... do you know in advance exactly what the pitch is for the note you want to play - without doing any preliminary calibration?)
I Wish You could Help me. I Love sound , I just wish I were able to understand what finger to lift or lower or when to lift as you tongue while blowing ... Im a mess please help
To be honest i kinda regret watching this video before i used to memorize all the notes , I am only remember 5 notes then i skip to this. 😅. But i started to understand some of the symbol on the music sheets. i am still a beginner tho 😆 but i will try my best. Thank you 😄
Tangent to reading music, how does a beginner get sheet music? Most of what turns up in a web search is over five dollars a song or membership that is also a bit steep.
im only 11 but this sort of helped me and my music teacher is still jelous of me that im better than him but im trying to learn more songs whenever i can
Oh yeah, and what Dommsound626 said ! He's me or I'm him or where us ? Or I'm a tree and your me but let's leave Jean-Paul Sautre out of this ! I just can't see a book about the philosophy of recording the recorder . I'm tired , been a wild morning ,woke up don't know where? But the lady is very pretty . Should I stay or should I go? Is that too much info ? My filter broke, next my brain,,,soon 🍌...at ease and carry on ! From the 514 , MTL , QC ., CA .
Hello, excuse this question that may seem childish: I often see a sign "+" above the notes on the scores. Could you tell me how to play them, please? thank you so much
All recorders read music at concert pitch (as opposed to the composer transposing the music) which means the fingerings for identical notes on differently sized recorders are actually different. So the high E, which would normally be fingered 2 3 | 2 3 plus the bell hole on a soprano, is actually played as if you were playing a high B natural - again, on a soprano. It is read and sounds as a B instead of an E because the alto recorder is pitched a perfect 5th below the soprano recorder (though interval study is frankly beyond the scope of this video). To my knowledge, recorders are about the only classical western instrument family to read music in this way.
Oops! Sorry I asked. Wasn’t expecting a technical solution, just trying to take the rise out of a fellow Brit, who I’m sure knows what I was up to but didn’t take the bait. Anyway, if wasn’t a high E; it was the E that is a below the alto’s lowest note (actually this E is possible but not generally mentioned in any literature I’ve seen)
Isabelle Douglass Yes, probably right. Or just played the lowest note available. Anyway, apart from being a brilliant teacher, Sarah has a keen sense of humour and will respond in her inimitable way (hopefully). Seconds thoughts: if that’s a Bernolin resin alto in A=415 wouldn’t the lowest note sound to most of us like an E not an F. Believe me, worse things can happen to a teacher, and it’s always when just for once your students are actually paying attention. Try standing in front of a class of 30 14-year old who suddenly break out into fits of giggles; they won’t say why and you daren’t ask!
I played strictly as an amateur for about 10 or 15 years. A year ago I quit playing because I wasn't sure where I was going with it. You've renewed my interest and I am again practicing regularly. Thank you!
Great to hear dear!
Wow you've been playing for almost twenty years now then
Thank you for your videos. I've always wanted to play a musical instrument. So now that I'm 60 I've decided to learn. Someone said that the recorder is fairly simple to learn and not expensive for a beginner. Found your videos and this one is just what I need since I don't read music. Thank you again 💜
She got me started on recorder too, and thanks to her tutorial at christmas I learned to play Silent Night in a week 🙂
Recorders are also a great way to learn the basics of music. I used to know how to play recorder, and I was pretty good, but I stopped playing after my teacher hadnothing more to teach me.Now I forget how to play.
