Learn the recorder with an app that listens

Piper's Songbook teaches the soprano recorder with medieval carols, Renaissance dances and Baroque tunes. Play into your phone, and it tells you which note it heard and the one thing to fix next.

Free for Android 8.0 and newer. No ads. An account is optional.

QR code linking to Piper's Songbook on Google Play

On a computer? Scan this with your Android phone to open the app's Play Store page.

Piper, a young musician in a feathered red hat, plays a wooden recorder under an oak tree, with faire tents in the distance.

It hears which note you played

Hold your phone near the recorder and play. When a note comes out wrong, Piper's Songbook names the note it heard and the finger to move. If the sound isn't clear enough to judge, it says so and doesn't count it as a mistake.

A lesson screen for the note A. The fingering diagram rings hole 3, and the feedback reads: That was G. For A, lift your left ring finger off hole 3. — **One note at a time**Each new note comes with a fingering diagram, just before the tune that needs it.

Hot Cross Buns on a staff with the note names B, A, G underneath. A banner suggests working slowly on notes 1 and 2. — **Practise the hard part**When the same notes keep tripping you up, it offers to loop just those, slowly.

The songbook home screen showing today's practice: check Gaudete phrase 2, then learn Ode to Joy phrase 1, about 10 to 15 minutes. — **A short daily practice**Check something from yesterday, learn something new and finish in about 15 minutes.

From Hot Cross Buns to Purcell

The songbook climbs in twenty steps. You start with B, A and G and learn each new note right before the tune that uses it. Tunes are split into short phrases you can master one at a time.

Free recorder songs and fingerings

Every song on this site has letter notes with a fingering under each note, sheet music you can play along with, and tips for the hard bars.

Hot Cross Buns3 notes: B, A, G Mary Had a Little Lamb4 notes: B, A, G, D′Twinkle Twinkle Little Star6 notes: B, A, G, F♯, E, D Jingle Bells5 notes: B, A, G, C′, D′Happy Birthday to You8 notes: B, A, G, C′, D′, F♯, E, D Ode to Joy6 notes: B, A, G, C′, D′, D Amazing Grace6 notes: B, A, G, D′, E, D Greensleeves11 notes: B, A, G, C′, D′, F♯, E, E′, G′, G♯, F♯′

All 30 songs, easiest first · Recorder fingering chart

Your recordings stay on your phone

Notes are recognised on the device. Your recordings and progress are never uploaded. An account is optional, and every lesson works without one.

What you need

A soprano (descant) recorder in C, with Baroque or German fingering. If you aren't sure which you have, the first notes are the same on both, and the app helps you tell them apart.

Is there an iPhone version?

Not yet. Piper's Songbook is on Android only for now. Leave your email and we'll tell you when the iPhone app is out. The songs and fingering charts on this site work on any phone or computer.

How much does it cost?

Nothing. The app is free, with no ads and no in-app purchases.