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Instrument of Torture or Instrument of Music?

by Nicholas S. Lander

The Recorder in Education

The focus here is on institutions and organisations which provide recorder tuition at tertiary level. Inevitably, a list of this kind will contain outdated information and other errors. I would be most grateful for corrections and additions you may think necessary.

Online Argentina Australia
In Australia students of the recorder can sit for the series of graded examinations offered by the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB), by Australian and New Zealand Cultural Arts Ltd (ANZCA), and byTrinity College London (TCL) leading variously to Licentiate, Associate and Fellowship qualifications as for any other serious musical instrument. State and National Eisteddfods, the ABC's annual Concerto & Vocal Competition and other music contests provide ample scope for competitively-minded players. The recorder is accepted as an instrument study at a number of Conservatoriums, Colleges and Universities. And there are a number of private teachers in all major cities and some country centres.
Austria Belgium Brasil Canada Europe
In Europe there is a very wide range of annual workshops and residential schools at which informal tuition on the recorder is available. For details of some of these see Recorder Competitions, Festivals, Workshops.
Denmark Finland France
The following information concerning the recorder in France has been generously provided by Michel Quagliozzi.

Detailed and up to date information can be found at Recorder Teaching in France maintained by Jean-Luc Manguin

In France, music schools are classified in an hierarchic system. Thus schools fall into the following categories:

Recorder is taught in most of these schools by more or less capable people, sometimes by players of modern instruments, sometimes by specialists who have made a serious study of the recorder.

At the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMP) the recorder is not yet taught, although an early music section exists in which instruction on other early instruments and performance practice is available. In the Lyon Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique, recorder is taught part-time by Pierre Hamon.

At the Conservatoire National de Région of Paris recorder is taught by Arianne Maurette, a violist pupil of Saval and Garido), and at some Conservatoires Municipaux de la Ville de Paris recorder is taught by several people including Laurence Pottier in the 9th arrondissement (district), Sébastien Marq & Pierre Hamon in the 7th, Marcello Milchberg (a pupil of Marion Verbrüggen), in the 20th, Michelle Tellier and Françoise Defours in the 6th, and so on.

In most of the bigger towns there exists an ENM or CNR with recorder courses, amongst which are:

In the Paris region are:
Good teachers and players can be found In many city schools (Conservatoire Municipaux):
Conservatoires populaire de musique, offer recorder tuition in many cities throughout France
Germany
And one can learn privately from teachers such as:
These and other teachers give courses on weekends or in holidays, including Marion Verbruggen, Saskia Coolen, Gabriel Garrido, & members of the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet (Netherlands), Matthias Weilenman (Switzerland), Gabriel Garrido and Pedro Memelsdorf (Italy).
 Great Britain
Examinations boards supervising syllabuses for recorder include:
The recorder can be studied formally at many Colleges and Universities, including:
A comprehensive listing of universities in the UK at which the recorder can be studied together with course & contact details has been presented by O'Sullivan (1991 et suiv.); Usher (1993) & Renshaw (1996) provide more recent listings, but with contact details only.

The recorder can also be studied privately at

Hong Kong, China Israel Ireland Italy
In Italy the recorder is the subject of a demanding 7-year program taught at National Conservatories. Details can be provided by David Bellugi.
Japan
The following information has been provided by Minoro Yoshizawa.
Lebanon Mexico
Jose Galante reports that the recorder can be studied at the following tertiary institutions: The recorder is taught in almost every elementary and high school and a number of private schools.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands the recorder is taught very widely. A directory of Dutch conservatories with comments on their recorder teachers and teaching was compiled by Michon (1982).

The conservatorium system is such that a Bachelor's degree, a four-year diploma specific to a particular instrument and not a general classroom teaching qualification, is the basic course of study. Upon completion of this diploma, selected students are allowed to undertake a Master's degree, a diploma which generally takes one more year.
New Zealand Norway Portugal

Music Schools in Portugal, comprehensive index with contact details.

Russia South Africa Spain
The following information concerning the recorder in Spain has been generously provided by Bárbara Sela and Guillermo Peñalver. In Spain the recorder is widely taught at both elementary and tertiary levels.
Sweden Switzerland USA

In the USA students of the recorder can undertake a comprehensive series of graded examinations offered by the American Recorder Society Education Program. In addition, the recorder and other early instruments are taught in an extensive series of workshops and residential schools hosted by colleges and universities across the country. At many of these workshop, classes at various ARS Education Program levels are available.

A directory of recorder teachers from throughout America and Canada with contact details can be downloaded from the American Recoder Society.

The Music School Address Book (University of Alabama), lists more than 900 music schools in the United States. The recorder is offered as an instrument of study at many US music schools, colleges and universities including the following.

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