From Plank Road Publishing

A Highly Motivational Method For Young Players

Recorder Karate 1

If you're looking for a classroom-tested, carefully planned recorder method, look no further. Or if you already have a favorite method and would like to add special magic and amazing motivation for your students, this unique kit is the answer. It has everything you will need to get started with young recorder players.

At the heart of this method is a positive reward system in which students receive colored "karate belts" (see page 14) to hang from their recorders for each progressively more difficult tune. Stories from hundreds of teachers rave about the success it has created with all types of students. The Teacher's Handbook walks you through the entire teaching process in a logical, easy-to-understand narrative, and it provides an array of teaching tools designed to make beginning recorder study a joy for teachers and students alike. And since this Kit comes with the rights to reproduce, your students don't have to buy books of their own. However, Student Books are available to save you the time and effort of photocopying. Included in this Kit are:

• A detailed description of how Recorder Karate works, complete with instructions for teaching the basics of playing the recorder, working in groups, and testing.
• Dozens of helpful tips for handling day-to-day issues, including instrument care, noise control, and classroom management techniques.
• Reproducible settings of nine familiar songs, arranged progressively for the nine levels, most with new concepts and notes to study.
• A Performance/Accompaniment CD (or MP3s) featuring simple recordings of all songs. As a bonus, it also features elaborately orchestrated settings of some tunes for special performances.
• Handy reproducibles including a fingering chart and worksheets on the history of the recorder, how to hold it, how to play it, and how to care for it. Also included are certificates, a sample letter for parents, and plenty of recorder and "karate" clip art.
• Aside from the basics of playing needed for the students, it also includes a helpful, more in-depth tutorial for teachers on "How To Play The Recorder."

Add new life to your beginning recorder classes with Recorder Karate, a great stand-alone method or a fun supplement to any current method you are using.

Recorder Karate 2

The Music - This new volume has lots more music, sequenced by difficulty and designed to be played in a belt-testing environment. The selections are divided into several logical sections. Here are the basics with information on some of the music included:

• Review/Sequencing - Addressing the teaching sequence in the first volume of Recorder Karate and providing options for tune substitution in both volumes, this section includes: Doggie Doggie, Four In A Boat, Arirang, Red River Valley, and The Water Is Wide.
• Black Belt Degrees - Nine new arrangements, carefully sequenced with gradually more difficult technical challenges, including: The Wedding March (Wagner), Old Joe Clark, On Top of Old Smoky, Can Can, America (My Country 'Tis Of Thee), Polly Wolly Doodle, I've Been Working On The Railroad, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
• Advanced Music Beyond The Nine Black Belts - To provide substitution options and additional levels for more advanced players, including: Buffalo Gals, Aura Lee, Home On The Range, Rocky Mountain, Renaissance Dance (Susato), Largo from New World Symphony, and Take Me Out To The Ball Game.
• Seasonal Music - New arrangements for holiday performance within the method style, all arranged with testing lengths, including: Jingle Bells, We Three Kings, and Shalom Chaverim (which also includes a round version).
• Concert Selections - As with the first volume of Recorder Karate, longer concert settings of some songs within the method, including an optional duet setting of The Water Is Wide, and a theme and variations on Four In A Boat.

The music is all fully orchestrated, and includes folk songs, classical works, old favorites, and tunes from around the world.

- A Teacher's Handbook Full of Goodies - The Teacher's Handbook brings together all of the creative teaching ideas that Barb has developed over the years using Recorder Karate in her classroom and in workshops with other teachers. Among the many things covered in the text of this indispensable book are sections, often with worksheets, on:

• Common Problems and How To Fix Them
• Classroom Management/Testing Survival
• Using Recorder Karate with the National Standards
• Working With Special Needs Students
• Anchor Sheets and Exit Slips (with downloadable examples)
• Dojo Groups

- MIDI files and More Extras - One of several exclusive extras bundled with this product are MIDI files for each tune so that you can use the music at any tempo you like. Also included are reproducible/projectable charts and worksheets including:

• How to practice and Weekly Recorder Practice sheets
• Rubric for testing; Rubric for video testing
• Quizzes on counting and fingering
• Worksheets on things like F vs. F#, high C vs. low C, and other similar challenges

In addition, your students to practice with the tracks at RecorderDojo.com

About the Downloadable OptionThe downloadable version contains all the components the print version would, but in electronic format.

About the Convenience Combo Kit The Convenience Combo Kit includes both the Kit with CD and the Downloadable Kit.

About the Audio RecordingsAudio recordings contain full performance and accompaniment only (instrumental) tracks.