My finger puppets have been working hard.
I was able to teach a class of thirty year 3 children how to play the note “C” in just a few minutes. This was in the seventh of a series of ten lessons, and they had already learned B, A and G, thanks to the “Recorder Magic” interactive video:
My next step was to place a finger puppet on the first finger of my left hand, form the letter A on my recorder (two fingers and a thumb) and then make my finger puppet go up and down, explaining that when it was up, I was making a C, and when it was down, I made the A. With a bit of care, I could actually play the two notes with the finger puppet in place.
Now, I selected two of the children who I knew would be able to succeed. I stood them up before the class, handed them each a finger puppet, and got them to follow my example. They chose another two children to have a go, and then I handed out the rest of the finger puppets (ten in the pack!) Very soon, everyone had had a go, carefully watched by their “recorder buddies” to make sure that they had put their puppet on the correct finger.
Job done!