Thank you so much for this. Greetings from Philippines 🇵🇭 Just want to say that your vlogs is such a big help with my music ministry in our church (me as a recorder player) Keep inspiring us🙂 GOD BLESS you and your family❣️
I’m sorry I fell a sleep in class again. Lol. I’m 60+ and still can stay a wake. But you are so much more fun then my old school teacher so I’m going to sit and watch the video again because I must learn. Lol
Starting recorder has helped me get back into sight reading. I have played piano for years and basically scrapped reading score once I found that I could play along to falling bars on online pianist and never have to figure out notes ever again. So for many years I have been learning songs on my ipad because it is so much easier and more fun. Then in December I started to learn the recorder after watching all of your great videos. So as a beginner and because they don't do falling note midi for recorder I have gotten back into reading music again. It is soo nice to only have one note at a time to read you are so lucky lol. As a pianist you can have 7 or more notes and a pedal. So not having to work out chords is nice too. I like though that there is so much to playing recorder not just notes. I feel as a pisnist most of your time is taken up getting the notes and finger patterns right but with recorder I feel much more free to work on the actual sound, rythm feeling etc. This is really helping my piano practice because I am much more sound and passion focussed rather than getting the notes perfect focussed. So thanks a lot for your inspiration.
Ah well that convinced me.
No point in carrying on trying to learn to read music. It's math based and no matter how hard I tried I never even grasped learning my math table. Read the same "my first recorder book" for DECADES but nothing goes in & stays in same as maths. I have consistently spelt minutes wrong all my life & continue to do so. I'm now 62. Spent all my life in work, ran my own business for over 30 years so its frustrating and makes me furious and angry with myself I just can't seem to absorb things kiddies have no problem with. Although my dear Granny was a excellent pianist but couldn't even whistle a tune without sheet music yet both my parents could play any tune "by ear" mainly keyboard instuments. So don't be put off by this excellent instructional video if you do struggle like me. Everyone can get great enjoyment playing any instrument even if they can't read a note of music. I do.
I was just thinking if I had not read and practised using Stephen Goodyears books then I'm afraid I'd be a bit lost too. Maths was a big problem for me (still is) however I seemed to remember fractions, back in the 60's we cut up cake and sorted out sweeties and so the notes to me are maltesers and sponge cake : )
I only started to teach myself aged 50+ so age should be no problem. Stephen Goodyears books - for me, were great! There are two small books for descant/tenor and one for treble/sopranino and another for bass (if you can get hold of one) and the're printed in black and white with a picture for each finger position (really clear no distracting bright cartoons) and it takes you through one note at a time and after you've got to grips with about three notes then you play a tune and so on. They won't tell you everything but the're a good starting point. The Clarks tin whistle book is also a good one and was my first attempt to play music before switching to the recorder ..... Go on give it go.
Thank you Sarah for all your tips and clips they are so useful and you make me laugh too. It's also a disadvantage that I have to read the music to be able to play anything!
I will check have you covered how to memorise the music - my next greatest challange I think, especially as my memory has never been that good!
Already hard enough to read notes now I need to do math hahahaha
🤣 true.
Real
I'm a hemidemisemiprofessional musician.
LOL. That's my niche, too, depending on the millisecond. :0)
That's like me and Italian Translation. I get money for translstion work so am proffessional in some definition but it is extremely rare and acounts for about 0.01% of my income lol.
Wonderful video for learning the music basic terms in English as well! Even if I know them in my origin language. Thank you so much!
2:45 One other clef, among many, is the alto or C clef - for all you aspiring viola players. 😊 ♫ 🎻 BTW: 8:07 There’s two for the books, the key signatures: C flat major and C sharp major that are hardly ever seen. And let’s not neglect the F flat major signature. That one has six flats and one double flat - Wow! 😲
I actually really appreciate you making these videos and teaching us how to read the sheet music and notes and how to play. I've been learning to play for my son☺️
Wonderful!
Ms Sarah, you are a delight! I read a bit of music but your explanation made many aspects a great deal clearer. I’ve restarted learning the alto recorder and look forward to binge watching all your videos. Cheers!
I LOVE your series. I just signed up for TeamRecorder on Patreon. I am finding all aspects of learning how to play my alto recorder really fun, including how to read music.
Beautifully done. Everything was so clear. Thank you and Happy Valentine’s Day to you, Jon and Bodil.
This must be the best theory lesson for recorder, for someone who has zero musical background. Thank you, Sarah. I’m sending this to a friend.
I already knew how to read a little bit of music, but I did learn some things that I didn't know... So thank you for making this video! It helps alot.
