I have that fear. My practicing was always annoying my two smaller brothers. They had also to play the recorder, but they haven't practiced as much as I did. And they always stole my recorders and hidden their parts in the house. This was burnt into my mind, and I'm very shy practicer when family members are nearby.
Same, I literally get anxious everytime I think is my neighbors or my family could hear me, I simply stop doing something I think "unnecessary" since when my judgemental brother always judges every action I make in the house, now I develop an around every people around me
You're an amazing teacher, Sarah. Actually, I wanted to learn to play the flute and then one day, I accidentally ended up watching your channel. Your down-to-earth attitude and humorous assertion in teaching are so infectious. Fast forward 3 weeks from my first encounter of your channel - I decided to postpone my flute aspiration to next year and now I'm contemplating investing in a tenor and a bass recorder after having been enjoying the soprano and alto recorder. Thanks a ton!
I found an old Sonata recorder that I never learned to play as I cleaned out my closet during my 3rd week of isolation during the Covid pandemic. : / Anyway, thank you for helping to SAVE MY SANITY!!! I suck, but it's fun. So enjoyed playing Amazing Grace with you!
As a self-taught beginner, I probably need some more focus in my practice. I tend to grab a tutor and play from the start and keep going until I run out of time or focus. I have a few different ones so I alternate but I like the way they add notes one by one so it is helping to cement the fingering.
Thank you Sarah, just what I needed. When I was 15 and played the recorder I never studied. Then I was in my 20's and studying was playing the piece and sometimes (very sometimes)playing an exercise or etude. It always seemed enough to come by. Even enough for playing in ensembles. I picked up playing a year ago and I like studying/practicing but I found out I did not know how to practice or how to study. I had no method, no structure. Some of the tips you gave I used spontaneously (good posture, concentration, listening), but now I can study on. Thank you
I love your tutorials! Very helpful! I'm mainly a clarinet player and singer, but recorder is taking more prominence these days. I few things I'd love you to address: - Embouchure (how and where does the mouthpiece go in the mouth). - Throat tension (for example, when I'm playing higher notes or "sharpening" a note, I notice my mouth gets a little tighter, but I notice it in my throat, too. In singing that's a no-no. In clarinet, I don't think it happens!). - How to tongue -- just simple tonguing. (I tongue lighter and in a different place on recorder, than on clarinet, since there's no reed. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. It sounds fine, but...) - Staccato notes (in clarinet, you stop the note with the tongue, but do you breathe or something to stop the note in recorder?) - Taking a breath: a teacher told me to open my mouth sort of like a fish every time I take a breath. Huh??? - Lastly, fingers: should you keep your fingers kind over gently hovering over the keys, rather than flying up too far in the air? Thank you! Andrea
Thank you very much. I’m one of those people who just plays a stack of tunes slightly out of my reach. Some days there are improvements some days not. Yes, I progress but I think your tips are full of very valid improvements over just playing the same tunes I’m trying to learn. Thanks also for the PDF of your teacher’s guide to practicing.
My biggest tip for practice and keeping motivated is to plan a range of different activities, styles and difficulties for your play. If I go to the piano and just play classical pieces for an hour I quickly get fed up on about day 4 especially if it is a really famous catchy piece like fur elise or turkish march etc so I like to always plan 3 very different pieces. So today on piano (10 years on and off) I finished learning a pink song, chopin nocturne 20 and Evanescence so one easyish pop, one medium rock and one more diffucult classical. Then I finish on pieces I can play the best to leave on a high. Also a range of sheet music, ipad apps and youtube really helps me. I get bored and frustrated only reading sheet music but only playing along to apps and youtube you lose the technical side and focus. On recorder (3 months) I finished learning the 1st mode of Doen daphne and now that I can play it all through I worked on getting the first few bars really down so I can play bits by ear. Then I worked on getting the high fs and gs. Then I played along to youtube recorder songs. The pink song I am learning on piano, frozen, canon in D, ed sheeran and passenger. A lot of fun.
