I have had tremendous fun learning the recorder as an adult! What chance do most adults have of playing an instrument with a group? It was fun in school to play an instrument with the band or orchestra but most of us are not good enough musicians to make the local small-city symphony. However, with the recorder, music is once again a social activity.

Go through The NEW Nine-Note Recorder Method and BEYOND the Nine-Note Recorder Method to teach yourself recorder. Then find a local recorder group and join it. If you can’t find a group, start one. The American Recorder Society gives members a list of other recorder players around the country. Your name will be added to that list when you join.

Even if it is just you and your neighbor, play duets together once a week. Start with two soprano recorders or a mix of soprano and alto. To learn alto recorder, purchase the two e-books entitled, The Nine-Note Recorder Method: ALTO Edition and BEYOND the Nine-Note Recorder Method: ALTO Edition . Use Easy Duets and Trios for Soprano and Alto for your music.

As more people join your group, acquire a tenor recorder. A plastic Yamaha tenor is a good, yet affordable, instrument. Tenor and soprano use the same fingerings so if you know soprano, you know tenor as well.

Easy Consort Music for Beginners is the perfect starting point for your ensemble. It features easy music for various combinations of S, A, T, and B using the 9 easiest notes. It also contains a brief method for learning bass recorder to prepare you for playing the bass in some of the music. Soon your group might play for a club or a social event. Here is a link to one of the groups that I play with: Musica Antiqua.

New for the intermediate ensemble, More Consort Music for Recorders. This book has 158 pieces to keep you playing and progressing. The songs follow the progression of notes as presented in the Beyond the Nine-Note Recorder Books.

If you never played an instrument in school, it is not too late to learn the recorder. Maria Augusta Trapp, of Sound of Music fame, wrote in her inspiring family oriented book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers: "...The recorder is the ideal instrument for any adult whose childhood musical education has been neglected. If someone discovers on his fiftieth birthday that he should have taken piano or violin lessons while in school, he will hardly want to start then, for fear of not getting very far; but he will always miss it--to be able to 'make music' himself. That's where the recorder comes in handy. After six weeks of faithful practicing, even the oldest pupil can play folk tunes very nicely...There are untold riches in that little instrument."

If you have never made music, leave negative thoughts behind. Several adults have shared with me their joy at finally succeeding at making music by playing the recorder. You can do this!

RESOURCES:

The Nine-Note Recorder Method: ALTO Edition will start you on your way to learning the beautiful alto recorder using only the nine easiest notes. This book is designed for beginners. Some adults and older children choose to start with the alto because of its pleasing lower tone.
 

Easy Consort Music for Beginners uses only the 9 easiest notes. The duets, trios, quartets, and quintets are arranged for a variety of combinations of recorder sizes. It contains The Nine-Note Recorder Method for Bass, a 24-page appendix.

BEYOND the Nine-Note Recorder Method is a comprehensive instructional recorder book that takes you beyond the easiest nine notes on the soprano or tenor recorder. Learn 12 new notes at a thorough pace.

BEYOND the Nine-Note Recorder Method: ALTO Edition is a comprehensive instructional recorder book that takes you beyond the easiest notes on alto or sopranino recorder.
Learn 12 new notes that are commonly used in any music.

More Consort Music for Recorders is a valuable 230-page resource for the intermediate ensemble. Uses notes learned in the Beyond books.

For the Christmas season, you may want Christmas Duets for sopranos or altos. Next year, another version for soprano and alto will be available.

Here is a small collection of music that I have arranged for recorder ensembles. This music may be printed for noncommercial use.
This is a link to my favorite web site of free music.