Selections from Harry Potter for Recorder Paperback – June 1, 2007

I've been playing the recorder for 20 years and recently got a tenor recorder. I needed to begin stretching my fingers to reach the lower notes, so I wanted to get a song book that was very simple with songs I was acquainted with but that weren't boring, and since I'm a big Harry Potter fan, this seemed perfect.Seeing some mixed reviews on the difficulty of the songs, I can say that for me, it was very easy. It's labelled in the corner as "Easy Recorder Songbook," and in those terms I believe there was a mix of difficulties. Some have no flats or sharps, some have only one, some have two, and some have three, but no more than that. Compared to other music books (like Les Mis music, for example), it wasn't very difficult. For someone relatively new to the recorder, it may take some time to play the half covered notes with ease and to recognize how to read which notes are labelled in the beginning of the music. Some of the music was very, very easy.Somebody else noted that they didn't recognize half the songs and were disappointed. Now, I've seen the movies many, many times, and recognized all the songs except one. Then, when I rewatched The Chamber of Secrets a few days later, I said, "Oh, there it is!" So I think it really depends on how much you pay attention to the music being played during movies. Also, many songs sound differently without the accompaniment, but I think this was a great selection of songs. For those wondering, "Hedwig's Theme" is, I believe, the song most widely known, and it's included and beautiful.All in all, this book suited my purposes exactly. There are some songs that are very easy that I can play to warm up, and then I can move to the more challenging songs to work on stretching my fingers to play my tenor recorder. There are only 7 songs in the book, so I play through all of them. For a kid, I think it would be the perfect amount of music to get them started without making it too overwhelming. As someone else stated, they also have 7 pages of easy instructive guides that including holding the recorder, understanding the music, a couple non-Harry Potter practice songs, and a complete fingering chart.

I bought this for my son (8), who is a big Harry Potter fan. I am sure that my son will have no trouble learning the songs once he has learned some basic music concepts.Pages 2 - 5 have information about recorders and music that come in handy if you have forgotten most of what you learned in grade school. The first songs are Ode to Joy and Alouette (both very easy, intro songs), followed by a complete fingering chart. The rest of the songs are (simplified) songs from the movies (7).This book is probably not a good idea for complete beginners (to music) or those not willing to take time to look through the first pages. (Which contain all the information one needs to play the songs in the book, nicely condensed.) I would say this book is well suited to older (10+) and/or serious music students. Basically, this is a nice lower level book.

I was excited to gift this to my daughter and when it came i waa thrilled. It covers everything, reading music, notes, finger placement. She can't put the book or the recorder down. Will buy more from this book series.

This was a fun book to run through while learning my flats and sharps with the recorder. I am not a child learning to play my first instrument. I have been playing the French Horn for 9 years and recently (due to my involvement with the SCA) decided to learn the recorder. I can read music. I know how to read music, but have only been playing the recorder for 3 weeks. I found it a little embarrassing to play music that has the letter for each note written in the notes. However, the songs are fun to play while I work on my tone.

Nice book. Granddaughter loved it. Arrived promptly.

I don't recognize some of the songs, though sometimes it is hard to recognize a song with one instrument when you are used to hearing an orchestra version. The songs are rather complicated to play. I would recommend it for players who are comfortable playing notes that require covering holes halfway. There are a lot of sharps and flats in most of the songs. My beginner's book pretty much dealt with regular notes.What is nice about these books is they give a basic introduction to music--talking about notes, fingering chart, etc. By the way, this only provides a songbook. The recorder stands out in the picture, but it is only the songbook.

We purchased this music book for our son who loves playing the recorder. He is obviously a huge Harry Potter fan was begging for some sheet music! This book had a great variety of songs for him to learn and play. He now will go around the house serenading us with Harry Potter music.

I bought it for a friend's son Harry Potter fan. He was super excited to get this book along with the Sopranos Recorder.I am happy with the purchase.