Thank you so much for this video - exactly what I needed. I was doing all the stuff you say we shouldn't! The PDF is very helpful, too. Today I did a 'proper' practice as per your advice and it felt much more useful. Plus, it helped me to warm up, too. Great stuff!
I'm doing a separate comment, just so I won't get confusing. Thoughts on practising. - I lie on the floor first and focus on my breathing. For a singer, and instrumentalists, it's important to focus on belly breathing, so you don't breathe just from the chest. So I do belly breathing -- in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4 -- as you said. That sets up a good breathing habit but also relaxes me and gets me into practise mode. - If I really don't feel like practising, I tell myself I'll just practise for 20 minutes. I always end up practising for a couple of hours. But there's not the same pressure. I also focus on how lucky I am to get to sing or play this wonderful music, rather than thinking, "oh crap, I have to do all those frigging exercises." - I keep a notebook of what I want to accomplish and practise each day, and notes on how it went after. So for singing, my topics are FOCUS, EXERCISES and MUSIC. Focus would be things like focusing on lifting my soft palate, resonance, singing with more expression -- whatever I'm working on at the time. Exercises would be different exercises my teacher has given me and what I want to achieve in them. Music is what I'm working on and what I want to achieve today. - It's very tempting to just practise playing a piece from the beginning, always. It sounds so good and makes me feel confident, but the end of the piece isn't practised as much. I really agree with focusing on different parts of the piece and working on them separately. - Sometimes it can be helpful to work from the back of the piece. No, don't play the notes backwards! :-) An example: Rejoice Greatly, from The Messiah. There are a bunch of melismas running through the piece. My teacher told me to work on the last run first. Not only that, but take the last bar of the melisma and get that down, then the second to last plus the last bar, and so on, until you're singing right from the beginning. It really worked for me! - I tried the "do the part 5 times right" and then move on. I agree with you that it's not the most effective way to learn something. That's it. :-)
Thank you sooooo much for this video and all your others. Your enthusiamic powerful way to talk is really contagious..... I just love it . You are a great 'gift' !!!!!!
Thank you so much Sarah. I find your videos so very helpful and you make them fun !! Your enthusiasm is contagious and brightens my day....and these practice tips are brilliant 😊😊. Again, a big thank you !
dear sara..its very helpful to me to play recorder after watching ur videos... so i was just expecting that if it is possible to u to provide us regular lessons ...in serial videos ...like- 'lesson-1, lesson-2, lesson -3..and ...' if u can post lessons serially for the beginners like me, then we will be very greatful to u ...lots of loves in advance :)
Just starting out, I found that practicing standing in front of a mirror with the music taped onto ti, would help me improve my finger placement, because i could see mistakes otherwise obscured.
:D I've been practicing on my bed with the music on my pillows. I know, horrible posture and I'm not learning how to manage the size of my tenor from a standing or proper sitting posture. I'm also a total amateur, not a music student, and I have no plans to play for anyone but myself, so as long as I like what I'm doing it's not the end of the world. Buuut, I do have a music stand and I'm closing in on 4 weeks of daily practice, so maybe I should step it up and set up the music stand. It's probably better for my back, too.
Hiya. Any chance you have a video on 'How to practice for Super Ultra Mega Just-grew-my-fingers-yesterday beginner'? I think that's sort of what I was looking for when I got to this video. Just to clarify where I am: 1. I have a recorder 2. I have a functioning respiratory system and lips 3. Fingers (untrained) That's about it. I don't know how to read music (I wouldn't know what to do with a music stand) I don't really know all the sounds/notes on the recorder yet (their names I mean) Breathing (I got the sense that this might be important) The actual length of a 'long note' when practicing I can concentrate. I just don't know what to do within that half-hour other than blow into the recorder. And I can't even tell if I'm doing anything let alone doing it right. I'd appreciate being directed to the video if it already exists. Thanks for all the videos you make. :D
One thing that has helped me is playing a piece on the piano first, if I am playing alto. Cheating, perhaps, but it does help, since I play piano better.
