Learn to Play Recorder

Lesson 79: Advanced Ensemble, Part 1 — Renaissance Consort

  • Play one part of a four-or-more-part Renaissance consort piece against recordings (or live performers) of the other parts.
  • Match tuning, articulation, and phrasing to a section even when your line is exposed.

A consort is one instrument with four heads. The tuning is between the heads.

Renaissance consort music — four or more recorders in a family group — is the recorder's native ensemble context. Four or more lines move independently, and the listener's pleasure is in the texture as much as any single voice. Tuning, articulation, and phrasing all matter more than in solo playing because an outlier stands out against the section.

Reading the full score

Before practising your part, sing through each line of the full score. Mark in your part every passage where you have the melody, where you accompany, and where you are silent — those three categories determine how you play any bar.

One part — a soprano excerpt

Play this descant line as if three other lines are moving below you — even if no one is in the room.

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Tuning — the section discipline

Recorder pitches are largely fixed, so consort tuning depends on:

  • Breath pressure — higher pressure raises pitch slightly; use minutely on flat long notes.
  • Alternate fingerings — pick the one that fits the section's tuning.
  • Matched instruments — a consort of matched manufacturers tunes more easily.

Tune to the section; there is no soloist.

Articulation matching

Decide as a section before rehearsal, and mark in everyone's part:

  • Sixteenth-note motion: all double-tongued, or all slurred-pairs? Choose one.
  • Dotted figures: agree how sharp the dot.
  • Cadences: trill or no trill, and by whom.

Practice plan — two weeks

Week 1 — your line, alone
Hardest-bar procedure; tempo, articulation, and ornament all in place.
Week 2 — your line against a recording of the rest
Listen for tuning issues and articulation mismatches.

Now play these

Baroque Music for Recorder Ensemble
The application piece — learn the descant line first, then play against a recording.
Pavane — Belle Qui Tiens Ma Vie
A simple four-part dance — a good first-consort piece.

When your line plays in tune with a recording of the other three, with matched articulation and phrasing, move on to Lesson 80.