I know Thomas Tallis' Canon was one of the pieces we learned at school for our recorders. 1650 or thereabouts I think. Probably find it on the web somewhere.

Super! I play the tin whistle and also recorder. I find the D whistle easier for Celtic music, but of course they are translatable to recorder. I get sloppy, however, when I do that....wanting to tongue the recorder and cheat on the fingering style. Do you also play the whistle? There are an abundance of moderately priced sheet music books on using the recorder for Celtic music on the Inet. Several really enjoyable songs come to mind you might like. One is Tommy Blaney's Waltz. Don't even think of limiting yourself to Baroque. You can get away with jigs and hornpipes on the recorder as well. King of the Faeries is awsome on the recorder (Prince of Orange).

Suzy, is there anything you CAN"T do?
Lord 'a mercy woman I already was in awe of your accomplishments then here comes something else.
You keep this up and we're gonna start calling you
Super Woman.

Sorry Quirkpod, the only thing I ever played was
( Froggie went a courting ) on a comb back in grade school.

Not a big thing, Janis. I love music, and have always had it around me. Learning to read and play it came later in life. It was on my list of things I wanted to do, so about seven or eight years ago I just bought an instrument I thought I'd enjoy and did it. I am not a gifted musician, and it doesn't come easily to me but brings a lot of enjoyment.

My days are busy and work oriented, so I am very careful to make blocks of time here and there to learn something new or do a project on my "life list". Last month was the quilt and so far this month, I've been crafting wreaths out of the bounty of autumn. I have a lot of walls but need to stop that before it gets ridiculous. LOL.

There are a gazillion recorder books on the market. When I used to sell them there were only a few so you are in luck. You can play just about anything you want to on your instrument,from the Beatles to Celtic as Suzy suggests. Here is just one of many lists of books which have songs you can play..depending on whether you have an alto or soprano recorder.

Here is a link that might be useful: Recorder Song books

One tune that sounds especially good on a recorder is "The Ash Grove."

Here is a link that might be useful: The Ash Grove

Neil: I tried I but cannot reach any of those high notes in your song The Ash Grove, as most of them arent possible on my recorder. Does that mean I have an alto recorder? I dont know what I've got.

Most Irish songs are written in the keys of G or D. One plays them on whistles designed to play in those keys or one fudges. Recorders also have a limited range. I think for D and G songs, an alto recorder works best. You can start the tune on a different key and "find" the rest of the melody from there, thereby changing the sharps.......or modify the song to work around it, or buy another instrument with a different range, or try a different song. ;-). Fippled instruments do not have the unlimited range of something like a stringed instrument or keyboard. But when you work with folk music, that's not usually an issue. You are free to interpret the notes to what will work for you. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is, actually.

Quirkpod --

Check out the fingering chart on the linked page and also the sheet music page.

I remember playing "The Ash Grove" on an alto recorder, although perhaps not in the key of C. As Calliope suggests, you can move it to another key to fit the range of your instrument.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alto Recorder Page

I think "Danny Boy" would be nice. I think it is originally Londonderry Aire.