I've always learned that Ritardando is slowing down over a short time (i.e. 2 bars) and Rallentando is over a longer period of time (i.e. 8 bars). Words like this get so confusing after a while, I always tell my composition students to use the language they are most comfortable with. Amongst many others, terms I would use here are "slow down", "getting slower", or "slow down lots". It avoids the inevitable trumpet player asking what "Largo non troppo" means.
And then there's also ritenuto, which is slowing down abruptly. And it doesn't help that it's abbreviated "rit." just like ritardando can be.
And in the end all of it is up for interpretation anyway. Which varies not just from person to person, but even for the same person on different occasions. Which is a good thing.
I am a composer, but I always stress (especially to beginners) that music is never made by the composer, it is always made by whoever is actually making it. It is a living thing. Any well-crafted piece will account for that.
And if a composer does need more clarity, then as you said: they can just use more or clearer words. Simple, really.
Александр Евстюгов Well said, and I completely agree!
Hey Sarah! Great video. You ought to have mentioned that recorders all read at concert pitch! That is sort of relevant to reading music on the recorder, I’d say. 😅 Perhaps make a follow-up video in the future that includes interval/ear training as well? As always, thanks for all the hard work you do in keeping us all informed and entertained! 🎶
Thank you for this info. I’m just learning this instrument. Your videos are very helpful. Also, you are hilarious and I for one appreciate that.
A few alternatives:
in the US, it's staff not stave, but the plural is still staves.
The horizontal bar above/below a note is a tenuto, if over there it's a portato.
Portato as a bowing instruction for viols is written like demi-staccato, dots under a slur. And the portato and tormato are musical nightshades (not really).
My teacher called a fermata, a hold. Don't know how widespread that is, though.
yeah... you Americans get everything wrong.
Jonathan Baker you got the same exact name as my actual music teacher. Lmao
Tenuto, portato--let's call the whole thing off. :0)
@@shiinabugatti My music teacher (clarinet) was the late Irving Neidich, whose virtuoso clarinetist son Charles is rather better known.
This is gold. I'm experienced with notation, but never had anything like this to help me learn it when I started out. Thanks Sarah!
Hello Sarah, once again you prove yourself an excellent video-didactitian. It was all very clear and easy to understand.
Of course musical theory can be a bit of a lump to swallow, but there is no way around it.
My problem is with solfège: I can read a rhythm decently but after so many years I still cannot "hear" the music just by reading the notes. It is something that bothers me a lot and I look forward to a future video where you give us tips on that as well?
i'm so glad it's not just me... 🙄
I gather it takes a lot of practice, and is very hard to learn as an adult. Dad used to recommend the books he used at Juilliard in the 1930s, George Wedge's two books on "ear training and sight singing." There are also apps that can help, but I never mastered it either.
You are brilliant! I so enjoy watching your enthusiastic presentations. Although I don't expect to take up recorder playing at this late stage of my life, watching you does tickle my creative instinct as well as puts a smile on my face. I learned a lot from this presentation that satisfies my curiosity. Thank-you, Sarah Jeffery! 😀😀
your video are absolute gold, love them
As for 3:33: if it's any consolation, we have funny names, too, in Italy; but regular (fraction) names also. So we have fancy names and logical names, you choose whichever you like :)
Thank you Sahra, so Happy to find your RUclips Channel. Greetings from West Germany. Stay well💞
Yes, all very informative Sarah - for those who don't already know. It's really not so hard or daunting as many who have never read music seem to imagine.
But I would have to say that, if one were looking for the most ILLOGICAL system conceivable of notating all the elenents that you enumerate - then the, now universal, system which we have would certainly fit the bill! The old Renaissance system of TABLATURES was at least for sure LOGICAL. The only problem was: while it certainly worked well for many of the *stringed* instruments which were so popular in that time ... like the lute and its relatives, or the viols say - it was pretty useless and impractical for WIND instruments of the day - like indeed the RECORDER (!) and not much help for players of the keyboard instruments then popular - like the clavichord and the (early) harpsichord. Furthernore, of course, these *tablatures* were not transferrable as a notation system between instruments. Music written in LUTE tablature, for example, was of little use to a VIOL player; none at all - obviously - to a CLAVICHORDIST. Oh dear! You would have had to - painstakingly - 'transliterate' the entire piece for your own instrument (mixed consorts of course would have had their own problems over notation systems!).
