When Should You Learn a New Size of Recorder?

One of the terrific things about the recorder is how many sizes there are, and, consequently, how many musical roles you can take on as a recorder player. Want to lay down a groovy bass line? Swan around on a soaring descant? Bring a lush inner part to life? There’s a recorder for that!

But the wealth of options brings questions, and one of the most common questions I field as a teacher is about when a beginning student should take on learning a new size.

Students are smart, and they’re curious, so they have very reasonable concerns. Will adding a second size disrupt learning on the first? Is it better to wait until you’re completely confident on one instrument before adding another? Or start earlier to begin building skills sooner? How do they time it right?

The answer is unsatisfying, because it’s the same unsatisfying answer attached to every complex question:

It depends.

(Sidebar: I kind of desperately want a tee-shirt printed with it depends. It will save me so much time! I can just spend all my teaching time pointing to the shirt!! I’m kidding, of course….sort of.)

But…it really does depend! I’ve had students blaze through adding SATB within a year. I’ve had students study for four years before successfully adding another size. And I’ve had everything in between. So I don’t really have a single answer for you. But I do have (drumroll please…..) more questions!

Asking yourself (or your students) these questions can help you decide if it’s time to make the leap to a new size.

Have you sufficiently grown your tolerance for mistakes and discomfort?

Adding a new instrument, especially an instrument with different fingerings, does mean you’ll feel more at sea for a while. This is true both on your newer instrument and on your older instrument, as you will almost certainly experience an increase reading errors for a while. Your brain needs time to sort through and stabilize the different systems, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to flip to the wrong one sometimes. Are you going to accept this and celebrate it a natural part of learning? Or is it going to cause you a lot of mental distress?

Here’s the thing: learning an instrument also requires learning to be bad at stuff for a while. This can be a struggle for adults who are used to experiencing mastery in their personal and professional lives. Where you are on your journey of learning to be OK with feeling inept is meaningful in terms of whether or not you’re ready to take on more challenge!

What’s your level of overwhelm?

Taking on a new size of instrument does add challenge. And in order to be ready to add challenge, you need to not feel like you’re currently drowning. Some students come to recorder with musical experience. Some students do not. And the quality and duration of that musical experience can vary. For students who are brand new to music, or brand new to making music in groups, it does tend to take longer for the overwhelm to subside enough to add another size. Music is insanely complicated!

What’s your learning engine?

If you haven’t taken my learning engine quiz, now’s the time! My experience is that students who are primarily driven by DISCOVERY or PROGRESS tend to be more attracted to, and motivated by, adding a size. In contrast, students driven by MASTERY may struggle more.

Do you play in a recorder group?

If a student plays regularly in a recorder group, I tend to be more intentional about urging them toward adding other sizes. Why? When you play more than one instrument it adds flexibility to the ensemble, enriching and strengthening the group as a whole. Plus there’s a built-in opportunity to apply your new skills!

Why Wait?

All else being equal, I am generally a proponent of trying out a new size sooner rather than later. Like learning a new language, learning a new size of recorder won’t destroy your ability to play the old one. And though there will be bumps, it will ultimately increase your neurological flexibility and enhance your musical experience.

Plus, brass tacks, what’s the worst that could happen? If you end up overwhelmed (and overwhelm is a great guide!) simply set it aside and come back to it later. No big deal!