Some people’s musical expression flows through their breath. These are the wind players. I like to think that if someone such as Jean Pierre Rampal, the renowned flautist, had, as an untrained six year-old, had the opportunity to meet the Music House, it would have helped him discover his affinity for wind instruments. Producing a nice sound on most wind instruments can take a good long time; therefore winds such as the flute, clarinet, oboe or bassoon do not initially lend themselves to exploration. For Music House I chose the friendliest of wind instruments: the recorder.

A word about this beautiful instrument, which, in my opinion, has gotten something of a bad rap. The irony is that because it is relatively easy to learn, the recorder tends to be used pedagogically, merely as an introduction to “real” woodwinds. In the school music classroom there will often be as many as twenty-eight children in a classroom playing together in unison, learning a note at a time. The resulting sound includes a fair amount of squeaks produced by children not entirely covering the holes, and shrill outbursts from those who are blowing too hard, trying to hear themselves. This way of learning the recorder takes advantage of its practicality while pretty much ignoring its musical capability.

One of the recorder’s loveliest venues is as part of a consort. This chamber ensemble can include a soprano, alto, tenor, bass and the tiny, high-pitched sopranino, each playing its own musical line and combining in a glorious whole. The study of the recorder in school tends to focus on mechanics, many students never get the opportunity to experience the recorder as part of this glorious ensemble. Treat yourself to a listen here.