The Beginners Method for Soprano and Alto Recorder, Book 2: Recorder Book

Moving from solo study into duet exploration opens up a new dimension of musicmaking. The addition of dynamics and slurs brings expressive possibility to what had been primarily technical work, while compound time begins to shift the rhythmic landscape from familiar 4/4 ground.

Elementary students in their second year of recorder instruction who have finished Book 1 and are ready to expand into duet playing and broader rhythmic vocabulary. Teachers managing mixed-level classes will find the separate C and F parts especially valuable for keeping all learners engaged at the same instructional stage.

• Work the duets in sections before running them top to bottom. Start by having half the class play the C recorder part alone, then add the F recorder part as a second layer so each group hears their independence within the whole.
• Introduce the dynamic markings in isolation first. Play a passage at mezzo-forte, then demonstrate the same passage at piano so students hear the difference in air support, not just volume.
• When students encounter slurs for the first time in this book, isolate them in warm-up exercises before tackling full melodies. A few measures of slurred scalar motion builds fluency faster than diving into a slurred passage within a song.
• Use compound time duets as a bridge to ensemble thinking. The rhythmic offset between parts teaches students to track a steady pulse while a partner moves in a different metric feel.

Use this book as the core method text for your second year of recorder instruction, moving through it across the school year rather than racing through it. The duet arrangements make excellent material for parent-teacher performances or classroom presentations where ensemble texture matters more than technical display.

• Reading and performing dynamic markings (mezzo-forte, piano, forte)
• Executing slurred articulation and understanding legato phrasing
• Reading and performing compound meter (6/8 and related time signatures)
• Playing in duet formation with independent rhythmic and melodic lines
• Coordinating breathing and phrasing between two recorder parts