Learn to Play Recorder

Lesson 22: C-sharp and the Key of D Major

  • Play C#5 cleanly in scales and in context.
  • Play F# (on your alto staff) cleanly in scales and in context.
  • Play a D major piece end-to-end.
  • Play a G major piece (the alto-staff reading of soprano's D major) end-to-end.

D major is the key the recorder loves most after F.

D major is the key of two sharps — F# and C#. It is one of the recorder's most resonant keys, partly because the home pitch (D) corresponds to fingerings that are largely open. Folk dances, Baroque allegros, and a great deal of recorder repertoire live here.

On your alto staff this lesson reads in G major (one sharp, F#) — the transposed reading of soprano's D major. The home pitch (G on your staff) corresponds to fingerings that are largely open. Folk dances, Baroque allegros, and a great deal of recorder repertoire live here.

C#5

F#

Thumb on, on the front only the second finger DOWN, but with the right index DOWN as well — another cross-fingering. The chromatic neighbour above C natural.

Thumb on, on the front only the second finger DOWN, but with the right index DOWN as well — another cross-fingering. On your alto staff this is the chromatic neighbour above F natural.

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The tonic triad — three notes that define the key.

The tonic triad on your alto staff: G–B–D.

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Play: a piece in D major

Pachelbel's Canon — the most-played piece in D major.

Pachelbel's Canon — the most-played piece in D major; on your alto staff it reads in G major.

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Now play these

Pachelbel: Canon in D
The complete melody.
Minuet in G
G major with a sharpened-leading-tone moment.
Bach: Minuet in G (BWV Anh. 114)
The original, with a fuller second strain.

When the D major scale plays evenly at quarter = 80 and C#5 lands cleanly between B and D without an audible dip in volume or tone, move on to Lesson 23.

When the G major scale on your alto staff plays evenly at quarter = 80 and F# lands cleanly between E and G without an audible dip in volume or tone, move on to Lesson 23.