One of the greatest joys of playing any instrument is coming together with others to make music in an ensemble. Recorder players do this in many ways - teaming up with a duet partner, playing consorts in a small ensemble, becoming a member of a recorder orchestra, joining in the fun with your local branch of the Society of Recorder Players or revelling in the sound of massed recorders at a large-scale event. We’re lucky to have so many options open to us and I know many people who play in several ensembles of different types.
One request I’ve received several times is for a blog about this topic, specifically aimed at those who play in or run recorder groups organised by individuals rather than large scale orchestras. Here in the UK, this often takes the form of a u3a group or a small ensemble which meets regularly in someone’s home. There are probably as many different types of ensemble as there are composers, so catering for every scenario is all but impossible. However, I have lots of practical advice to share, and I hope you’ll read through and make use of whichever points are helpful for your situation.
While researching this topic I sought out the thoughts of several recorder playing friends who run amateur groups in their own homes and local village halls. I see a huge array of ensembles as I travel around the country, but a single person can’t foresee every possible challenge. As I anticipated, my friends had lots of advice to offer in the light of their own experiences. Much of it I already had on my ‘must include’ list, but their thoughtful emails contained points I hadn’t considered too. This just goes to show that five heads are better than one, so I’d like to say a huge thank you to the folks I contacted - you know who you are!
Starting an ensemble
If you’re still at the planning stage, there are some things to consider before you even hold your first rehearsal. I don’t think there’s any need to cover each of these points at length - it’s more a checklist of things to consider.
Who are you intending to play with? Do you need to recruit players or perhaps you already have group of recorder buddies who are itching to get started? Word of mouth can be great way to find people, but your local music shop may know of other like-minded players too. If you’re a member of an SRP branch (or the equivalent in your country) don’t be afraid to ask if others would like to join you for some additional playing.
Where will you play? For a small group, someone’s living room may be sufficient, but if you’re planning a larger ensemble you may need to consider booking a room in a local hall or community centre. You’ll need good lighting, adequate ventilation (and heating for the winter months) and suitable seating for playing. If you’re hiring somewhere, do remember to check the chairs don’t have arms as these get in the way when playing the recorder!
How often do you intend to meet? You may prefer weekly, monthly or on a more spontaneous basis. Do discuss this with your members and agree whether everyone is expected to attend every session. You may prefer an informal arrangement where folk come along as and when they can. But this could be restrictive, especially if you wish to work on the same music for a period of time.
What are your aspirations for the group? Are you after fun or education? Maybe your aim is to simply explore unfamiliar music, or perhaps you want to really work at pieces to improve your musical and technical skills? It might be you even want to work towards a performance. I’ll talk about this possibility again later. The most important thing is to talk to the other musicians and make sure you have the same aspirations.
Do you have a good range of instruments? If you want to play a variety of music it’s helpful to have a mix of different sizes of recorder at your disposal. One of the pleasures of ensemble playing is being able to use different sizes of recorder, so it can be frustrating if one person gets stuck on the bass all the time. If your ensemble has lots of members who only play descant or treble this might present a good opportunity to convert some or all of them larger sizes of recorder. There are tutor books aimed at those who want to learn a new fingering but I’ve also written a blog about this topic which may be a useful starting point.
Sourcing music
One very important factor when running a recorder group of any kind is choosing the music you’ll play. Historically, printed sheet music was required - often bought from your local music shop. These days most small music shops are unlikely to stock a vast array of recorder consort music, but fortunately there are lots of other sources for music. Let’s look at the various options…
Printed music providers
The most comprehensive source of printed recorder music here in the UK is Recorder MusicMail. They stock a huge array of repertoire for any number of recorders, and if they don’t have what you’re after they can usually get hold of it. They stock publications from the big mainstream publishers (Schott, Universal Edition, Moeck, Faber etc) as well as pieces from the myriad of smaller publishing houses such as Hawthorns, May Hill Music and Willobie Press.
Recorder MusicMail offers an excellent mail order service, but this doesn’t allow you to browse the music and see what it actually looks like. For this it’s worth attending one of the large-scale recorder events (such as the SRP National Festival and some of the larger recorder courses) which take place annually where they often have a presence. Taking an hour to leaf through the boxes of music allows you to see the score and judge how hard the parts are.
I’ve focused on the supplier I use most often here in the UK, but I’m sure there are similar shops in many other countries. Please do share your recommendations in the comments below.