Small technical question: Trills between low C-C# and D-D#. Sliding fingers to cover between one and both holes cannot be done fast enough, only thing that sort of works for me speed-wise is to position the last finger joint over one hole while the free part opens and closes on the other. This is too prone to losing air though. Generally trills between "difficult" notes (F# - G# for instance) can be a challenge. I wonder if there's a magic trick apart from "practice until no fumbling around".
That is a good question. The fast movement between C-C# (or F-F# for the alto) is difficult. (I always wish not to come across this kind of part in my scores ~lol) I can manage it however for D-D# (G-G# alto). On the back of my Aulos fingering chart, I found an alternate fingering for trills, replacing normal fingering. This fingering seems really helpful and amazing. But a headache to have to learn that :( But the chart begins with F-G trill for soprano and Bb-C trill for alto. (So for C-C#(F-F#), I always hope not to have to do it :)) Anyway the notes can sound very slightly different in this way, not really exactly the same, I think. Hope Sarah answers you, Bye~~
Dear Sarah: I am revisiting your truly valuable website/videos, and now wondering if that PDF regarding a practice schedule is STILL available, and if so, where it is, as well as how to download it, so that I might print it...???... Thank You again for you wonderful, light-hearted if not whimsical(?), invariably informative, total "tootelage"... ;-) ...
Thank you for showing us your penny whistles as well. For those of us who only play recorders, how can we make Irish music sound more Irish? Can you show us penny whistle-like ornamentations for use on recorders, and where are they appropriate to use?
@Sarah Jeffery, thanks for this great video! Techincal question, does tonguing applies to low notes? I do find it impossible to tongue low notes on my Alto Yamaha no matter how soft I try. It just overblows.
I've found it really challenging to switch from F# to Ab, and the particular piece of music I'm learning at the moment does this quite a few times. I spent at least 15 minutes during my one hour practice just playing F# to Ab to D...
Hello Sarah and thanks for all these videos ! I have a specific problem as parent of a small child : not having time to practice, and when I have time (child naps) ...being forced not to make a sound ! So do you have advices for 1. "flash pratice" (two to ten minutes in a row, while keeping an eye on the child playing) : what and how to practice in such unoptimal conditions, or "Nah, bad idea, better not to practice at all". For example I have been forced to reeeeeally increase my habilities to concentrate quickly and to... play by heart ! 2. Silent practice 3. Any other ideas ? Thanks in advance ! Eleonore
Hello Sarah! Thank You for the wonderful world of recorder playing that you have opened for me. I wanted to ask for a little favor - could you please give a working link to PDF of Your practice plan (by Annabel Knight)? I do not find it in the link that was given under this video. I have recently started learning a recorder, but my son is learning to play a clarinet. So I hope that this plan could help both of us. Thank you in advance!
Ces vidéos sont très intéressantes et très vivantes. Vos conseils ne sont pas seulement techniques, mais insistent sur l'aspect psychologique de la "practice", qui peuvent paraitre familiers et même triviaux mais sont passionnants. C'est un aspect que très peu de tutoriels abordent. Vous osez parler de vos propres difficultés ; cette humilité rend vos vidéos très attractives. Je pratique la flute traversière et de nombreux conseils que vous donnez pour la flute à bec ("recorder") sont applicables à la flute traversière. Attention : il y a un problème sur la qualité de l'image : des variations de luminosité qui sont un peu gênantes sur cette vidéo. Peut-être devriez vous modifier certains réglages de votre caméra (mettre le réglage de l'ouverture sur "Manual", maybe).
I hope you see this, this is an older video. For the last month I've been playing in my new alto recorder. It's a Moeck Rottenburgh in maple wood, one that you recommended! But my health only allows me to play for short periods, up to 15 minutes at a time. How can I take advantage of my short practice sessions?
In the spirit of Sarah's video, I suggest you set yourself small goals for the short sessions. When you're able again, have another short practice. Many teachers will tell you that a number of short practice sessions can be can be quite productive if they are properly structured and your concentration is high, more so than ineffective longer sessions.
Oh man yes, the phone is a problem when I practice. But it's annoying, because my drone app is on there and my recording app is on there... Maybe I need to get some new non-phone devices for this.
