Recorder Quartet Visits Pealsee

Third and fourth grade students at Peaslee Elementary were introduced to the family of recorders on Friday during a PTO sponsored enrichment program, entitled The Recorder Goes to School. These students are currently learning how to play the recorder as part of their music curriculum.

This engaging, fun, and interactive program was given by the Eine Kleine Konsort , which showcases the talents of the professional recorder quartet of Dotty Moffett, Jean Burke, Susan Duffy and Pam Yanco. These four women all have a background in music education and have been playing together for this unique enrichment program since 1992. All started playing the recorder back when they were in the third grade.

According to Moffett, their program is "geared towards the beginner recorder player to get them excited about playing. The recorder is not just a pre-band instrument. It’s an instrument you can play all your life."

The program lasting about 50 minutes, showed students that the size of the recorders they are using to learn on is just the beginning of the family of recorders that exist. A short demonstration and explanation of the soprano recorder, alto recorder, tenor recorder and bass recorder were shown to wide eyed students. The differences in the tones of each recorder were evident.

There were plenty of opportunities for students to volunteer and participate as part of the ensemble, either playing the recorder or to accompany the ensemble using instruments such as the xylophone or a hand drum.

The program ended with the quartet’s Recorder Rap song, which was a definite hit with all the students.

Kelly Kiley, PTO representative at the event, commented that this was a "highly entertaining program and really brought the information down to the kids’ level."

"The recorder is a wonderful sounding instrument," said Moffett enthusiastically. She encourages everyone who has the chance to hear live recorder music to attend the event or concert. "It’s awesome."

Download the movie