Discovering Global Sounds Through the Recorder

The recorder boasts a repertory complete with brilliant solo sonatas, chamber music, and virtuosic concertos; it’s also an exceptional gateway instrument. The relative ease in learning the recorder, its cost-effectiveness, and its suitability for music from a variety of cultures and time periods all contribute to its popularity in any classroom. It opens doors for discovering multicultural music and an appreciation for global rhythms and melodies. Over time, in my work at S’Cool Sounds, along with my colleague, JoDee Scissors, I've learned that an engaging recorder lesson blends the deep roots of cultural music traditions with the modern student experience.

Working with New York City and Kenyan students in kindergarten through 12th grade, I've adopted a few familiar instructional practices with a global music perspective. This approach can lead to endless possibilities for the recorder as a culturally adaptable instrument.

Exploring the World

Years ago, on a mission to motivate New York City public school children to play the recorder, I found that a repertory ranging from dances of medieval and Renaissance Europe to songs from the Caribbean, Africa, South America, Asia, and the Balkans has melodies and rhythms that are irresistible to students and teachers. These pieces inspired me to explore the places and people from which they originated. That element of curiosity made its way into my instruction.

Start a lesson by contextualizing the origins of multicultural rhythms and melodies with simple tools like maps, photographs, and audio or video samples. Doing this activates students’ understanding of geographical locations, expands their musical lens, and shows them patterns of influence and cultural connection across borders and continents. It brings awareness to the vast musical world around us, which we can explore in the classroom.

I've found that this approach broadens students’ perspectives and ignites a greater respect for the diverse sounds that the world has to offer. Building an appreciation for the geographical context strengthens students’ own musical identity before they ever pick up a recorder. “Malaika,” a Swahili love song, is a student (and parent) favorite. The East African tune has a catchy melody and exhilarating rhythms, which make it fun to learn and perform. This sparks students’ curiosity to explore other musical traditions.

Learning Multicultural Songs by Ear

It can be challenging to learn new songs on the recorder, but the joy and overall experience is well worth it. For my lessons, I mostly put aside musical notation and instead use the oldest method of music instruction—call and response. What looks very difficult on the page (written in Western musical notation) can be imitated more naturally by ear. Learning multicultural songs by ear improves aural skills and as a group enhances the sense of “ensemble” and community in the classroom. It also fosters an understanding of other cultures.

When done strategically, call and response can speed up the learning process and make it approachable. Initially working with only three notes (B, A, and G), it’s possible—taking inspiration from a Brazilian samba, a Lebanese dabke, or a blues ballad, for example—to create engaging materials for a recorder class without requiring too much technical dexterity. This leaves time for a solid introduction to wind playing technique. Together with teaching artists, JoDee and I have curated cultural media and created instructional videos, Google Slides, and ready-to-go lesson plans. With each lesson, I start to add more notes as the students gain confidence with the instrument. They quickly feel like musicians.

Because they don’t feel tied to notes on a page, students can learn to improvise more readily and generate new musical ideas. I like to use a recurrent phrase as a rondo that the class comes back to (like the opening of “Ala De’Lona,” an Arabic folk song). A song like this enables students to try improvising in between the repeated phrases, which helps them develop their own musical voices.

Performing With Backing Tracks

Another layer to my approach is using backing tracks as a practice and performance tool. Backing tracks are an effective way to integrate technology and differentiate instruction. Call and response pays homage to the oldest form of music learning, while backing tracks reflect the technological advances that are familiar to modern performing students. I’ve found that backing tracks do the following:

• Build teacher confidence, especially if they’re not familiar with the song or musical tradition.
• Level the playing field so that all students can participate by listening, imitating, and feeling the rhythm.
• Let students play along with the “band leader” and the “ensemble.”
• Help create a student rhythm section using body percussion or small handheld instruments by imitating rhythms from the track.
• Aid performances with steady rhythms and a predictable format to follow.

Performing on the recorder in front of an audience completes the arc of a musical journey. There’s nothing like the adrenaline rush of a performance (school assemblies or concerts) and the sense of accomplishment after a job well done. The whole school community can feel a deep sense of pride in witnessing students’ joy in making music together. This sense of pride is unmistakable in one student’s reflection: “You try your best. You feel excited. You start believing in yourself.…You feel like you can be anything and try new things.”

Creating confident musicians takes time, but backing tracks can support students’ growth as they explore and learn more material. More important, students generally enjoy using them!

Stamping The Travel Diary!

Acknowledging your students’ worldly journeys with a performance is empowering; a travel diary stamp can provide a fun visual context to their musical travels. It serves as a symbol of music’s mobility and of each individual student’s instrumental voyage. Instead of a plane, train, or automobile, the recorder is a vehicle—taking us far beyond the walls of the classroom and into places like New Orleans, Korea, South Africa, and the Great Plains. We call our travel diary “Recorders Without Borders.” It’s easy to print, fold, and share with students.

Experiencing a musical tradition from within, by learning how to play the music firsthand, creates a deep connection with that culture. Children can feel the pride in musical exploration of their own culture or experience the excitement of learning about a classmate’s culture or connect to a faraway community. It has been inspiring to work with children in New York City and in many parts of the world, witnessing their curiosity, their collaborative efforts, and their ultimate success in creating community through music.