Also, I'm so glad you said what you did about practicing a fast section for as long as it feels good and then just stopping and letting your brain do the work. I never heard that from anyone else (I follow this tip religiously) and I always wondered if I was just a slacker hahaha!
SereityOboe. What's the name of the drone app you use, I looked in iTunes but can't find any? By the way, the newer iPods are just like iPhones but without the phone element, maybe that would work for you.
I am a beginner and doing ok with my soprano and some difficulty with Alto. So , one thing I do to practice my Alto is to remove the head piece and practice fingering while I am watching TV for hours without making a sound. This helps with finger placement.
Hi Daniel, ooh a tin whistle video is coming, but it may be too basic for you - it'll be more of an intro to folky/whistle concepts for recorder players (like the ornamentes, style of playing etc). You can check out my video 'How to play fast' in the meantime - the principles of those exercises shold work for you too! And that's a great video idea, stay posted :)
Thanks Sarah. I found your "How to Practice " video very useful and will have a go at modifying your practice plan for tin whistle. I will check out your "How to Play Fast"and your Warm Up videos. (I may even dig out the Mollenhauer solist recorder buried in my cupboard for the past 50 years that I never learned to play... ) Cheers!
YT resources I subscribe to and find very helpful: The Whistler, Tin whistler, Trad School and The Irish Music Academy. There are many good tutorial available at Amazon.
+Carl Fernando Build it up slowly, practice from memory, try and it through (in your head or out loud, memorise the structure, pick 'anchor points' in case you get lost. I made a video on how to memorise music, check it out!
You're so good at communication, but your hand movements while speaking are so distracting. Sorry that's my personal feeling. I do enjoy your videos. I play the piano, uke and Just got a recorder and learning to play it. Thank you for your videos
Your channel is unbelievable. You do contribute to everyone's joy. Thank you so much.
,,And don't worry - people aren't listening when you practice"
I really needed that
I have that fear. My practicing was always annoying my two smaller brothers. They had also to play the recorder, but they haven't practiced as much as I did. And they always stole my recorders and hidden their parts in the house. This was burnt into my mind, and I'm very shy practicer when family members are nearby.
@@thpeti me too! My brother never wanted to hear me when I was a kid. It ruined me
@@TheMtnmamma Yeah! My brother's "must have" item under his pillow was the sopranino :D
Same, I literally get anxious everytime I think is my neighbors or my family could hear me, I simply stop doing something I think "unnecessary" since when my judgemental brother always judges every action I make in the house, now I develop an around every people around me
I am sure my next door neighbour can hear me practicing because I can hear him snoring.
You're an amazing teacher, Sarah. Actually, I wanted to learn to play the flute and then one day, I accidentally ended up watching your channel. Your down-to-earth attitude and humorous assertion in teaching are so infectious. Fast forward 3 weeks from my first encounter of your channel - I decided to postpone my flute aspiration to next year and now I'm contemplating investing in a tenor and a bass recorder after having been enjoying the soprano and alto recorder. Thanks a ton!
I found an old Sonata recorder that I never learned to play as I cleaned out my closet during my 3rd week of isolation during the Covid pandemic. : / Anyway, thank you for helping to SAVE MY SANITY!!! I suck, but it's fun. So enjoyed playing Amazing Grace with you!
My tip is to re-watch this every year :) You and your videos always provide the inspiration and motivation i need - thanks!
The 5 Tips
1 - Concentration (0:53)
2 - Warming Up (3:05)
3 - Goals (5:06)
4 - Structure (7:39)
5 - Troubleshooting (12:36)
As a self-taught beginner, I probably need some more focus in my practice. I tend to grab a tutor and play from the start and keep going until I run out of time or focus. I have a few different ones so I alternate but I like the way they add notes one by one so it is helping to cement the fingering.
Thank you Sarah, just what I needed. When I was 15 and played the recorder I never studied. Then I was in my 20's and studying was playing the piece and sometimes (very sometimes)playing an exercise or etude. It always seemed enough to come by. Even enough for playing in ensembles. I picked up playing a year ago and I like studying/practicing but I found out I did not know how to practice or how to study. I had no method, no structure. Some of the tips you gave I used spontaneously (good posture, concentration, listening), but now I can study on. Thank you
I'm starting the recorder because of you. Your videos are a treasure!
