Print Copies (in North America) - use this order form

• Student Book 1
• Student Book 2
• Teacher Guide

Print copies are also available on Amazon (world wide).

• Get Your   Student Book 1    Student Book 2    Teacher Guide

Go to Donna's Amazon Author Page to see more of Donna's books.

MP3 accompaniment tracks are central to the delivery of the Royal Recorders program.

- Accompaniments (in a variety of styles) add excitement to the foundational, simple 2-note songs. See student recorder playing videos below.

- Accompaniments provide support for more difficult songs

- Each song has two accompaniment tracks; a slower practice speed track and a faster speed accompaniment track for performances.

- Get the accompaniment tracks above in the Royal Recorders Product Options. Look for options 4, 5 or 6.

Tutorial Videos

Enjoy 63 tutorial videos that have been created to support each song in the Royal Recorders teaching method. These videos may be used for student support in a variety of teaching settings (homeschool, elementary music class, private studio, etc.). These videos are posted on an unlisted YouTube playlist with purchasers having access via the private link provided.

Choose option "9. Tutorial Videos" from the Royal Recorders Product Options above to access all 63 Royal Recorders Tutorial Videos.

Student Incentives

Use these student incentives (Class Castles and Knight Certificates) to motivate and support students as they work toward achieving their Royal Recorders playing goals.

Choose option "10. Student Incentives" from the Royal Recorders Product Options above to access all student incentives information.

Royal recorders

For a long time, I taught recorder by rote. My students learned the mechanics of how to play and letter names were used to “notate” simple quarter and half note songs. Students were excited to be able to play songs but they were really learning to do so by rote or by ear. I was job sharing with a teacher who discovered Recorder Karate. The students learned simple songs and for each song they were able to play, they were rewarded with karate belts. They were very proud to have a variety of coloured tassles hanging from their recorders.

This program inspired me to create my own songs and a more comprehensive, foundational series of songs to develop both note reading and mechanical facility with the recorder. Living in Kings county, Nova Scotia made it a natural fit to move into the world of castles and knights. Students were given song challenges with the immediate reward of adding their name to a class castle each time they had mastered a song. Three songs resulted in receiving the designation of a knight, with different colours for each level. They received a certificate and a flag (tassle) for their recorder. With three songs for every level, now the students learned more songs with each new note and their skill level deepened and became much more internalized.

Students were excited to see all the names that were being added to the class castles. In order to achieve the right to add their names, testing of songs was required. Students knew that they really had to play the song correctly in order to pass the song challenge. Students started asking peers for help outside of class time. Outside on the playground, the sound of recorders could be heard at every recess and noontime break. Students were asking their friends to help them learn songs they had heard in higher levels, but that we had not started in class. Clandestine peer-to-peer teaching was taking place and the students thought they were getting away with something. I was delighted. They were taking charge of their own learning and they wanted MORE songs!

I usually begin recorders in grade 4 and finish with them in grade 5. My students were excited about the songs they were playing and when they learned all the songs I thought we could cover in two years, they were still asking for more. I think I expanded the number of knight levels and the difficulty of the pieces three times before I arrived at the final iteration of Royal Recorders as it is today. When I had grade 6 students added to my teaching responsibilities the students were delighted to have the opportunity to play recorders for another year. We played duets, we added alto recorders, we had students learn O Canada in a three part arrangement and they were invited to play for the annual teacher’s retirement banquet. That was a real honour, and even more amazing since most people think recorders are only good for playing Hot Cross Buns and that they sound terrible. My group of top grade 6s did an amazing job and the audience was blown away. What a great success story!

There are many, many recorder stories I could tell, but I will close with two more. Firstly, My students loved playing with the accompaniment tracks. They make even simple two-note songs sound great and it is motivating to play when it sounds good. I knew this was going to be a hit when we played the song “He B G Bees” and as the final notes of the accompaniment faded away, a student asked, “Can we play it again?” Now THAT is music to the music teacher’s ear!