Free online editions
There are many websites offering free or low-cost digital editions of music – especially repertoire which is now out of copyright. These are some of the ones I use most. Do leave a comment below to share other sites you use to source music. Click on the titles in red to visit these music providers.
International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) - a huge outlet for music which is out of copyright for every possible instrument. You can search by composer, instrument, ensemble, title, musical period and more. There are masses of original and arranged pieces for recorders, and a huge array of other music (instrumental and choral) which is ripe for arrangement. You have to be prepared to dig around to find things if you don’t know the exact title you’re searching for, but I’ve discovered a multitude of gems here. If you have a particular number of parts you’re looking for (quartets for instance) a good starting point is to type 4 recorders into the search box. This will bring up a choice of original pieces or arrangements and you can browse from there. The website is free to use, albeit with a delay of a few seconds in loading some of the pieces for free users. For a small annual subscription (currently $32 a year or $3.49 per month) this delay is removed and you’ll have the warm feeling that you’re helping keep this amazing site going.
Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL) - a vast repository of vocal music, much of which will work very well on recorders as the human voice has a similar range to the recorder. There is a degree of overlap with IMSLP, but it’s worth exploring both sites.
Gardane.info - another large online library of music for recorders (some original and some arranged) run by Andrea Bornstein. To access this you need to register for a free account and you’re welcome to make a financial contribution to Andrea to help support the site if you wish.
My own website - (apologies for the shameless plug!) I’m sure the vast majority of people reading this will already have rooted through my consort downloads page, but if you’re new here and haven’t yet discovered it, do take a look. I share a new piece every two weeks (many of them my own arrangements, made specially for you). All are available to use free of charge, but I’m grateful to anyone who makes contribution towards my professional time and helps me keep the site running.
Arranging your own music.
If you’re up for creating your own arrangements there are endless pieces on the sites I’ve listed above which could be purloined for recorders. Many choral and viol consort pieces work with just a simple transcription - transferring each voice straight to the appropriate clef for recorders. More complex arrangements are possible too, but this may require a greater knowledge of music writing than you’re comfortable with.
If you want to make your own arrangements there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use a pen/pencil and manuscript paper - there are even lots of websites where you can download manuscript paper to print at home. If you prefer properly typeset music you can spend a lot of money on software such as the full versions of Sibelius and Dorico, but there are free options available too, such as Musescore, Sibelius First and Dorico SE. There’s a bit of a learning curve when you first begin typesetting music, but it’s a skill worth acquiring if you find yourself making lots of arrangements.
Selecting the right music for your group
Armed with knowledge about where you can source music, the next step is to find the right sort of music for your group - one size doesn’t fit all. If you have a well-matched ensemble, where everyone is pretty much at the same standard, this may be fairly straightforward. You might even be able to club together and ask the members to bring along their own music to share.
If you have a mix of abilities it can be trickier to keep everyone happy though…
When I find myself working with a mixed level group I aim for a standard that allows everyone to at least have a go at the music. I try to ensure less confident players have someone who’s more advanced alongside them to offer a helping hand and reassure them that perfection isn’t an absolute requirement.
With a larger group you may be able to work on repertoire which is slightly harder because the weaker players will be buoyed up by the stronger players around them. There’s a lot of satisfaction to be had from playing with musicians who are slightly more advanced than you as it helps you lift your own game. On the other hand, don’t be over-ambitious. Sometimes it pays to select something simple which you can play really well. This allows everyone more brain space to think about technique, good tone and tuning - not just survival!
How many parts?
Some of your members will no doubt be confident holding a line on their own, while others may need support. Try to be sensitive to this and offer help where it’s needed. If all your members are confident readers you may be able to have the same number of parts as players, but it’s always wise to have some smaller scale pieces handy in case a piece doesn’t work. Whenever I work with an unfamiliar ensemble I take along far more music than I expect to use. That way I always have some back up music in case the group romps through things quicker than expected, or need something a little less challenging.
What style of music?
Many recorder players feel most at home with repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque periods – after all, it’s the music we play most often. Don’t overlook pieces from the last 100 years or arrangements of repertoire from the Classical and Romantic periods though. It’s always good to expand your musical horizons. Exploring different styles will stretch you musically and technically and will no doubt help you play everything better.
Why not theme your sessions?
