Teacher will only let DS have a blue recorder.

[AmberForest]

DS has joined the school's recorder club. I payed a small fee (to cover everything) and the teacher gets the recorders, sheet music, etc.

He is the only boy in the club. There are boys in the other clubs (different years)... Anyway, she gave the girls pink recorders and him a blue one. He said he'd like to swap with one of the girls, so they did. He was told that it wasn't allowed, due to all the boys having blue recorders and all the girls having pink (including in the group that plays in assemblies!)

AIBU to think this is ridiculous?

I used to to enjoy recorder lessons. Our teacher never used a piano for accompaniment, he played it himself to model.

He was so uptight though, he really really didn't like any deviation from his lesson plan. He was late to school for our lesson due to bad weather once, and he found the four of us playing Good King Wenceslas in the round and nearly passed out he was so cross.

Is it worth getting worked up about ? It must be exhausting for teachers dealing with the constant complaints about their every action.

Yes, completely ridiculous. Can you glitter it as an act of defiance?

@Northernparent68 - maybe they shouldn't do something so stupid then?

I can only assume that the blue ones are somehow operated by a penis... there's literally no other reason to have a "boys recorder" and a "girls recorder" is there? What absolute fucking nonsense.

Blue and pink recorders just sounds so wrong.

My 64 year old mum bought herself a recorder a few months ago. I almost died laughing. Not seen or heard if it since!

I'd be complaining at that and that they are obviously cheap, shitty recorders. What's wrong with a good old brown and cream one? That way if there are an uneven number of sexes using one, there isn't a big hoo haa about it.

I loved my shiny wooden recorder. Played it well in recorder group at school too.
Get him a nice wood one and tell the teacher blue or pink plastic ones are rubbish and sexist.

That one looks nice, didn't recognise the brand, but Google shows it cost £3.50. Spend £12 and get him a proper brown one. Or get it for yourself so you can practise with him.

www.amazon.co.uk/Aulos-Soprano-Recorder-Descant-Recorder/dp/B00D7JBSXO?tag=mumsnetforum-21

I actually though it was going to be a Yamaha, they make pink and blue ones for about £10, but they are see-through, so you can see all the spit accumulating inside.

Where the hell do you get pink and blue recorders? Thought they were all brown.

I wonder whether I could still play 'Go tell Aunt Nancy'? That was a classic.

One of the saddest things that i saw during my dc's early years was a young, wiggly boy who dropped his recorder during the first song. Nobody helped him, (i told the headmaster!)so he simply stood on stage for the entire concert. Not playing.

Off topic, but I'm still saddened by the incident.

Can you buy him one for home? I did for mine.

Recorders are great pre- instruments to learn to read music.

Buy him a pink one, jazz it up with diamantés & stuff it full of glitter so as he plays her carpet is covered! Mwah ha ha ha ha ha!

I can still play Van der Valk's Eye Level on the recorder ( a wooden look one)!

Omg flashbacks! I can play it on the guitar too.

Recorders should be classic black and cream. It should be banned to colour code any musical instruments by the players genitals.

"I have a recorder and a penny whistle and a fife."

I have a translucent blue treble recorder, a matt black treble recorder, a brown and cream Dolmetsch treble recorder somewhere in the attic, a blue descant recorder, one entire pink descant recorder, and one disassembled pink descant recorder in various locations around the house. And I have a fife on order.

Not a stealth boast, either.

a brown and cream Dolmetsch treble recorder

Wow I am genuinely impressed with that.

I have a treble, descent and soprano but they are all Aulos, which I assume is the brand most people on here are talking about when they refer to the horrible brown colour. They are actually not a bad recorder for schools.

I have the old Tenor recorder I played in primary school in my wardrobe , I have no idea how I played it , it's enormous as recorders go . This thread reminded me of the pink and blue toys they gave out at the medal ceremony for the World diving championships in Hungary this year , unbelievable in this age .

I'd be even more impressed with it if I could find it! I think it must be in the loft, as I can't find it anywhere in the house. Still in its green and black cardboard box. It was always Dolmetsch recorders when I was at school.

I did try an Aulos treble but couldn't get on with it. I'm trying to learn on the matt black Ferris one. I get so much condensation that it drips through the holes and makes my fingers slip, especially the left ring finger, so my Cs are frequently awry. I can play Pant Corlan Yr Wyn and Theme by Haydn, among other tunes 🎵, though, so onwards and upwards.

I'm not a recorder colour snob. I play our wee blue descant along with DD3 playing the pink one, as she's trying to learn with a book. It plays perfectly sweetly and melodically. It's just down to how it's played. I'm always reminding DD3 to blow gently and steadily - she's not calling a dog.

Check out Flautando Koln to hear how recorders can sound when played by pros.

"Descant and soprano"

They're the same? Do you mean a sopranino, the size smaller than soprano/descant?

"I have the old Tenor recorder"

Ooh, I'd love to try a tenor, but I guess I should master the treble first. Is yours a knick?

I was hoping I'd find my old tenor recorder in the loft but it wasn't there. Much easier to play if you've learnt the descant as the fingerings are almost identical.

bullshit gender stereotyping and doubly bad for occurring in the school environment. Definitely complain.