I love your tutorials! Very helpful! I'm mainly a clarinet player and singer, but recorder is taking more prominence these days. I few things I'd love you to address:
- Embouchure (how and where does the mouthpiece go in the mouth).
- Throat tension (for example, when I'm playing higher notes or "sharpening" a note, I notice my mouth gets a little tighter, but I notice it in my throat, too. In singing that's a no-no. In clarinet, I don't think it happens!).
- How to tongue -- just simple tonguing. (I tongue lighter and in a different place on recorder, than on clarinet, since there's no reed. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. It sounds fine, but...)
- Staccato notes (in clarinet, you stop the note with the tongue, but do you breathe or something to stop the note in recorder?)
- Taking a breath: a teacher told me to open my mouth sort of like a fish every time I take a breath. Huh???
- Lastly, fingers: should you keep your fingers kind over gently hovering over the keys, rather than flying up too far in the air?
Thank you!
Andrea
Thank you very much. I’m one of those people who just plays a stack of tunes slightly out of my reach. Some days there are improvements some days not. Yes, I progress but I think your tips are full of very valid improvements over just playing the same tunes I’m trying to learn. Thanks also for the PDF of your teacher’s guide to practicing.
My biggest tip for practice and keeping motivated is to plan a range of different activities, styles and difficulties for your play. If I go to the piano and just play classical pieces for an hour I quickly get fed up on about day 4 especially if it is a really famous catchy piece like fur elise or turkish march etc so I like to always plan 3 very different pieces. So today on piano (10 years on and off) I finished learning a pink song, chopin nocturne 20 and Evanescence so one easyish pop, one medium rock and one more diffucult classical. Then I finish on pieces I can play the best to leave on a high. Also a range of sheet music, ipad apps and youtube really helps me. I get bored and frustrated only reading sheet music but only playing along to apps and youtube you lose the technical side and focus.
On recorder (3 months) I finished learning the 1st mode of Doen daphne and now that I can play it all through I worked on getting the first few bars really down so I can play bits by ear. Then I worked on getting the high fs and gs. Then I played along to youtube recorder songs. The pink song I am learning on piano, frozen, canon in D, ed sheeran and passenger. A lot of fun.
Thank you for your good energy ... and the practice plan! :)
Thank you so much for this video - exactly what I needed. I was doing all the stuff you say we shouldn't! The PDF is very helpful, too. Today I did a 'proper' practice as per your advice and it felt much more useful. Plus, it helped me to warm up, too. Great stuff!
Thanks for the tips on practicing
That help me a little, need structure
74 year old student 😐
Thanks!Thanks!Thanks!Thanks!Thanks! and.......Thanks!
I'm doing a separate comment, just so I won't get confusing. Thoughts on practising.
- I lie on the floor first and focus on my breathing. For a singer, and instrumentalists, it's important to focus on belly breathing, so you don't breathe just from the chest. So I do belly breathing -- in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4 -- as you said. That sets up a good breathing habit but also relaxes me and gets me into practise mode.
- If I really don't feel like practising, I tell myself I'll just practise for 20 minutes. I always end up practising for a couple of hours. But there's not the same pressure. I also focus on how lucky I am to get to sing or play this wonderful music, rather than thinking, "oh crap, I have to do all those frigging exercises."
- I keep a notebook of what I want to accomplish and practise each day, and notes on how it went after. So for singing, my topics are FOCUS, EXERCISES and MUSIC. Focus would be things like focusing on lifting my soft palate, resonance, singing with more expression -- whatever I'm working on at the time. Exercises would be different exercises my teacher has given me and what I want to achieve in them. Music is what I'm working on and what I want to achieve today.
- It's very tempting to just practise playing a piece from the beginning, always. It sounds so good and makes me feel confident, but the end of the piece isn't practised as much. I really agree with focusing on different parts of the piece and working on them separately.