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy a variety of different music at your playing sessions – just as with food, a varied musical diet is no bad thing! However, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t theme your rehearsals too. You could do this by period (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, jazz), musical form (dances, madrigals, fantasias) or by composer. This can help bring a focus to your sessions, allowing you to see the commonalities and differences between related pieces of music.
Ten more practical tips…
Get to know the music from the inside.
If you’re responsible for directing the group it pays to at least be able to play through the parts, so you know from personal experience where the danger spots occur. No one expects you to spend hours learning every part perfectly, but some practical experience will help you understand where the musicians are most likely to encounter difficulties.
Prepare the score
Click on the image to see it enlarged
Half the challenge of leading an ensemble is knowing what should be happening in the music beforehand. Before I lead a group (be it conducting or just as a coach) I will look through the score and get to know it. I’ll take a pencil and mark in places where parts come in so I can give a gesture if it’s needed. I’ll look for melodic themes which pop up in different parts and mark them so I can easily see the structure of the music. Very often I’ll do this initial preparation in silence – simply seeing what jumps off the page at me. Then I’ll take the next step…
Listen to recordings of the music
Years of experience and practice mean I can often get a sense of what a score will sound like in my head. However, there’s no shame in listening to recordings of the music if you can find them. I use two music streaming services (Apple Music Classical and Idagio) to listen to recordings. With arrangements of music composed for other instruments or voice I’ll often listen to the original version if I can’t find one played on recorders.
If you don’t already pay for a streaming service a huge number of recordings can be found on YouTube free of charge (as long as you don’t mind putting up with some adverts). Listening to different performances can help you decide on your preferred speed and guide you about the right musical style. This is especially helpful for early music, where the composer provides just the notes and rhythms. Listening carefully to good performances can help you judge where the articulation needs to be more legato or staccato, and will encourage you to listen more critically to your own playing too.
With a conductor or without?
Whether you or someone else conducts the ensemble may depend on the size of the group and how experienced the players are.
Don’t be afraid to have a go at conducting – it can be so rewarding and you’ll learn a lot, even if you never do it in front of an audience. I’ve written a blog about conducting which contains lots of information to get you started. Most players aren’t expecting you to be the recorder equivalent of Simon Rattle – a simple, clear beat and the occasional lead at difficult entries is enough to be helpful. Spend some time learning and practising the basic beat patterns in front of a mirror to start with. Doing this against a metronome beat will help you maintain a consistent pulse and you can always try conducting along to recordings for some variety.
Would you like to see a blog post about taking your first steps in conducting? If you would, do leave a comment below and I’ll add it to my list of topics!
Warming up
It pays to spend some time warming up before you launch into any challenging music. This could be as simple of playing through a hymn or simple folk song. The important thing is to pick something that’s well within everyone’s technical comfort zone so they can play the notes without worrying about difficult rhythms or complex key signatures. I have some lovely (and modestly priced!) hymn tunes and Bach chorales in my online shop which I often use with ensembles, but there are plenty of other such offerings available elsewhere online.
Allow the group to just play for a while before you leap in and offer any criticism. If the players have had a long journey they’ll need some time to wind down from their travel and they may be feeling nervous at first.
Stopping and starting
If someone is conducting, giving a bar in will probably be enough to get everyone started, but there’s no harm in warning the players of the likely speed first.
But if you play without a conductor you need to consider other ways to get going. You could verbally count a bar in but how often do you see this happening in concert? Being able to lead a group with your breath and body language is a really important skill and one that all players should at least try.
Before you do anything, look through the first few bars of the music and feel your chosen tempo. When you’re ready to lead off, move the end of your recorder at that speed – imagine you’re conducting with it instead of a baton or your hand. As you give the upbeat, breathe in at the speed of the pulse and the other players will hear and feel the beat with you. Don’t be afraid to move clearly – body language can be a very powerful tool, so throw off your inhibitions and talk eloquently with your movement! Eye contact is helpful too, so don’t bury yourself in the music and do encourage others to look up at you. Try to encourage everyone to have a go at this. Leading an ensemble in via your body language will bring you greater musical understand and confidence as you get it right.
In this video of the Woodpeckers playing a Vivaldi Concerto you’ll see how they use breath and movement to start and end the music cleanly. They also have lots of eye contact and body language throughout the performance, although you might find the choreography is a step further than you’re able to master in your ensembles!
