I've been doing a bit of thinking, and I've decided that if I have failed my grade 8, before I attempt to retake (which I won't do till I've left college) I might do grade 2 or maybe 3 on recorder, and exam I should pass withou too much difficulty, in an attempt to try and get my confidence up a bit. (and enter myself of course)

The thing is, I first need to decide, which grade to take (play safe and go for two, make it more of a challenge and go for three)

Also, what do you have to do for grade 2 aurals (I never did grades 1 or 2 on flute, jumping straight in at 3) and are they something I should put lots of effort into preparing for? (Namely, do I need to fork out a lot of cash for the books and CD?) Also, how should I go about choosing pieces? Can anyone recommend nay (for grades 2 or 3) and are there Cd's with the pieces on for recorder grades?

Oh, and finally, something really dumb I forgot, how do I decide whether to do treble recorder, or descant?!

Certainly aural tests for grades 2/3/4 should prove to be straightforward for someone who has done more advanced grades already.
Get the syllabus for woodwind and see what you need to play for recorder exams - no doubt you would enjoy preparing for recorder exams greatly!!

Hi Tamsin! Have a look at the syllabus and a browse through the pieces at your music shop to see whether Grade 2 or Grade 3 would be more suitable. Descant or treble, hmm...........if I had to choose, it'd be treble, I think. Have you got a decent treble? The Yamaha 302 series are the best, IMO.

Recommended pieces - remember these are just my favourites - your tastes may differ! But here goes:

Descant Grade 2:

Playford - The Red House
Purcell - Minuet
Telemann - Rigaudon
Russell-Smith - Pure Silk (a lovely one, this!)
Turner - Waltz
van Eyck - De zoete Zoomer Tyden
Keuning - Study 26
Playford - Spanish Jig


Descant Grade 3:

Handel - Gavotte
Haydn - Partie 1st mvt, Pastorale
Joplin - Paragon Rag
Norton - Steam Train Blues
van Eyck - La Bergere
Fortin - Ganschen Klein
Hurrell - On your Toes
van der Valk - study 10


Treble Grade 2:

Anon - Watkins Ale
Bingham - Trumpet Air
Corrette - Suite in C, either of the options given
Telemann - Andante
Bonsor - Swing your Partners
Anon - Tune for the Linnet no. 6
Keuning - Study 7
Zanetti - Ballo di Mantua


Treble Grade 3:

Anon - The King's Mistress (I adore this one!)
Joplin - Paragon Rag
Milford - Christmas Pastoral (another great piece!)
Keuning - Study 14
Pepusch - Prelude in Bb

Aurals will be a walkover if you've done Grade 8 - I don't think you'll have any problems, but just look in the syllabus to see what is required.
There aren't any CDs like the flute, clarinet etc. exam-piece ones produced for the recorder, I'm afraid.

Hope this helps - get in touch if you need more info!
Jo

If you are grade 8 on flute then I can see no reason to do such a low grade on recorder. Why not go in for grade 6 or so?

Liz

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Jo, are there any pieces on the syllabus you don't like?! Unfortunetly, living in corwall there is a limit to what pieces I can actually look out before buying, and I'm reasonably certain I would have to order it all in. Hence my quiery over the CD in the hope I could have a listen and see what I like first!

Why not go for a higher grade, well, it's simple really, I don't want the stress, not with my current college work load. I want to do an exam that would give me a little focus, without being difficult, and that I shouldn't get stressed out about. Besides, I never was that good on recorder!

Also I'm currently playing Aulos plastic recorders (on the odd occasions when I do play!) and I know, from experience playing the flute, that doing higher grades on a basic instrument is a bad idea, examiners simply don't take these things into account.

Tamsin, why don't you ask someone to get you Yamaha 302 series descant and treble recorders for Christmas? The descants retail at about £10, and the trebles at about £20. They're really much nicer tone-wise than the Aulos ones!

If you can decide which grade/instrument to take, I'll happily help you choose pieces, and can give some advice about the books, eg the book with King's Mistress in - the one I use anyway, I can't remember without looking if it's the recommended edition in the syllabus - has quite a few other good pieces in, including ones you can use at Grade 4 and 5 if you felt so inclined at any time. It's 'First Repertoire Pieces for Treble Recorder'. Let me know if you need any more help!

My problem is that living in Cornwall, its very hard to get hold of certain instruments, when I upgraded my flute, I had a choice of Buffet or Yamaha, and for recorder, well, it's Aulos or Aulos! Does anyone know of a mail order company thats good for Yamaha recorders?

Music, well, I'll see if by any chance I can find a copy of First Repetori Pieces for Treble, howebver unlikely, its possible, and I'm needing to go music shopping after Christmas anywa (recently discovered how little flute music I actually owned, ie, I currently have nothing to play!)

I think that might have inspired my sudden re-interest in the recorder!:)

Though this still all depneds on whether I've passed or failed my grade 8 flute. I'm sure someone told me that it takes longer if they're trying to decide whether to pass or fail you!

You should be able to buy recorders over the phone from The Early Music Shop in Bradford - they stock everything (I should imagine so anyway!). They also have a website (search on Early Music shop) which list their stock and prices too if I remember correctly.

QUOTE (jo.clarinet @ Dec 13 2004, 09:09 PM)

Yamaha...They're really much nicer tone-wise than the Aulos ones!

I actually prefer Aulos to Yamaha... but that might be because the only Yamahas I have are a sopranino (squeaky in ANY make!!) and a bass... my descant and treble are Aulos... I don't own a plastic tenor though. My Yamaha bass is lovely though... I'm thinking I might invest in a Yamaha tenor if I can find the money - I'm paranoid about losing my wooden tenor, so I could do with a plastic one for rehearsals!

The Yamaha sopraninos aren't very good, I have to say - my back-up plastic sopranino's an Aulos - but Tamsin was asking about descants and trebles, and IMO if you have to get a plastic descant or treble the Yamahas are far better as long as you keep to the 302 series - the cheaper Yamahas aren't good either!

Well, as I did fail my grade 8, this seems a likely possibility. I'll have a chat with my parents.

You asked descant or treble - having played the flute you will find the fingering your the descant very easy. Treble fingering is more like a clarinet.
So if you want the easier option go for descant, if you want more of a challenge go for treble.

Jo clarinet - can you stil get hold of the Keuning studies? I have found that they have been out of print for my pupils this year.

I think I've seen the treble ones in Chappells recently. I'd been having trouble getting the descant '30 simple studies' for a pupil who needed it, but luckily another pupil who had finished with her copy passed it on. I'd been wondering if it was out of print myself!!

Well having played descant since I was 4, and treble, erm, since I was about 9, I don't thiink the different fingering for treble are a problem. In someway, I think I'm more inclined to do treble, as I have been known to mix up flute and descant, but I know I can't reliably hit top notes on my treble recorder. I know pratise would cure this... actually, what range am I likely to require for grade 3?

The only problem now is persuading my parents. They are both very cautious about me taking on something else, when I'm doing 7 subjects at college, I think they were looking forward to not having to put up with me making myself ill over music exams, though hopefully doing a relatively easier exam, I shouldn't get ill.