- Sometimes it can be helpful to work from the back of the piece. No, don't play the notes backwards! :-) An example: Rejoice Greatly, from The Messiah. There are a bunch of melismas running through the piece. My teacher told me to work on the last run first. Not only that, but take the last bar of the melisma and get that down, then the second to last plus the last bar, and so on, until you're singing right from the beginning. It really worked for me!
- I tried the "do the part 5 times right" and then move on. I agree with you that it's not the most effective way to learn something.
That's it. :-)
Always Fantastic!
This is such good advice. I do temporary office work (some days work, some days not) and don't always have the same amount of time to practice.
Thank you for your suggestions!!!
Wonderful again Sarah, you are amazingly inspirational, thank you 😀
Thank you sooooo much for this video and all your others. Your enthusiamic powerful way to talk is really contagious..... I just love it . You are a great 'gift' !!!!!!
Thank you so much Sarah. I find your videos so very helpful and you make them fun !! Your enthusiasm is contagious and brightens my day....and these practice tips are brilliant 😊😊. Again, a big thank you !
So useful and interesting - thanks for sharing your practice plan.
Great! you spoke almost all of my problems while trying to practice! Gonna improve my practice using your advice! Thanks!
+NorthWind Ah great! Let us know how you get on, and any tips you can give too :)
dear sara..its very helpful to me to play recorder after watching ur videos... so i was just expecting that if it is possible to u to provide us regular lessons ...in serial videos ...like- 'lesson-1, lesson-2, lesson -3..and ...' if u can post lessons serially for the beginners like me, then we will be very greatful to u ...lots of loves in advance :)
2:39 "Put your phone away"
Me who uses my phone for practicing because I'm too broke to buy a music book:
Ah, then my advice would be to log out of Instagram 😅
Great tutorial, Sarah! And thank you for the practice plan which will enhance my practicing for sure!
Useful! I will view this video soon together with my daughter.
I made a new version of the practice plan in a PDF file you can download here: drive.google.com/open?id=1TgiMf5FxDCe6O4xNl52avCHTCiLQxPKR
Yaaahhhh!!! Thanks for all!!!!!!!!! Pls keep on!!!!
Muito obrigado mesmo!
Nice explained in a few steps.
Great, I look forward to it.
I love soooooo much allllllll your videos. Thanks for share what you know.
Just starting out, I found that practicing standing in front of a mirror with the music taped onto ti, would help me improve my finger placement, because i could see mistakes otherwise obscured.
:D I've been practicing on my bed with the music on my pillows. I know, horrible posture and I'm not learning how to manage the size of my tenor from a standing or proper sitting posture. I'm also a total amateur, not a music student, and I have no plans to play for anyone but myself, so as long as I like what I'm doing it's not the end of the world. Buuut, I do have a music stand and I'm closing in on 4 weeks of daily practice, so maybe I should step it up and set up the music stand. It's probably better for my back, too.
I can't thank you enough for this Sarah!!
Very helpful, thanks!
Hiya.
Any chance you have a video on 'How to practice for Super Ultra Mega Just-grew-my-fingers-yesterday beginner'?
I think that's sort of what I was looking for when I got to this video.
Just to clarify where I am:
1. I have a recorder
2. I have a functioning respiratory system and lips
3. Fingers (untrained)
That's about it.
I don't know how to read music (I wouldn't know what to do with a music stand)
I don't really know all the sounds/notes on the recorder yet (their names I mean)
Breathing (I got the sense that this might be important)
The actual length of a 'long note' when practicing
I can concentrate. I just don't know what to do within that half-hour other than blow into the recorder. And I can't even tell if I'm doing anything let alone doing it right.
I'd appreciate being directed to the video if it already exists.
Thanks for all the videos you make. :D
I have a series called ‘Recorder Basics’ (look for the playlist) that covers a lot of this 😊 And good luck!!
Same time every day!
One thing that has helped me is playing a piece on the piano first, if I am playing alto. Cheating, perhaps, but it does help, since I play piano better.