As the program developed and more and more students wanted to play song challenge tests, it became clear that I couldn’t keep up with testing individual students at recess and noon. There were just too many kids ready and anxious to play and not enough time to hear them all. We came up with the plan that students could submit a playing test via video. The beauty of this system was that I could listen to playing tests at home (with my feet up and sitting by the fire), I could listen to a test more than once if needed, I had time to give productive feedback, and students were taking time at home to prepare their video tests. Their families heard them practicing and helped with the videos and therefore became involved in the music development of the students. Siblings, parents and grandparents were pressed into service as camera assistants and they also weighed in on whether or not they thought the song was ready to present. I know that students did many video takes before settling on the one they would submit (that is called practicing!) and they were very proud to submit their videos. One day I got an email from a mom who was anxiously awaiting the results from a playing test that had been submitted. She emailed me to ask about the results of the song challenge. She just couldn’t wait until the end of the school day to hear if “they” had passed. When kids are supported at home and they know that what they are doing has worth, it is truly inspiring to see what can be accomplished.

I love teaching recorder. I love seeing the kids being excited when they can play fast songs, beautiful songs, tricky songs and to play them well. I love seeing them so motivated to play and learn and to add to their knowledge. What a great gift that is. They make my castle an exciting place to be!

Note-naming Worksheets (challenges) are designed as a 1-2 minute speed activity for the beginning or end of music class. The challenge of beating your own best score keeps things fun (sort of!) and the briefness of the activity keeps students from feeling frustrated when they are impatient to get to the recorder playing part of music class. Note-naming challenges are included in Student Book 1 and Student Book 2. Encourage students to do their challenges at home for even quicker improvement. Extra printable note-naming worksheets / challenges (student practice pages) are available here.

Fingering charts are included in Student Book 1 and 2 as well as the Teacher Guide. However, sometimes an extra copy comes in handy. Check out the free downloadable fingering chart here.

There is also information to help teachers and students determine if they are using an English/Baroque recorder or a German recorder. This information is important because the high and low F and F# fingerings are played differently on each of these recorders. 

Find information about English/Baroque recorder or German recorders here.

There are two types of recorders:  English/Baroque or German. The hole sizes vary between these two recorder types and that affects which fingerings are used for certain notes (specifically F and F#).

For information about how to identify which recorder you are using, go here.

Information about ordering recorders, what brand to choose, and how to care for your recorder is available as a PDF download here.

Check out some of the Royal Recorders Knights / student recorder playing performances below.

When you have enjoyed seeing the videos and learning about the Royal Recorders Program - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Please send us your performance videos - we might be able to post them on this page!

New Singing Games for Young Singers Vol. 1 Grades K-1, ages 5-7

Print copies are available on Amazon.

Go to Donna's Amazon Author Page to purchase your print copy.

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New Singing Games for Young Singers

My music classroom has been singing based from day one. Everything we did hinged on singing, and the best way to get kids to sing is to make it a game. Singing games were part of my music education courses and my approach was influenced by my training in the Kodaly teaching method, also founded on the use of singing games to teach concepts to children.

Over the years I have had certain singing games that I enjoyed sharing with my students. I knew they liked those particular games, it was exciting to play them, and they were motivated to participate. As time and political correctness became an issue in our classrooms, some of the singing games from decades (centuries?) ago began to come into question. Old singing games that were based on less than favourable past-times and ways of doing things began to be considered inappropriate and needed to be removed. Song context aside, the games that went with some of those songs were favourites of my students (and of mine as well) so I set about to create new songs that would fit the games that went with the old songs. I had collected quite a few singing games by the time I was chatting with Nikki Loney (Full Voice Music) about doing a question and answer online session with teachers about singing games. With my collection already started (sort of) it seemed like an opportune time to put together an official version of these songs.

What started out as a single collection across grade levels (K-5) started to get too large and unwieldy for a single book. We decided to split the book into K-2 and 3-5. Then THAT got too big so we revised and split the book into 3 volumes. Now there were not quite enough songs to make a reasonable sized book (in my estimation) so in addition to the songs I already had, I designed some new ones. Trying to figure out games that would work for each of the songs had us galloping, passing sticks to the beat, counting bars to match dance steps and having lots of fun! I also needed to think outside of my elementary classroom focus and create adaptations for singing games that could be used by private vocal teachers with small groups or just one student. That was a fun challenge!

I ended up writing six new songs in a week to insert into various age groupings. I was reminded of my days in the classroom when I needed songs for specific events and I ended up writing them. It was an intense, productive two weeks and I was exhausted but creatively energized by the whole process.

When you have enjoyed doing these singing games with your students - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Please send us your performance videos - we might be able to post them on this page!