The recorder is:
- A melody instrument - with the ability to sustain tones. Many of the other Orff instruments don't hold those half and whole notes.
- Helpful for those students who can't match pitch or are uncoordinated with mallets.
- A real instrument with a long history and great repertoire
- Helpful for teachers to use - to save your voice and for male teachers to demonstrate in the students' vocal range
- Portable and personal (everyone has one in their hands)
- Cheap - for those who want to buy them
- Washable - for those who want to borrow a class recorder. I put a piece of electrical tape on the class recorder with the student's name. That recorder is used the whole year by that one student. At the end of the year, I take those recorders home and put in them in the top rack of the dishwasher.
My favorite recorder: Peripole® Angel Baroque Soprano Halo® Recorder
Features of this recorder:
- Dark brown, textured plastic. Renaissance shape. Looks, feels, and sounds like wood!
- Plastic case, cleaning rod, lanyard & joint lubricant included.
- Low C can be produced immediately and easily.
- Air-tight joint fit.
- Soprano - two-piece.
- Curved wind-way like expensive wood recorders to provide immediate and fluid response.
- Precisions cut bores allow very few overtones making for ease of blowing and balanced scales in entire two octave range.
- No drifting of tone quality resulting in fewer overblown shrieks for the beginning student.
- Elegant dark, rich, woody tone quality - with plenty of focus.
- The overall superior quality and feel of these recorders inspires students to treat it like a professional instrument.
