Well, I'm assuming that my kids will probably not play the boomwhackers and
Orff instruments and use the parachutes and all kinds of other things when
they are adults, either. That hardly prevents me from presenting these
opportunities to them. They will have options as they grow older to
continue or not.

So "why teach recorder" is not adequately answered by presuming that it's
taught in order to be a life-long passion. It's more - in my opinion at
this stage of the kids' growth - a gateway to much more. It is relevant in
its own right, but a gateway as well. Multi-tasking, as it were.

Not teaching recorder transposition is hardly the same as assuming that the
recorder has absolutely no value of its own or that the child will not later
wish to play in a consort with other adults.

First we learn to roll over, then sit up, then crawl, then walk. When it's
the right time, the developmental appropriateness is assured. I just think
that given where MY kids are right now - looking at the whole child -
teaching transposition is not a good-enough use of their learning time with
me.

They WILL have technical and musical skills that will be useful when it's
more appropriate to add the transposition. At that point, they will only
have one more hoop to jump through and it will be a challenge of lesser
difficulty. This will assure more success and add to the positive feeling
of the player toward the instrument, and who knows - perhaps even increase
the desire to continue to play as an adult.

On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 8:23 AM, Sue Roessel Dura wrote:

> On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 07:47:34 -0400, you wrote:
>
> >Now THAT's a good idea!
>
> It sure is! I think assuming that no one will ever play in a recorder
> consort
> is doing them a disservice, perhaps making it a self-fulfilling prophesy.
> Why
> are you teaching them the recorder then? If it has absolutely no value of
> its
> own and you don't have time to teach a few of its many facets, it would
> probably
> be better to use a tonette. There's a whole community of adult recorder
> players
> out here who enjoy the instrument immensely and look to these early
> recorder
> classes with hope for the future.
>
> >
> >On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 7:31 AM, Ledonna McGowan
> >wrote:
> >
> >> That is what I was thinking. Most of my kids will never play in a
> recorder
> >> consort after they leave 5th grade. I was thinking that I could make a
> >> lesson out of transposition to help them understand their band
> instruments a
> >> little better next year.
> >>
> >> Ledonna
> >>
> >> --- On Mon, 4/12/10, M Stanley wrote:
> >>
> >> From: M Stanley
> >> Subject: Re: [RECL]Transposition question
> >> To: "Recorder_Classroom"
> >> Date: Monday, April 12, 2010, 7:27 PM
> >>
> >> Well, I'm not real sure my kids need to learn bass clef till middle
> school.
> >> There are more fish to fry than that. We have such limited time that
> it's
> >> always a struggle to prioritize our time needs. And I don't have a
> problem
> >> putting everything in C. Not one problem.
> >>
> >> --
> >Martha Stanley, NBCT
> >www.marthabeesmusic.com
> >The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas first!
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>


--
Martha Stanley, NBCT
www.marthabeesmusic.com
The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas first!