Oh, that's definitely not cheating! It's training your ear and learning to hear the melody, which is a brilliant way of practising.
and my children have begged me not to practice when they are home. I only find out NOW that they HAVE HATED THE RECORDER SINCE THEY WERE LITTLE!
Small technical question:
Trills between low C-C# and D-D#.
Sliding fingers to cover between one and both holes cannot be done fast enough, only thing that sort of works for me speed-wise is to position the last finger joint over one hole while the free part opens and closes on the other. This is too prone to losing air though.
Generally trills between "difficult" notes (F# - G# for instance) can be a challenge. I wonder if there's a magic trick apart from "practice until no fumbling around".
That is a good question. The fast movement between C-C# (or F-F# for the alto) is difficult.
(I always wish not to come across this kind of part in my scores ~lol)
I can manage it however for D-D# (G-G# alto).
On the back of my Aulos fingering chart, I found an alternate fingering for trills, replacing normal fingering.
This fingering seems really helpful and amazing. But a headache to have to learn that :(
But the chart begins with F-G trill for soprano and Bb-C trill for alto.
(So for C-C#(F-F#), I always hope not to have to do it :))
Anyway the notes can sound very slightly different in this way, not really exactly the same, I think.
Hope Sarah answers you, Bye~~
Oh, she already answered you in a video coming after...
Dear Sarah:
I am revisiting your truly valuable website/videos, and now wondering if that PDF regarding a practice schedule is STILL available, and if so, where it is, as well as how to download it, so that I might print it...???...
Thank You again for you wonderful, light-hearted if not whimsical(?), invariably informative, total "tootelage"... ;-) ...
wow! i not understand so much, but i think to you are wonderfull. very good yours videos. You meet anyone to have a chanel to you? but in spanish?
very helpful thank you
Thank you for showing us your penny whistles as well. For those of us who only play recorders, how can we make Irish music sound more Irish? Can you show us penny whistle-like ornamentations for use on recorders, and where are they appropriate to use?
Your channel is informative and funny also
the humming background noise is killing me haha 6:18
I'm doing this now.
@Sarah Jeffery, thanks for this great video! Techincal question, does tonguing applies to low notes? I do find it impossible to tongue low notes on my Alto Yamaha no matter how soft I try. It just overblows.
I like your videos I just bought my first recorder and I wanted to know is there a pocket size one like a travel size one
I've found it really challenging to switch from F# to Ab, and the particular piece of music I'm learning at the moment does this quite a few times. I spent at least 15 minutes during my one hour practice just playing F# to Ab to D...
Hello Sarah and thanks for all these videos ! I have a specific problem as parent of a small child : not having time to practice, and when I have time (child naps) ...being forced not to make a sound !
So do you have advices for
1. "flash pratice" (two to ten minutes in a row, while keeping an eye on the child playing) : what and how to practice in such unoptimal conditions, or "Nah, bad idea, better not to practice at all". For example I have been forced to reeeeeally increase my habilities to concentrate quickly and to... play by heart !
2. Silent practice
3. Any other ideas ?
Thanks in advance !
Eleonore
Thank you.
Hello Sarah! Thank You for the wonderful world of recorder playing that you have opened for me. I wanted to ask for a little favor - could you please give a working link to PDF of Your practice plan (by Annabel Knight)? I do not find it in the link that was given under this video. I have recently started learning a recorder, but my son is learning to play a clarinet. So I hope that this plan could help both of us.
Thank you in advance!
Ces vidéos sont très intéressantes et très vivantes. Vos conseils ne sont pas seulement techniques, mais insistent sur l'aspect psychologique de la "practice", qui peuvent paraitre familiers et même triviaux mais sont passionnants. C'est un aspect que très peu de tutoriels abordent. Vous osez parler de vos propres difficultés ; cette humilité rend vos vidéos très attractives.
Je pratique la flute traversière et de nombreux conseils que vous donnez pour la flute à bec ("recorder") sont applicables à la flute traversière.
Attention : il y a un problème sur la qualité de l'image : des variations de luminosité qui sont un peu gênantes sur cette vidéo. Peut-être devriez vous modifier certains réglages de votre caméra (mettre le réglage de l'ouverture sur "Manual", maybe).
