Music Educator’s Approach Breathes New Life into Traditional Recorder Teaching and Performing
Playing the Soprano Recorder For Church, School, Community, and the Private Studio (Complete Edition: With Piano Accompaniment) Now Available from MENC: The National Association for Music Education and Rowman & Littlefield Education
RESTON, VA (February 25, 2008) — Playing the Soprano Recorder, by Lois Veenhoven Guderian, is written for general music classes, group and private instruction, and self-learners, and provides teachers and students with a sequential and musical approach to learning Western music notation and soprano recorder playing. Each lesson in the book provides opportunities to apply, in creative ways, the notation and concepts learned and also to support the development of creative thinking and the tools needed for composing music in Western notation.
The teaching materials and pieces presented in the text are musically satisfying to learn from the first lesson to the last. In addition to a practice/performance CD, written piano accompaniments for all 76 pieces are included, many with optional, additional instrumental parts. The words of songs are included for nurturing both singing and instrument playing.
Due to the selection of pieces, there are many possibilities for interdisciplinary education as well as expansions of and links to other areas within the discipline of music. “[The soprano recorder] is an economical instrument that can be used to develop sophisticated levels of understanding in music and playing ability … learning to play the recorder can be a very musically satisfying experience,” says the author. All nine of the National Standards for Music Education are supported in this approach.
“I am happy to say that Playing the Soprano Recorder has become our recorder book of choice for our music educators and Sunday School teachers throughout the USA. The musical methods, activities and music created by [the author] have led to wonderful developments in our recorder ensembles and the constant building of our music culture,” said Richard Freund, president, New Apostolic Church USA.
Lois Veenhoven Guderian is active as a music educator, composer, choral director, clinician, music education researcher, consultant and performer. Currently at Northwestern University, Guderian has taught general, choral, instrumental and private music instruction levels pre-K through university, and continues to create texts, curricula, music and special programs for schools, churches, and communities.
Playing the Soprano Recorder For Church, School, Community, and the Private Studio. Complete Edition: With Piano Accompaniment is available from RLE for $34.95. MENC members receive a discount of 25%. To order or for more information, call 800-462-6420 or visit www.rowmaneducation.com. A second version of the book, entitled Playing the Soprano Recorder for School, Community and the Private Studio, will be available in April 2008 with the student-classroom versions of the two books (without piano accompaniment parts) following closely thereafter.
MENC: The National Association for Music Education, the world’s largest arts education organization, marked its centennial in 2007 as the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. More than 130,000 members represent all levels of teaching from preschool to graduate school. Since 1907, MENC has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. MENC’s activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National Standards for Arts Education.
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