The inventor of the AUTOHARP (Charles Zimmerman) thought he had designed an instrument which could only be played (and could be used to teach) his own (invented) alternative notation system of letters and numbers. But, as we know, it never caught on! In very truth it was no less unweildy than the standardised notation system - so illogical as that is - which we are all 'stuck with'. Of course you'll get some musicians - especially in the world of jazz and blues (and some folk and ethnic 'world' music too) who would insist that they 'play by ear' - and some might be to 'proud' (?) of what they do to ever even deign to learn to read a single note of music. INDIAN (CLASSICAL) MUSIC .... with its complex body of theory based on the RAGAS (of which there are, in theory, over 200 - though only a few if these are widely used in most performance)... but it is an IMPROVISED music; there is no notation system as such.
Maybe some day someone will come up with (where Zimmerman failed obviously .... though he did, as a by-product beqeath to the world a nifty new North American (but now much more widely used) folk instrument; or succeed where Stockhausen et al - with their 'tone rows' and 'twelve note' (or 'atonal') systems failed to be universal either... maybe some day someone will come with a UNIVERSAL and NOT OVER-COMPLICATED notation system that *is* logical, but is also PRACTICAL??? Maybe - but I for one am not holding my breath waiting for it!!
Greetings from Russia. You're great! Every time when I watch you I find some to improve my English listening, some to know more about recorders and some to LOL =))). Thanks a lot for good sence of humor. I have my own plastic recorder, but have no time to play
Sarah, this is so helpful and really clarified things for me. Honestly a great job that I don't think many can parallel. Thank you for all your videos which I've used solely to learn to play the recorder. Best music teacher ever. ❤️
Thank you! This was actually the hardest video to make as there is so much to explain 😅
This might be the best video so far!
Learning music is well worth the effort as it really does open up a new world of music. Take it steadily and do a little every day: little and often. You will be surprised at how quickly you will learn it. Take care.x
I learned to read music in french, I really enjoyed this tutorial to actually translate all these music terms =)
We also have all these complicated terms for beats is french, ronde/blanche/noire/croche/double croche/ triple croche... so much simpler in the states! I never knew that they used that
Best tutorial I've ever seen.....gonna download soon to learn playing recorder when I receive it soon
I've been reading music since I was wee, so I hear it as I read it, but this has been an awesome introduction for my daughter, who wondered why a double-sharp isn't just written as the "next note up." I told her, "That's for another time, love." She accepted that. Her world is 440--she said, "It sounds higher than mine, daddy," and I'm not going to confuse her with anything else, yet, especially enharmonics. ;-)
And I totally dig the Aeolian on C at the beginning for the first scale example. Your videos are fantastic!
An easy explanation for the double-sharp/flat issue is just that we usually want each key to have each letter name once.
@@DeeBroughton : But using a different intonation, it is different. However, I like your explanation. :-)
@@argonwheatbelly637 Good point. I guess an explanation could add the basic idea that, on lots of instruments we use, like a piano, all the notes are the same distance apart, so a double sharp IS the next note up, but on some instruments, the notes aren't all the same distance, so we have another way to write it. Nothing wrong with finding out there are other ways to tune, other ways to break up an octave.
@@DeeBroughton : Right on!
Sarah is one of my favorites on RUclips ❤
😘😘
Thank you. My friend wants to learn, so I'm going tot send this so him.
All the Italian I know, I learnt from reading music. Great video, thanks.
The comma for breathing. Great clip though. :)
I like this fast music theory class! It is very understandably! Thank you!
Helpful even for me. I learned to read music as a kid playing double bass. I didn't realize some things had more then one name...I finally know what a stave is and a few other symbols I'd never come across as a kid. Glad I learned all the italian words early on, made it easier for dynamics/tempo.
Maybe "stave" is the UK word? In the US it's a staff, plural staves. Two or more staves joined by a vertical line, like piano music or ensemble scores, is called a system.
