Alfred's Teach Yourself to Play Recorder (Teach Yourself Series) Audio CD – Audiobook, December 1, 1996

Over a year ago I wanted to pick-up and learn the recorder again. I was playing professional scores in less than a month. It's now been almost two years and I play the recorder every day and was self taught from this book. Highly recommended. It was recommended by Sarah Jefferies on YouTube the recorder instructor. Great channel just FYI.

I have played piano for 5+ years. This book teaches using fingering. The book is fun to learn from. For the first time since picking up the recorder I played for half an hour and the time flew by.

I recently became interested in playing musical instruments. I purchased numerous musical items such as two Chinese Flutes, two harmonicas, two kazoos, and two recorders. I also purchased numerous musical instruction manuals. Alfred’s Teach yourself to Play Recorder by Morty Manus is one of several manuals I purchased to help me learn how to play the recorder.I found the instructions fairly easy to follow; however, since I had never played an instrument in my youth, learning to read music was somewhat of a challenge. Fortunately, this is a beginner’s manual and the instructions are clear and simple. This 64 page text is organized into short sections and a CD also comes with this manual. Some of the areas covered in this volume include the following:Getting started, choosing an instrument, producing tone, a mini-music lesson, playing the note of B, A, G, middle C, high D, playing G A B C D, playing low F, playing low E, playing F sharp and numerous other music lessons. This is not the type of manual one can quickly skim over. In order to learn the material you must slowly follow and practice each section on the recorder which takes time. It takes patience and discipline to learn any musical instrument, but this text along with some instructions from a music teacher will produce good results.Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: The Samurai Soul: An old warrior’s poetic tribute).

My wife has used it as it was a hobby she just picked it. She seems to like it!

This is written in such a way that you can actually learn to play the recorder and read music! Although it takes practice you can go at your own speed.

This book is not appropriate for alto recorder, which uses a different fingering. The book is for soprano or tenor recorders, but there is no such indication on the web page, or in the book itself. In fact, the book states on page 4, "All recorders use the same fingering." No, they don't. For example, on the soprano or tenor recorders, covering all finger holes produces a C note. Covering all finger holes on the alto recorder produces an F note.

I really like this book. It's easy to follow and I have noticed a lot of improvement in just a few days. The reason I gave it 3 stars is because it states that it comes with a CD. Mine did not come with a CD tracks.

Easy to follow instructions with a lot of basic how-to-read-music built in. All you need is the instrument and the time to practice.

It is important to note that this is a review only of the accompanying CD, not the book, (which is quite excellent). The CD is very helpful for giving the learner an understanding of how the notes and tunes sound, especially if you are not familiar with some of them. It covers all of the lessons in the book and even has accompaniment on some of them. Each tune has a short introduction (usually a few beats) followed by a recorder playing the tune. Overall, these are well recorded and a lot of thought has gone into the content to make the learning process enjoyable and manageable. As an experienced musician, this is something I bought for my wife to use as a total beginner. It is one of the better tuition courses on the market and I can highly recommend it. I am surprised by some of the strange negative comments about cost. Frankly, with the book, it is very good value, especially when compared with some guitar tuition books and CDs which are hugely more expensive. And if you compare it with the cost of a teacher, well it's a bargain.

My first exposure to written music was for the recorder. This book covers many songs that I have found memory of.

I liked the easy to follow instructions.

Love this introduction to the recorder. Good mix of recorder and musical theory as well as pieces to practice. Ideal for me an adult learner. Bought the CD too. Highly recommend.

It took rather too long to arrive, but it is still a useful book despite having used another book for 7 weeks. Well laid out, and clear information regarding time signatures, notation, rhythm etc. Like the tunes too - although largely standard folk songs, they are all pleasant to play. The format is not aimed at young children like some of the other books and the simple beginning music avoids the boring, made-up jingles that characterise so many other beginners books. It has all the information necessary to get a good start. I didn't manage to get a copy with the CD, but as the tunes are familiar, this did 't matter, but I can't comment on the quality of the CD.