Recorders for 3rd Graders

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 95

3rd Grade students at Lake Park Elementary School learned to play the recorder.  This was their 1st attempt to play a wind instrument.  The initial goal was to get the students to use the proper hand position and hold the instrument correctly.  The recorder is played with the left hand on top and the right hand on the bottom, similar to all of the instruments in the Woodwind family.  This is a big hurdle to get over with 3rd grade students.  After that we focused on making the proper sound with a good and appropriate air flow thru the instrument, while constantly reminding them of "left hand on top".  In addition to this, students had to learn the proper placement of their fingers on the keys.  If they used only their finger tips, they would play the wrong note.  It was necessary to focus on using the pads of their fingers, not the tips.  Our final step was to learn to read the musical notation from the recorder book and play the recorder also.  While we teach by rote in the beginning, the final hurdle to get over is reading notation.  This is a lot for the students to think about as they took on each additional challenge.  They will get to take the instrument home along with their music book when school concludes.  This has been a great experience for the students and requires the students to assume responsibility in learning, not just by having the teacher tell them what to do.  The instruction the students received will be helpful if they play an instrument when they get to middle school.