Baroque And Folk Tunes For Recorder: An Unusual Collection of Music Arranged for the Recorder, containing over Fifty Pieces from Over 300 Years of Music

While it is hard to find recorder songs past grade 1 this book does introduce some harder pieces. While not too intermediate you should be able to sight read most if you know the basics notes to the recorder.All the songs are arranged for a recorder so while it's not a genuine book of songs for the recorder it does give a nice selection to play.

Somewhat agree with the sole other reviewer who gave this a generous 1 star.I had naively missed the small print that said "music arranged for the recorder" (rather than written for), what caught my eye was the attractive yellow cover and "unusual collection from 300 years of music"!There is nothing worse than playing an over simplified tune, because every instrument has it's unique characteristics and is particularly suited to music "written fOR it" to draw them out. That is when an instrument well played can really sing. =( ... relegated to sight-reading. I suppose I can use it for that AND TRY to make it sing.

Not for a beginner, but challenging nevertheless. Thank you!

Enough nice pieces to make it worth buying (although I don’t play the folk and ragtime ones). I like that it has guitar chords. I think this is one of the better books in the small selection for c recorder (soprano or tenor).

Its Great!

My son is a beginning alto recorder player Bach lover and folkie. He loves this book.

At first glance, some might find the intro to this recorder collection rather offputting, The author (of the introduction) describes most of the recorder players he knows as defeatist, lacking in motivation, and the real reason why the recorder is often seen as the "Rodney Dangerfield" of instruments. But read more closely it is clear he is trying to defend the recorder and encourage players to stick to their guns, or at least their fipples.This 64-page collection contains 57 solo pieces and an illustration of a bird. All seem arranged for the soprano (or tenor) and also include chords for guitar. Some could be played on the alto and one or two (such as the Corrente) might even sound better that way, given what it would take to hit its high notes on a soprano. Most of the pieces are classical. There is also some folk or traditional and even some ragtime.Most of the pieces are full-page songs, well within the range of a diligent, advanced beginner who's mastered most notes. The collection bills itself as "unusual", and that's fair insofar as most of its pieces do not seem to appear in other recorder collections, and because it is such an eclectic mix. There's lots of good stuff here. Several pieces bring out the recorder at its most soulful (or most melancholy). I have found the arrangements of Muffat's Siciliana, Pergolesi's Siciliana, and Mozart's Andante Graziosa particularly beautiful, and there are also enjoyable arrangements of Borodin's Polovtsian Dance, "Those were the Days" and Joplin's "The Entertainer", although my music teacher performed a fair amount of surgery on that last piece. Overall, the author seems to have broad musical tastes, a very good ear for music that sounds well on the recorder, and a knack for making it beginner-friendly.A couple of things could have been done better. The binding on my copy was poor and it fell apart almost immediately. The binding doesn't seem designed to accommodate what presumably will be this booklet's primary function - being laid flat on a music stand. There's no note chart either, which would have been handy (at least handier than that bird picture) for players suddenly stumped for a note on some far-off mountain top or desert without a method book at hand, especially when the book is otherwise so well suited to advanced beginners. There's almost nothing about the pieces in the booklet.These shortcomings do not outweigh this book's great value as a rich collection of very carefully chosen, beautiful recorder pieces. Strongly recommended.

Years ago when I started playing the recorder, I found this book at a music store. It was what I needed. A book of music to play on the recorder. Some of the pieces were easy and some were darn hard with others in between. It is not music written for the recorder but music to play on it. No music can make the recorder sing. It does not matter if music was written for it or not. Only you can make it sing.I am a recorder player. I play sonatas and concertos for the recorder but I do not stop there. I also play music for other instruments or the voice. Recently I have played “ Ladies In Lavender “ which was for violin and “Gabriel's Oboe “ which was for oboe. At Church I play on all the hymns and most liturgical music as well as obligoti with the choir no matter what the score says it is for.I learned to play this way because of this book and others. Now I am buying this book for a promising student so that he can have good music to play and I can teach him how to make the recorder sing.Happy playing!

We have worn out our old copy of this terrific collection. If you are an intermediate recorder player, and/or moderately good finger playing guitarist, this book is for you. It is the only collection I have found that has beautiful baroque melodies with fairly simple guitar chord symbols. Most recorder collections seem to come with fully scored guitar, - too much for most average players, or with piano,- ditto. Some of the books in this series are over simple. This one is perfect. I wish there could be more in this vein. We have used this book playing at numerous weddings.

This arrived today, and seems like a nice collection. The most annoying thing is the book binding. The back will have to be beaten into submission by bending the back. At the moment it does not stay on the music stand. Even with the springs on the stand for this kind of problem it is still likely to release itself and fall on the floor.This is both a shame and a pain.

Far too easy - From the description I was expecting much more engaging and meaty pieces!

Good selection of intermediate studies and pieces. Challenging for the beginner/intermediate player.

Tunes are playable new players.