When you come to the end of a piece, body language and eye contact are just as important. Nominate someone to bring the group off, using a small movement with the end of their recorder as they stop their final note. Share the task between you and then everyone learns this useful skill. Talking of body language - don’t be afraid to move a little as you play. I’m not suggesting everyone should nod incessantly like donkeys, but subtle visual cues can help you maintain better ensemble. Of course, if moving causes you to make more mistakes, playing the notes needs to take precedence!
Playing in tune
Unless you’re accompanied by a keyboard instrument, playing precisely at A440 concert pitch isn’t crucial, but you do need to listen to each other and play in tune with each other. I often hear musicians whose tuning doesn’t match, but they have difficulty knowing who is flat and who is sharp. To agree on a unison note, the best way to do this is by playing musical ping pong. Ask each musician to play a short note in turn, bouncing the note back and forth between them. You’ll find it much easier to hear which note is sharper or flatter than the others and often a small adjustment to the speed of breath will fix this. Do remind your players that tuning should always be done with the same breath pressure they’ll be using in the music. It’s no good going through this exercise, only to find that everyone tunes up with a gentle piano dynamic, and then plays the music at mezzo forte as the intonation will be completely different!
It’s also important to remember that recorders are manufactured and tuned with a particular breath pressure in mind. Uncertainty about tuning often leads to tentative playing, an undernourished tone and flat intonation. Under-blowing cause some notes to be flatter than others and distinctly sour chords are likely to be the end result. Instead, aim to play with a positive, confident breath pressure at all times and a lot of your tuning woes will ease immediately.
Setting and maintaining the tempo
Anyone who’s been to a playing session conducted by me will know that I usually make the players sight read the music at full speed, no matter how scrappy it may be initially. This might be counterintuitive, especially if this means lots of notes get dropped on the floor at first. It may seem more sensible to start slowly and build up the tempo, but I know from painful experience that this rarely works. The first tempo you play tends to be the one that sticks in your memory. No matter how hard you work to wind the tempo up, the players will often drift back down to the slower speed. It’s better to have a stab at full speed, even if it’s very rough round the edges at first. Having lodged the correct tempo in your players’ brains, you can then go back and work on sections more slowly before working back up to full speed.
If your music requires a rallentando or accelerando somewhere someone will need to lead this change. If you have conductor it’s part of their job, but if you play without one you need to decide who will use body language and recorder movement to indicate the increase or decrease in speed. Obviously, the rest of the group need to be watching them or it’s a waste of energy and effort!
Find a balance between criticism and encouragement.
My final tip is to enjoy yourselves and don’t overlook the fact that you’re there to have fun!
It’s important to remember amateur musicians are (by definition) playing for the love of it – as you may well be too. Yes, criticism is important if we want to improve our skills, but don’t forget that encouragement is just as crucial. The satisfaction gained from creating a good sense of ensemble and successfully playing music together can be immense, but sometimes it’s just as enjoyable to romp through some new music, warts and all. Aim to include constructive criticism, fun and positive encouragement into every session and everyone will be happy!
Going public – performing to an audience
Many smaller amateur recorder groups would run screaming from the thought of performing in public. They’re there to play for enjoyment and simply don’t want the pressure of preparing for a public performance. But don’t discount the idea out of hand, as performing can be an immensely rewarding experience. I conduct several concerts each year with my recorder orchestras, and I love seeing the buzz they get when it goes well and the audience applaud enthusiastically. Yes, mistakes happen (as they do in professional performances too!) but audiences rarely dwell on these (if they even notice them in the first place) and they’re always willing the performers on to play well.
Now I’m not suggesting you hire a concert hall and put on a full evening’s recital, although some amateur groups do exactly that. But performances come in many shapes and forms. Simply preparing for a performance focuses the mind more clearly and makes you think about how your music making sounds to others. Perhaps the village fete, coffee morning or bring and buy sale would like some informal background music? Or maybe you could play a piece in the local music festival, where you’ll receive a gentle critique and encouragement from the judge? Or perhaps there’s a local showcase you could join in where you’re one of a number of groups performing a short piece of music. You could even have an informal get together at the end of the term/year where you invite partners, spouses and friends along to listen to the music you’ve been working at. Offer some coffee and cake too and you’re bound to have a sympathetic and appreciative audience!
Are there other questions you have about running an ensemble? Or maybe you have your own tips? Either way, do leave a comment below – we can all share our ideas to make our music making even more enjoyable.