3rd Grade is a very exciting year because students learn recorder! Recorders were passed out this week (as I'm sure you've heard). To help our recorder playing we will be focusing a lot on solfege and rhythm syllables. Here are the four basic principles for good recorder playing:
- Hand position-Left hand on top of right!
- Fingering-Left thumb on the back hole. First three fingers of left hand cover first three holes. Right hand fingers cover the rest. Fingers need to stay down when adding more to get the right note.
- Breathing-Warm air, not cold air must be used. This is like fogging a window or mirror. Breath should be slow, steady, and gentle.
- Tonguing-The tongue separates the airstream to create different notes. Think the word "to". The tongue quickly touches the top of the mouth and the air never stops.
Hot Cross Buns will be our first song!