Preface

Contents

The Authors
Review by Barb Shearer January 2001

Preface

The arrangements in The Tropical Recorder are drawn from pieces each of us has written or arranged for our grade 4-6 students in recent years to help develop their recorder playing and rhythmic skills. The pieces have been used with regular classes and/or special recorder groups, and are presented generally in an easy-to-challenging progression of skill requirements. The recorder parts cover a wide variety of skill levels, yet even the simplest pieces should be interesting for more advanced players.

There are multiple soprano recorder parts for some of the less difficult arrangements so that all players can experience the extra fun and responsibility of part-playing, even at early skill levels. And for more advanced students, several more challenging arrangements have multiple soprano parts or alto and tenor parts in addition to the soprano line. These arrangements can also be performed with just the soprano line played. The following Teaching Suggestions section outlines the recorder teaching process we have both found useful.

Along with the style of the pieces, the most unique aspect of this collection is the provision of three-books-in-one to help make the arrangements useful in any setting. Each of us uses the Orff Schulwerk ensemble in much of our teaching, but not all of it. Sometimes we find that teacher-accompaniment on piano or guitar is very helpful in the learning process. Therefore, we have created two sets of arrangements for the pieces: an Orff ensemble set and an easy piano accompaniment set. Each set also includes guitar chords and optional unpitched instruments. For those who teach recorder directly from notation, a separate student recorder book is included. Extra student books are available at nominal cost.

The arrangements are notated with traditional directional signs (repeat, D.S., D.C.) but we encourage you and your students to reorganize each piece as you prefer for final performance.

Successful ensembles require well-developed musicianship. The players must be able to perform their own parts while fitting them into the larger whole of the ensemble. We hope that the use of these arrangements will encourage musicianship development among your students and add some excitement and joy to their musical day.

Jim Solomon, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

Mary Helen Solomon, Jacksonville, FL

Contents - 40 pages

Teaching Suggestions

Orff Arrangements

Rainforest Song (SR)

Mary Helen Solomon

Jamaican Money Man (S1R, SR2)
Jamaican Folk Song

arr. Mary Helen Solomon

Wakilah (SR)

Jim Solomon

Yemaya (SR)

Mary Helen Solomon

Flight of the Eagle (SR1, SR2, SR3)

Mary Helen Solomon

Heat (SR)

Jim Solomon

Una Flora (SR, AR, TR)
Chilean Folk Song

arr. Mary Helen Solomon

Dreams (SR)

Jim Solomon

Sails (SR)

Jim Solomon

Moon Song (SR1, SR2, SR3)

Mary Helen Solomon

Painted Bunting (SR)

Jim Solomon

Amalie Bay (SR1, SR2)

Mary Helen Solomon

Piano Arrangements

Rainforest Song (SR)

Mary Helen Solomon

Jamaican Money Man (S1R, SR2)
Jamaican Folk Song

arr. Mary Helen Solomon

Wakilah (SR)

Jim Solomon

Yemaya (SR)

Mary Helen Solomon

Flight of the Eagle (SR1, SR2, SR3)

Mary Helen Solomon

Heat (SR)

Jim Solomon

Una Flora (SR, AR, TR)
Chilean Folk Song

arr. Mary Helen Solomon

Dreams (SR)

Jim Solomon

Sails (SR)

Jim Solomon

Moon Song (SR1, SR2, SR3)

Mary Helen Solomon

Painted Bunting (SR)

Jim Solomon

Amalie Bay (SR1, SR2)

Mary Helen Solomon

The Authors

Jim Solomon

Author, clinician, and professional percussionist, teaches music K-5 at Osceola Elementary School, St. Augustine, FL, where he also directs the recorder consort, a percussion ensemble, DRUM, and the chorus.

Mr. Solomon is an MENC Nationally Certified Music Educator and has been recognized as the St. John's County, FL, Teacher of the Year. He has presented at numerous national music conferences and workshops throughout North America and has taught Orff Schulwerk teacher training courses at many locations including Jacksonville University and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he currently teaches each summer.

Jim's publications include Monkey Business, The Body Rondo Book (available from VOSA), A Village Day and Conga Town (available from VOSA). He has also produced an 80-minute video, Conga, Bongos and Other Percussion - A Guide to Technique.

Mary Helen Solomon

Music teacher at Riverside Presbyterian Day School, where her work with students includes choir, recorder, percussion ensemble, and movement. She is also children's choir director at Riverside Church, and Jacksonville University Children's Summer Camp music theater director.

Ms. Solomon has taught teacher training courses and in-service workshops on the Orff approach at colleges and conferences throughout the country. She currently teaches at The Eastman School of Music in their summer session.

Her published works include Dance for the Children of One Earth and Great Big House, song collections for elementary students. She recently completed two commissioned choral works, The Children of God and Prediction.

Mary Helen also sings with the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus and was a featured pianist at the Delius Festival '97, held at Jacksonville University.

Review by Barb Shearer, VOSA President
Published in Musette January 2001

Tropical Recorder is a terrific book for the Primary and Lower Secondary music teacher. It begins with some excellent suggestions for teaching recorder music to non-reading players - great examples of Orff in practise. The book has 12 recorder pieces, all lovely melodies, with a variety of ordered from simplest to more challenging. Each arrangement has different recorder parts for experience in part playing, with Orff instrumentation on both non-melodic and melodic instruments. The book is organised into 3 books-in-one, which enables any teacher to use this resource in a variety of settings. The first section uses Orff style arrangements for each melody, the second section uses Piano accompaniment for each piece, and both of these include Guitar chords. The third section is a "Student Recorder Book", included for those who teach recorder from notation.

Not only is the publication versatile and useful in a variety of settings, I have also found it flexible enough to be adapted to a variety of levels. Grade 4 thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of Jamaica Money Man, taking some time to master putting all of the parts together, but doing so beautifully eventually. They were so proud of themselves. I also added a simple line for some new Treble and Tenor players who enjoyed this challenge too. I adapted Rainforest Song for my Grade 2 beginners. Using just the A section, I used a Lah Pentatonic melodic accompaniment, which could be played with a Bordun, rather than chordal accompaniment, as this is the stage my 2's are up to. They enjoyed the piece, and we had a lot of fun with it.

I can highly recommend this resource to you, and know that you will find it a bonus to your program. One of the few "Orff recorder" resources around, that is very user friendly, for both the teacher and the student.

 

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