My First Recorder: Learn To Play: Kids

This is a very simple and rudimentary book but I think it is a great thing. This book is perfect to test your very young child's readiness to play. It took a few introductions to see what age each of my two children were ready to learn. This book isn't going to be the best for older children, naturally talented and adults. It's incredibly easy and doesn't go over the full range of notes, sharps, flats, naturals and playing in different scales but that is ok. This book isn't going to overwhelm your young child or push them too fast making them feel discouraged but they will be playing Mary Had A Little Lamb by page 14, a classic beginners tune that comes at just the right time to really boost their interest and confidences. I played through this book as an adult before even thinking about using this with my kids. I wasn't impressed with the simple excercise tunes but I grew to appreciate them after seeing how my child consumed them and how the overly simple excercises were exactly what he needed as a 6 year old. I suggest you get a recorder and learn along with your child, be a visual example to them, and introduce small scale excercises with the notes they learn as they learn them, learn how to properly clean our their recorders, how to tell when terrible sounds they emit is a result of condensation build up, loose fingers, or over blowing the note. By the time you reach the end of this book, both of you will have a better understanding of what level of material to go from here, if your child can self teach with the help of books and youtubers such as Sarah Jeffery, or if they would thrive in a class, or if they are going to drop the instrument entirely. I am personally a fan of the Alfred books and use them for several instruments but Hal Lenard books are just as great. If you are a parent wanting to introduce the recorder to your child, I would suggest with the simple cream Yamaha soprano recorder. It's cheap, comes with the cleaning stick (we use baby wash cloths for the swab) a bag and a fingering chart and most importantly you can look into the bottom and you can visually see if there is condescenation build up and where it is. Clear recorders are also fine but make sure they are ones that can be taken apart and not one solid mold. The solid mold ones are more difficult to reach in to clean and you will likely be doing more full cleaning in the beginning while your child breaks the instrument in and is learning breath control. The wood ones do sound much better but save that for something exciting to work up to and after they can play and recognize when it's wet and where it is. You can't just wash wooden ones in your kitchen sink like you can with the simple Yamaha recorders. Have them start and end practices with scales of the notes they know and get a better feel for proper fingering, have them go through and voice out the notes of the music and excercises before they play, praise, and get excited with them. Take turns playing and singing the words with them with this book. They may have no problem moving onto other books and self teaching after this one but you may find that you want to continue this with them, they need the guidance, or they may simply thrive more with the interaction and praise. Don't get this for your tween or teen but if you have a 4- average 9 year old. This is a great start. If you know your child can handle more in depth books then go for it.

I bought this with recorders thinking I probably didn't need a book. But it is helpful in helping the kids learn to read music and play simple songs right away. Very pleased.

A well written book that my daughter (8) is using to learn recorder. It is simple enough that she can learn and practice all by herself. It would be even better if it was just a notch faster paced -- there are only so many single-note quarter notes you can play and not get bored.

This is a great learning book . So much easier to read and learn from this instead of pamphlet that comes with actual recorder.

This was purchased for school music class and works great. Good quality and sound

I'm working through this with my 8 year old. I find this book and a recorder are a great resource for helping to acquaint kids with an instrument. The book teaches notes and rhythm in an easy to understand way. My daughter is playing easy songs with just a few notes notes so she can feel she is accomplishing something with each lesson. She likes practicing her recorder and is proud she is learning music. This is also a good way to gauge interest in learning an instrument without buying a piano or some expensive instrument.

Seems ok for kids

3 stars review is probably not fair, since it appears to be a fine book, I just feel like title is bit misleading. I definitely wouldn't make this first music book you buy for your child. I would strongly suggest that your child knows how to read notes and understands concepts of rhythm (4/4, 3/4, 2/4 etc. ) before purchasing this book. Once you have that covered, book appears to be doing good job in teaching how to play recorder. For example lesson 2 introduces concepts of quaver, half a bit and eighth notes. Which quickly became overwhelming for my 6 yrs.old. But as I said before, if your child understands basic music concepts, this is probably good book.

Does what it says on the tin. Book is OK. DPD delivery very poor.

I gifted this to my 6-year-old niece who loves this (her 4-year-old brother too), her parents aren't as thrilled.

Excellent for my 7 year old looking to learn an instrument.

Ahora me se todas las notas de la flauta .

Kids love it