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Recorders 'ditched from school music lessons'

Posted on 2nd July 2009

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Teachers at state and private schools are ditching the recorder from music lessons, according to reports.

Use of the shrill woodwind instrument is in decline in educational establishments, a number of newspapers have relayed.

Daily Mail cited the example of Rood End Primary in the West Midlands, where ukuleles are now the item of choice in music lessons.

The school has ordered a number of the instruments, with many pupils in year five and six picking up the necessary skills.

Headmistress Barbara Carter told the news provider: "The main benefit we're finding is that it's far easier to get a fairly instant, pleasing sound from a ukulele than a recorder, especially when they are playing together in a group."

She added that children could sing along with the stringed instrument, something not possible to do while playing the recorder.

George Formby is probably the person most associated with the ukulele, which looks like a small guitar.

Songs such as When I'm Cleaning Windows saw the comedian shoot to fame in the 1930s.