Hi Sarah! I love your videos. They inspire me to learn something more about the Recorders and its fantastic world. Now I'm working in some new clefs: So I'm playing the C clef for the Tenor Recorder. The G clef for the Alto Recorder. The D clef for the Soprano Recorder and the A clef for the Sopranino Recorder. These two last clefs are brand new for the 21th century and. I hope one day I could show you my Recorder project work. So far so good everything in my project is amazingly awesome!! Greetings from Tijuana!
Love the hand movements 8:23
Fourteen lessons in as many minutes. :0) Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge.
I belive it is important to remark for beginners: a bar line shows where is a strong beat, not where is a boundary between meters. (Although, this is just a matter of perception). The positions of caesurae which will divide the music into phrases, and the position of bar lines, generally speaking, are different.
It's a whole lot of information in single video but u explained really well.
Loved the way u explained everything Clear neat precise♥️
Thank you Sarah learning Music has rarely been so enjoyable.
Je bent geweldig... Ik ben gek op jouw filmpjes. 😀👍
Thanks for the refresher.
Clarinet player here. GOOD JOB and thank you! You clarified the sFz for me lol!!
Hi Sarah! Related to the topic of this presentation - would you do a video on how to use a metronome and foot tapping to keep time? i.e. how does the click or tap relate to the written and played music? Thanks.
I'm a flute player and I already know how to read treble and bass clef and bit of alto clef too, but I saw the grenadilla recorder and wanted to listen to you play it.
Thank you good fairy for the tons of lectures you gave us :) ~
Me, a musician: I needed this video. \s
very informative, I went an learnt to sing in a harmony group, and understood the multiple voices bit, and the treble and bass (I'm a bass). relearning the recorder saprano and buying an alto, this video will help me to get across it all. well done!
You are so smart.
𝄋🐰𝄋
Thank you so much, lovely Sarah!
Thanks for helping me!☺️
Music is very confusing for my beginner ADHD brain. You make it interesting. I need to watch this 20 times to be able to remember :D
As someone who plays the piano, I did chuckle at one glaring omission: Chords. ;)
When it's recorder, they're not really a thing.
I have been reading music since I’m 5 yo, but in French, as I’m French Canadian, but now I’m in a pipeband and everything is in English so your video is really helping me! Thanks! And I really prefer the British name for the notes! The other way is kind of boring....
boring, yes, but WAY easier to remember 😁
YOUR A AMAZING RECORDER PLAYER IT MEANS YOUR A PRO
Amazing video !!! Thank you!
非常有帮助，简单 清晰！
Great video! Very educational!
Okey creo que te amo ♥️
In English "I like the flutes" :)
So much to remember.
Straight teaching
Oh god... thank you SO MUCH, this is USEFUL as hell
Yay.BIG THANKS ! Looks like I finally have new year resolution to finally got that "dot s#it" in my brain !
Biggest problem will be counting note measures and not giving up. Your video about playing every note also very helps !
I had mussic lessons in high school but teacher was eating sandwiches before and now all I can remember is pieces of ham beetween his teeth while we had to sing patriotic songs..
All best4You
I can read music already but this video was brilliant and concise. You explained everything a lot better than I could.
You have good control on your instrument. What is the specifications of the recorder you are using here. I wish to procure it.
This is a resin alto by Vincent Bernolin I think
One thing I took a long time to realize is that those flags on the note tails - there's a rule for how they're joined. Notes that fall in a beat are joined together. After I realized this I was blown how much more easier it was to read music.
Thank you. Can you do a video on buying choices of an adult recorder for an absolute beginner
You're Amazing Lovely Sarah 😊 I love the way you Teach 👌😄❤🌸🌹🌸
Yeah, It's good to keep coming back to this vid a lot. I don't understand the point of the double flat and double sharp signs. Why not just mark the note lower or higher?
It will be to do with the key signature..
@@Team_Recorder Someday my brain will calculate and understand
Your Italian accent was quite good actually! ;)
Another great video thank you.
Oh man it's easy to see how torturous sight reading can become with those evil dots.
I'm from Indonesian nice to know you
I can play anything if i can remember it.