Question: Can you recommend a good adult beginners book for recorders in C, please?
That video is coming!
I have a recorder but I have a problem with the lower notes
Wow, i love you.
I hope you see this, this is an older video. For the last month I've been playing in my new alto recorder. It's a Moeck Rottenburgh in maple wood, one that you recommended!
But my health only allows me to play for short periods, up to 15 minutes at a time. How can I take advantage of my short practice sessions?
In the spirit of Sarah's video, I suggest you set yourself small goals for the short sessions. When you're able again, have another short practice. Many teachers will tell you that a number of short practice sessions can be can be quite productive if they are properly structured and your concentration is high, more so than ineffective longer sessions.
Oh man yes, the phone is a problem when I practice. But it's annoying, because my drone app is on there and my recording app is on there... Maybe I need to get some new non-phone devices for this.
Also, I'm so glad you said what you did about practicing a fast section for as long as it feels good and then just stopping and letting your brain do the work. I never heard that from anyone else (I follow this tip religiously) and I always wondered if I was just a slacker hahaha!
SereityOboe. What's the name of the drone app you use, I looked in iTunes but can't find any?
By the way, the newer iPods are just like iPhones but without the phone element, maybe that would work for you.
Thank you Sarah, i just need which are the books to play by your schedule?
You’re very nice
Help! I lost my copy of the pdf and need the link again.
Sarah, thank you for your great tutorial. But the problem is your dropbox link is broken. I do want to download practice plan :)
I think the main thing to practice is to DO IT. Even if it's just a few minutes each day.
I am a beginner and doing ok with my soprano and some difficulty with Alto. So , one thing I do to practice my Alto is to remove the head piece and practice fingering while I am watching TV for hours without making a sound. This helps with finger placement.
Sarah: I am a tin whistle player who loves your videos. Do you have any recommendations for studies/drills on the tin whistle? Cheers from Canada!
Hi Daniel, ooh a tin whistle video is coming, but it may be too basic for you - it'll be more of an intro to folky/whistle concepts for recorder players (like the ornamentes, style of playing etc). You can check out my video 'How to play fast' in the meantime - the principles of those exercises shold work for you too! And that's a great video idea, stay posted :)
Thanks Sarah. I found your "How to Practice " video very useful and will have a go at modifying your practice plan for tin whistle. I will check out your "How to Play Fast"and your Warm Up videos. (I may even dig out the Mollenhauer solist recorder buried in my cupboard for the past 50 years that I never learned to play... ) Cheers!
YT resources I subscribe to and find very helpful: The Whistler, Tin whistler, Trad School and The Irish Music Academy. There are many good tutorial available at Amazon.
You are great
I'm Brazilian.I live in bahia
Euh.. I'm searching music notes on my mobile and write it.
This video is EXACTLY what I needed. Thank you SO SO SO SO much. I wish I could send you US$1000.
Niceeeeee❤️
May you play tico tico no fubà?
How to do it in speed
More jokes please 😂😂😂🎉🎉🎉
B'B'But maestro Bruggen was always bent over ??!!!
How can I memorize a song in within 2 weaks?
+Carl Fernando Build it up slowly, practice from memory, try and it through (in your head or out loud, memorise the structure, pick 'anchor points' in case you get lost. I made a video on how to memorise music, check it out!
You are with lord buddha😱😱
The pdf!!!! the link is broken ):
Should be fixed now!
Thanks!
😘😘😘😘❤
I totally envy you being able to earn wages for playing a recorder flauta
Sometimes I like to take mini breaks by improvising a melody
That’s a very good idea! ☀️
Do you work as a musician or in another job?
lol
You're so good at communication, but your hand movements while speaking are so distracting. Sorry that's my personal feeling. I do enjoy your videos. I play the piano, uke and Just got a recorder and learning to play it. Thank you for your videos
Thanks for the feedback! This is an old video and since then I’ve made a real effort to be mindful of this, I know it’s annoying for some people!