[Music]Vicki Boeckman: Hi! I am Vicki Boeckman with the American Recorder Society. In this series, I am helping you learn how to play simple songs on the recorder. So today, we are going to learn the low C and F and we will play the song, Joe Magarac. So the soprano is a C instrument, its lowest note is C and you will need to cover all of the holes. Okay, sometimes it's easier to come at it from the notes that you have already learned. So start on the E and then keep blowing gently adding fingers until you get down to the low C, okay. [Music]So what I often say to my students is the lower you go, the softer you blow. So we are going to need a very low breath pressure, you want to make your lips very soft and round, round the mouth piece loosely, but not so loosely as that we leak air out of the sides. Let's try that low C again, coming at it from the E and the D above. Imagine that there are little suction cups underneath your fingers. So I want to short of squeeze gently, but not hard enough to turn your fingers white. [Music]From the low C directly to the F, all we have to do is raise the middle finger on our right hand. So that's a really easy transition from C to F. [Music]Try that a few times. If that low C doesn't speak or if it kind of squeaks like this, then it probably means that you are either blowing too loudly or one of your fingers isn't covering completely. Let's try playing F with the neighboring notes. So between F and E, we'll take quite a bit of movement, kind of anchor your index finger, so that the other fingers are free to move. So try playing between F and E. [Music]And then let's try playing from F to A. So now we are going to anchor these two fingers and allow the other fingers to move freely from F to A. [Music]Okay and now from A to C is very simple; we just raise our index finger. [Music]So Joe Magarac starts with a pickup note and it's in 2/4. [Music]And directly from the C to the F, remember you just have to raise this middle finger. [Music]Then that pickup continues throughout the song. [Music]So now you have learned Joe Magarac in 2/4 with a pickup. And after having learned all of these notes, there are literally hundreds of songs that you can play. If you are interested in learning more, check out the American Recorder Society's website. It's full of useful information and you can meet new recorder playing friends, find out about the local chapters in your area and all kinds of other useful information; concerts, workshops, recorder-related events. March is Play the Recorder Month at American Recorder Society. So gather all your friends and join us.