Reading music is still unknown to me
Thank you so much
Thanks!!!
💕❤💟you helped me so much
Maybe a personal question here -------- do you have perfect pitch? !!!!! (as in - when you play the recorder ...... do you know in advance exactly what the pitch is for the note you want to play - without doing any preliminary calibration?)
I Wish You could Help me. I Love sound , I just wish I were able to understand what finger to lift or lower or when to lift as you tongue while blowing ... Im a mess please help
Hehehe...
9:19
To be honest i kinda regret watching this video before i used to memorize all the notes , I am only remember 5 notes then i skip to this. 😅. But i started to understand some of the symbol on the music sheets. i am still a beginner tho 😆 but i will try my best. Thank you 😄
this video format reminds me of a upisnotjump video
At 7:00, did The Flinestones get to the UK, or is that a different tune? 😁
Yes the flintstones was on in the UK and yes that was the theme she played!
I was looking for this comment😀.
Tangent to reading music, how does a beginner get sheet music? Most of what turns up in a web search is over five dollars a song or membership that is also a bit steep.
I tried to measure the metric of 27/16. The end result was 6 groups of 4 16th notes plus 1 16th note triplet per bar. So yeah. Also, what are beams?
im only 11 but this sort of helped me and my music teacher is still jelous of me that im better than him but im trying to learn more songs whenever i can
Oh yeah, and what Dommsound626 said ! He's me or I'm him or where us ? Or I'm a tree and your me but let's leave Jean-Paul Sautre out of this !
I just can't see a book about the philosophy of recording the recorder . I'm tired , been a wild morning ,woke up don't know where? But the lady is very pretty . Should I stay or should I go? Is that too much info ? My filter broke, next my brain,,,soon 🍌...at ease and carry on ! From the 514 , MTL , QC ., CA .
Hello, excuse this question that may seem childish: I often see a sign "+" above the notes on the scores. Could you tell me how to play them, please? thank you so much
It’s not a silly question at all! It means an ornament- usually a trill but you can extend it into something more exciting if you like ;)
Sarah Jeffery / Team Recorder Oh all right, thank you very much. And thanks for all your vidéos 🙏
So much easier in french for the note value
Ronde, blanche, noire, croche, double croche, etc.
So, Sarah, how did you play that E at 1:38 on your alto recorder?
All recorders read music at concert pitch (as opposed to the composer transposing the music) which means the fingerings for identical notes on differently sized recorders are actually different. So the high E, which would normally be fingered 2 3 | 2 3 plus the bell hole on a soprano, is actually played as if you were playing a high B natural - again, on a soprano. It is read and sounds as a B instead of an E because the alto recorder is pitched a perfect 5th below the soprano recorder (though interval study is frankly beyond the scope of this video). To my knowledge, recorders are about the only classical western instrument family to read music in this way.
Oops! Sorry I asked. Wasn’t expecting a technical solution, just trying to take the rise out of a fellow Brit, who I’m sure knows what I was up to but didn’t take the bait. Anyway, if wasn’t a high E; it was the E that is a below the alto’s lowest note (actually this E is possible but not generally mentioned in any literature I’ve seen)
Isabelle Douglass Yes, probably right. Or just played the lowest note available. Anyway, apart from being a brilliant teacher, Sarah has a keen sense of humour and will respond in her inimitable way (hopefully). Seconds thoughts: if that’s a Bernolin resin alto in A=415 wouldn’t the lowest note sound to most of us like an E not an F. Believe me, worse things can happen to a teacher, and it’s always when just for once your students are actually paying attention. Try standing in front of a class of 30 14-year old who suddenly break out into fits of giggles; they won’t say why and you daren’t ask!
Thank u.....
What is the title of the piece/music played at 13:55, please.
It’s just some stock music from iMovie, can’t remember the title sorry!
@@Team_Recorder Its ok. Thanks for the reply.
What about the hemidemisemihemidemiquaver?
14-minute video? Only takes up to one minute, depending on the skill level:
mu·sic
Mew - sick
Muh-iu-s-i-k
and that's it!
Bwa ha ha the best comment yet