Duschenes: Method for the Recorder, Part 2 - C Recorders

The Duschenes method for C recorders (soprano and tenor) consists of two books - Method for the Recorder Part 1 and Method for the Recorder Part 2.

Part 2, for the intermediate to advanced player, focuses on developing technique, with an emphasis on playing in difficult keys and using the full range of the recorder. Exercises and musical examples in all 24 major and minor keys are provided.

Other topics/contents include:

• Legato Playing
• Trills and Other Ornaments
• Double Tonguing
• Practice Suggestions
• Scales and Arpeggios
• Improvisation
• Transposition (octaves)
• Playing from Memory
• The recorder part from Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #2
• The 1st recorder part from Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #4

The Brandenburg parts - originally for alto recorder, transposed here for soprano with some octave displacements - are a special treat, as they are both gorgeous and fiendishly challenging, and are not readily available elsewhere. (Wondering how to play those high C#'s? See the discussion of the alto high F# in Andrew Charlton, The Charlton Recorder Method.)

NOTE: This book is best used as an intermediate-early advanced method or supplement, and increases difficulty somewhat suddenly after Part 1. The music, and therefore the fingering patterns, are the same in both the C and F books, transposed appropriately for the different instruments.