Recorder Master

This review is for Recorder Master

Kid/Student Ratings: **** 5/5

Teacher/Parent Ratings: **** 5/5

FREE

Educational Value: Superior

Price: $FREE

Age Recommended: 4-12 yrs.

Skills Developed: How to play the recorder instrument including: ear training, fingering, breath control, timing, concentration.

App Tested on iPad

Good Stuff about this app: I have been bursting at the seams with excitement over this app. I couldn’t wait to share it with my readers. Before I go any further let me just let you know that I don’t think any more fun can be had learning to play the recorder.

I used 5 different kids to test this one and they all begged to not have to stop playing the game. Ha, they didn’t even realize the great skills they were learning!

In order to “scare” the birds away, players have to use sound from their instrument as the joystick (brilliant!).

This app makes sure you play with a steady tone that is pretty in-tune as well. There are several different games within the app that hone skills of breath control, fingering(BAGCD), higher-lower tones, timing, concentration, , and how to dig in and try it again when you don’t get it quite right. It IS worth it to get to the next level.



The birds (fish in level 2) fly across the screen and you get to blow the correct note when they reach the target. This allows you to gather golden notes. You have to gather quite a lot of these golden notes to raise your score.

In one of the games, you have to use your notes to “fly” an airplane up or down to gather the golden notes in the sky. If you happen to hit any bushes or tree stumps some of your notes fly out of your plane and your score goes down. It’s really pretty darn fun!

Our Wish List: There are many times when the little blinking words say to play a long note to continue and it just doesn’t seem to hear you. I tested and tested to figure out if it was a pitch issue, but didn’t really come to a conclusion. You just have to blow and blow sometimes before it hears you.

On game 1 with birds flying towards targets, I feel there is not a very apparent beat to help you know when to blow. As a music teacher, I would like it if there were some way of teaching that the birds actually hit the target on the beat. That way there would be less “guessing” of when the birds will arrive at the target and more paying attention to the beat of the accompaniment being heard.

My Love: I LOVE that within just moments after opening this app you are able to play whole entire songs even if you are only using one or two notes. The notes change with the chord changes. That feels good to my ear. Thanks to the creative musician who came up with these wonderful tunes!

Summary: All-in-all we noticed this app was one that the learners kept begging to come back to. So,… we awarded it our very prestigious award of FAVORITE APP. Yeah! These developers were right on the money when they came up with this idea. I doubt learning the recorder has ever been more fun! We start on just one single note, but by the end of the app (yes, I played all the way to the end) we know how to play tunes like “Ode to Joy”. It’s just GREAT!

Podcast Interview with Developer: Check out my interview with this cool Recorder Master app developer from Israel. So far away from my home and he still managed to entertain me and my students for days! See Podcast #3.

Purchase RecorderMaster on iTunes for iPad only for: $FREE

Have you already downloaded and played this app? Leave us a comment and let us know what you thought. -