What’s in a name?

In contemporary music where much of what we play is tuned in “equal temperament,” we often “translate” sharps into flats, or vice versa. Thus, when the music I am playing calls for a C flat, I might write above it the notation for B natural, a much more familiar note. That could be helpful. (In case you were wondering, musicologists call this “enharmonic equivalence.” Tuck that away to bring out at your next gathering of musician friends.) However, if every time I encounter a C flat, I have to stop and translate, a halting musical conversation is the inevitable result. If I can manage to gain facility in seeing that C flat and knowing how to finger it easily, then the conversation is likely to flow more naturally and smoothly.

What’s the answer to this challenge? As with most things musical, it’s practice. There are no easy shortcuts. But neither must it be boring or exasperating.

First, I am challenging myself to learn the true vocabulary of sharps and flats without having to translate. By starting in the key of C Major and playing a chromatic scale, any intermediate player can get comfortable with the fingerings for each half step. We run into difficulty when we have to play those half steps as they are variously written in the key signatures of the sheet music we are decoding. 

Back to basics

Next, I am living into this challenge by devoting some practice time to it, one scale at a time. To gain facility at reading music with lots of sharps and flats (and sight-reading it), I have found it helpful to practice writing out the various scales on staff paper, and then playing from that. So, for my “Clear Blue Morning” piece, I would write out the B Major scale:

Etudes and other compositions

Whether you practice every day or once a week, these kinds of brain-to-ear-to fingers-and-back exercises can help any recorder player gain facility, especially if you pair them with pieces you are currently working on. There are several exercise books that deal with gaining facility with sharps and flats, including Monkemeyer (look for “Monkemeyer: advanced School of Recorder Playing, Vol. 2”) and Hans-Martin Linde (look for Linde’s “Quartett-Übung fur Blockflöten). If you have a music teacher available, or an ARS chapter with a music director, ask them for suggestions on this. 

Modern composers who write music with less adherence to traditional key signatures can also be a great source of music containing interesting combinations of flats and sharps. The German composer Hans Ulrich Staeps is well known for his tonally unconventional pieces, such as those found in his “Reihe Kleiner Duette” (Series of Small Duets), available from several ARS business members. In fact, Staeps also has written an etude book called, “Note Patterns for Alto Recorder,” which explores this recorder’s full chromatic range. These books are available at many of the music shops, include ones listed on our Business Members page.

Another piece, which Mark Davenport introduced in our summer workshop was “Holiday Medley: Roasting Some Old Chestnuts in New Fires.” Written by LaNoue Davenport (Mark’s father and well-known for his early contributions to recorder music in the US), it is a light-hearted medley of well known Christmas Carols with plenty of chromatic wanderings. Available from Landmark Press in Boulder, CO. 

Eric Haas, ARS Board member and manager of the Early Music Shop of New England, suggests the following additional resources:

• “Duschenes: Studies in Recorder Playing, Alto”
• “Heyens & Bowman: Advanced Recorder Technique, vol. 1”
• “Staeps, HU: [32 Duets] Zu zweien durch den Tonkreis” 

Fortunately for all of us, the recorder music we encounter is usually written in friendly keys like C Major (no sharps or flats), A Minor (no sharps or flats) or F Major (one flat). But welcoming less friendly key signatures into our repertoire can improve our playing, sharpen our sight-reading, and open up new melodic conversations.