Suzuki Recorder School (Soprano and Alto Recorder) Accompaniment, Volume 7: Recorder Book

A step into the world of authentic early music. The pieces breathe with the elegance of the Renaissance and the structural clarity of the Baroque, offering recorder students their first real encounter with the instrument's historical roots and expressive possibilities.

Students completing the Suzuki Recorder School sequence who are ready to engage with historical works in their original form. This volume serves advanced elementary and middle school recorder players pursuing serious study of Renaissance and early Baroque literature.

• Balance your tone across the range demanded by each piece. The Bach Adagio and Andante require an especially singing quality in the upper register; avoid thinning your sound as you ascend.
• Pay close attention to the articulation markings in the divisions passages. Clarity and precision in fast sixteenth-note runs define the character of works like the Recercada Secunda.
• Use the accompaniment to anchor your phrasing, especially in the Sammartini Allegro where harmonic movement can guide your sense of direction.
• In the van Eyck pieces, allow slight flexibility in tempo to accommodate the natural breathing of the melody while staying connected to the accompaniment.

Program individual pieces from this volume as recital selections or concert features once students have completed the Suzuki sequence. The Bach movements pair naturally with upper-level wind ensemble or chamber music settings, while the Renaissance works introduce students to period-informed performance practices.

• Reading and performing divisions and rapid sixteenth-note figuration in period style
• Sustaining long-lined melodic phrases across multiple phrases
• Balancing tone quality across the full recorder range
• Interpreting articulation and ornamentation in Renaissance and early Baroque contexts
• Responding to harmonic structure and accompaniment for ensemble cohesion