Depending on your view, the recorder is an instrument of “incredible versatility” or a tool of torture that has terrorised primary schools for too many generations.
But now, warn its champions, the Marmite of the woodwind world faces extinction, with one of the UK’s top music schools reporting an 80% decline in the number of young people playing the recorder in 10 years.
So imperilled is the instrument’s future that the European Recorder Teachers Association is trying to spearhead its renaissance so it does not go the way of the lute. The ERTA argues that if the recorder was good enough for the Beatles, it has a place in contemporary music today.
Tom Redmond, the joint principal of Chetham’s school of music in Manchester, said only three of its pupils practised the recorder, compared with 15 a decade ago.
He blamed the pandemic for the decrease in the number of children taking up the recorder and other wind instruments in schools.
“Covid had a significant part in its decline,” Redmond said. “The idea of playing an instrument where you were projecting aerosols was frowned upon.”
He added: “We did see a shortage of some instruments where maybe children were on the cusp of something and then Covid happened, and they didn’t join ensembles and they couldn’t progress.”
More pupils were taking up the piano or other solitary instruments, said Redmond. “The ones which have really flourished are the ones spent more time alone playing. Whereas the instruments that are more socially or orchestral based there has been a decline.
“It’s one of the most accessible instruments, and the recorder is such a beautiful and refined instrument and there’s life way beyond the few lessons in primary schools.”
Redmond also said that this problem extended “beyond the recorder itself” and was a reflection of the future of music. “Like removing any plant or animal from an ecosystem, removing the recorder has a huge ripple effect beyond just the instrument. You need these instruments to create the inspiration for music, and without that, there is less excitement for it and to learn music,” he said.
Chris Orton, a recorder tutor and chair of the ERTA, is leading the fight against the instrument’s extinction.
He said: “The recorder is increasingly overlooked by students, and yet it has a rich history and incredible versatility. As well as making beautiful sounds, it’s an accessible instrument in that it is low-cost, in comparison to other woodwind instruments, and it’s light and easy to carry.
“Not confined to the classical genre, bands like Led Zeppelin and the Beatles have used the recorder in their songs. More recently, talented musicians like Tali Rubinstein are championing it and the National Youth Recorder Orchestra is an excellent ensemble of young recorder players.”
However, Anna Williams, one of the three students practising the instrument at Chetham’s, will be the first recorder soloist to perform with the Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra (CSO) in the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in July.
Redmond said Williams, 18, could act as a “role model”, and show others that there was “value in taking up and playing this instrument”.
Williams said: “I can’t wait to perform with the Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra this summer and show people why I love the recorder.”
She will perform Richard Harvey’s Concerto Incanto. “It’s encouraging that although the number of professional recorder players is dropping, new works are still being commissioned by celebrated contemporary composers,” Williams said.
Redmond is a fan. “Anna has been with us for 10 years, and when she plays it it’s an extension of her voice, it’s beautiful to listen to. Her performance was to the most extraordinary level, and it was compelling like watching the theatre,” he said.
“We’ve never had a recorder soloist in this way before. She’s going to be a role model to people and might inspire them to take up the instrument, which in itself is great.”
The CSO concert will feature numerous Chetham’s students, and for many of them, it will represent the end of their current musical studies before moving on to conservatoires and universities.
