Remember the recorder? It's that small plastic instrument — looks kind of like a flute or clarinet — that's often the first instrument children learn to play in school. Or, at least, they used to.
A recent report found that the number of kids learning the recorder has declined over the years in schools in the United Kingdom. Teachers in the U.S. say the instrument's popularity has declined here, too, due to COVID-era restrictions and the rise of popular alternatives like the ukulele.
But at Parkside Elementary in Atlanta, the tradition is still going strong. In fact, when Parkside's band teacher, Phillip Edwards, tells his second-graders it's time to take out their recorders, the classroom buzzes with excitement.
"It's like a pep rally," says Edwards. He's only taught them five notes so far, but those five notes add up to a lot of songs: "Three Blind Mice," "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and that old earworm "Hot Cross Buns."
He has even taught them Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger."
The song has been a hit with his second-graders. Daisy Lee, 8, says, in fact, it's her favorite song she's learned. "It's an easy song, and I like the rhythm and beat," says Daisy, who added that her older brother really likes the '80s stadium rock hit as well.
The perfect teaching tool
Like generations of educators who came before him, Edwards uses the recorder to teach young students about the fundamentals of music, such as how to focus, how to breathe and how to recognize a certain note by sound.
Evidently, it's a job the recorder is well suited for.
"There's really no other instrument, other than maybe the keyboard, where it is so easy for a beginner to actually make a sound," says Michael Lynn, professor of recorder and baroque flute at Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio.
It's especially easier to play than its fellow woodwinds like the saxophone and the flute, he says, because both require you to form your lips a certain way to produce a sound. With the recorder, all you have to do is blow into the mouthpiece on top, like a whistle.
It's also cheap, and the size is just right, says Karen Dolezal, a former music teacher at Athens Montessori School in Athens, Ga., who's now retired. "It's a small, portable instrument that small hands can master," she explains.
Both educators say it's great for teaching kids how to read music. Unlike the guitar, which is written in its own language of chords, or the piano, which typically involves reading and playing multiple lines of musical annotation at once, the recorder only requires you to read and play one line at a time. That allows kids to quickly get the hang of songs.
Brady Gerber, a music journalist based in Los Angeles, learned the recorder in school in the early 2000s. He remembers his simple delight at how easy the instrument was to play.
"The recorder was amazing because I could actually play music," recalls Gerber. "I could learn a song relatively easily."
The recorder also helped him navigate the early days of his autism. "It was weirdly empowering," he says. "I didn't have to work extra hard to do something. I didn't feel like an outsider."
Still, the recorder isn't without its difficulties. One issue in particular is its holes. There are seven on the front and one on the back. Producing different sounds with them requires covering specific holes with your thumb and fingers. It can get a little tricky.
"'[The recorder] is a very sensitive instrument," says Edwards, the music teacher in Georgia. He actually purchased and practiced on his own recorder first so he could confidently teach his students how to play:
"If your fingers aren't covering the holes 100%, the right note will not come out."
Eight-year-old Daisy agrees. "Sometimes I just get the notes out wrong because I don't cover the hole all the way," she says. "It can be a challenge, but it's supposed to be a challenge, so that's a good thing."
From the Renaissance to the classroom
While there are good reasons the recorder ended up as the go-to instrument for elementary school students, it didn't start out that way. Its rise actually dates back to the 15th century, when it was the instrument du jour during the Renaissance, and not just among 8-year-olds.
"It was very often played in consorts," says Lynn, the music historian, referring to a type of instrumental ensemble popular during those times. "So you would have recorders of different sizes all playing together. An alto recorder, a tenor recorder and a bass recorder." (The recorder that kids play in school is actually the soprano version.)
One major fan of the recorder in its Renaissance reign? Henry VIII. The Tudor king was also a musician and composer, and he wrote several songs specifically for the instrument.
King Henry VIII — Two Compositions for Recorders 1540
Eventually, its popularity began to wane. "Around roughly 1740, 1750, the recorder kind of started going out of style," says Lynn. It was supplanted by the transverse flute (that's the one you hold sideways), which remained the flute of choice until the early 20th century.
That's when a French-born instrument-maker named Arnold Dolmetsch sparked a recorder revival. He began promoting it as an instrument for teaching music in schools.
Dolmetsch and Carl Orff, the influential music educator and German composer behind "Carmina Burana," are largely responsible for the recorder ending up in so many classrooms.
Well, them and the manufacturing industry.
With the rise of plastic injection molding in the 1940s and '50s, companies started mass-producing recorders and selling them in bulk to school districts for as little as $1 apiece.
By the early 1960s, says Lynn, the recorder began taking over elementary classrooms.
He remembers learning the recorder as a young boy and seeing plastic versions everywhere. "They were very popular," says Lynn. "That was really the beginning of it."
He notes that since his childhood, those plastic recorders have gotten better with improvements in technology and manufacturing.
A serious instrument
More than a half-century later, the recorder remains capable of so much more than "Hot Cross Buns."
"It's not just a toy," Dolezal says. "It's a serious instrument."
Lynn agrees: "It is certainly a misunderstood instrument from a public perspective because most people have never heard really fine recorder playing."
That's partly because most students in the United States learn the recorder as an introduction to other woodwind instruments and never play it at a higher level. If they did, says Lynn, they would quickly discover how hard it is to master beyond the basics and perhaps take the instrument more seriously.
At Parkside Elementary, it seems like the students already are.
"They're super competitive, super energetic about it," says Edwards, the band teacher. Some are even determined to surpass him. "They talk about it," he says. "Here and there they say, 'Mr. Edwards, I'm gonna be better than you one day.' "
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