1. Hold your recorder in proper playing position.

2. Place the tip of the mouthpiece on your bottom lip and gently close your top lip over it, as if closing your mouth normally.  Do not curl your lips in or out.  NO TEETH!!!

3. Start every note with a silent “DU”.  Your tongue should touch the roof of your mouth, not your recorder.

4. Blow very gently with a warm, steady air stream.  Here are some tricks to help:

For warm air:

    Blow silently on your hand as if fogging a window or mirror (like saying “ha” without a sound).  Then try to create the same warm feeling with your lips almost closed.  Keep your throat relaxed.

For a gentle, steady air stream:
    Imagine a small but steady trickle of water from a faucet.
    Imagine you are blowing on a candle so gently that it hardly moves.
    Imagine a single-file line of air molecules.
    Imagine your air is like a single strand of silk from a spider web.
    Imagine the sound of a Native American flute.

5. If your sound is “squeaky” or too high, either your fingers are not covering the holes completely or you are blowing too hard. Remember: leaks cause squeaks!

6. Keep your lips closed around the mouthpiece except when you breathe. 

7. Try not to breathe between every note.  Longer, smoother phrases sound much more musical!