The bloody recorder!

Playing the recorder at school is a memory for most people of my generation. Or should I correctly say learning to play the recorder.

I can't say I ever got any good at it, but I do remember enjoying playing it. Be it at school or in the garden shed with my friends.

Honestly, as my some of my older friends will attest to, I was quite bad at music lessons. I even got thrown out of the school orchestra, oh the embarrassment, and I was only playing the triangle!

So the chances of me, being any good at the recorder, are very slim.

Luckily my memory is kind and I remember I was at best average.

Now that my eldest daughter has embarked upon recorder lessons, as part of the school curriculum, it all comes flooding back. I can still pull of a reasonable London's burning, if begged. But really, nothing else has survived the years.

However as I see my daughter struggle with learning the instrument, I start to see why.

There is so much to do. And all at the same time.

You have to breathe in a consistent and rhythmic way.
You have to master the strength of the blow
You have to look at the music notes
Then translate them into finger movements
All the while ensuring you are covering the holes fully and not partially
And then move on to the next note at the same time, to ensure you know what's coming.
Oh yes and some notes need to be held longer than others......

It's a lot of things to do!

So today I ask you all, to have empathy with the screeching across the nations, as your children begin to discover the pleasure of music. And most of all, to encourage and find joy in the sometimes nasty sounds, filling the hallways.

It's understandable.