The Recorder Group

Leader:  Joan Gibson - recorder@ashbyu3a.co.uk -

The recorder group, meet twice a month, to make music in a relaxed, fun way. I would hope that we would be able to cater for a wide range of experience and skill. We usually meet each month on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 10am, but occasionally it varies. Check here for up to date information.

January
For our first meeting of the New Year, after all the Christmas carols, eight of us returned to “normal” by digging out some old favourites, and finding some new music to play.

We started with “Pastime with Good Company” (very appropriate), possibly by Henry VIII, but more likely by one of his court musicians. We followed this with Fun Folk, a medley of folk tunes, including a tango, with 2 tenor parts. Then came a canzon: “La Galuppa” from the 16th or 17th century. The more we play this piece, the more we are getting into it, and it feels better. The parts move separately, and it can be confusing, and tricky to keep in time and together.

We had another look at “Three Dances for Recorder Quartet”, which we are still learning. The Frog Dance is going better than the others, so we persevered with this. It’s a jolly tune.

Back to the more familiar: 3 of the Twelve Trios for Recorder Ensemble, then 3 madrigals by Casulano. We had a short look at “Spring Song” by John Hawkes: it starts as a fugue, and the parts gradually join in. It’s a more modern piece than the last two, having been published in 2020.

In our second meeting of the month (eight of us again), we persevered with some of the previous meeting’s music. We didn’t play the madrigals, but, instead, played Andrew Challinger’s “Variations on Greensleeves”, which we have played in the past, and most (?) of us like. We had our first look at Gaspar Sanz’ “Spanish Airs and Dances”. The last of these (Canarios) sounded familiar (you can hear it on YouTube if you search for it, played on guitar). We tried this one, getting to grips with the rhythm, and how to count the beats. Knowing the tune is an advantage! We had a quick look at the first one, which, while it had its tricky bits, seemed playable. We then tried “Jolly Joan’s Fugue”, which is fun, but has a few tricky accidentals, and some of us had to check the fingering of the higher notes!

The treble section had to leave a little early, so the rest of us ran through “The Goroum” with a hole in the middle. Not quite the same, but still fun.

Next month we will be back in the usual routine with meetings on the first and third Thursdays of the month, February 6th and 20th.