Margaret Courtney was getting a surprise Tuesday evening— she was being recognized by Greenfield Elementary School (GES) parents and music students for her efforts in teaching music at the school and for her after-school Recorder Consort.

The surprise was during the school’s Spring Fine Arts Night on the Lawn.

Courtney has been a fixture in the music room at GES for 13 years, and during 12 of those years she’s offered the Recorder Consort as an after-school program on Thursday afternoons.

At the consort’s last practice for the school year last Thursday, the 16 students were preparing for the Spring Fine Arts Night. They were just coming off an April 26 program where they combined with Michael Milam’s Orff Ensemble students from Cloverdale Elementary School for a joint Beats & Tweets concert. Milam also offers the percussion program for fifth graders in an after-school program.

The GES Recorder Consort was finishing up that last practice when a visitor came in. The students were delighted to play one of their favorites, “Drowning Maggie,” an Irish folk song. They followed that with “Horses Bransle,” a French Renasounce dance that allows the students to show what they’ve learned by playing in a major that goes to a minor, in two different keys and two different times, Courtney explained.

“The kids have had fun with this,” she said.

Ryan Markham pulled out his bass recorder for the song. Markham is the first GES student to play the bass recorder, Courtney said.

After a year at GES, Courtney decided to start the Recorder Consort. “My forte is instrumental,” she said. So, the after-school program began.

In the dozen years she’s been teaching recorder after school, the consort has played all over— at Virginia Tech, at nursing homes, they’ve played in the lobby of the Salem Civic Center before the Annual Holiday Pops performance by the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra (orchestra conductor David Wiley has even visited the school), and, of course, for school programs.

The consort is even on a recording done for a Poplar Forest DVD. Poplar Forest is Thomas Jefferson’s retreat home near Lynchburg.

The GES consort is the only recorder consort in Southwest Virginia that Courtney knows of.

The consort is a small group. When you have 20 or more musicians it becomes an orchestra.

Being in the consort is a bit of a privilege, and generally membership is reserved for fourth and fifth graders, although a talented and dedicated third grader shows up occasionally.

The students can progress through the consort, as well, with Recorder Karate, Courtney explains. That’s where the students earn a “Recorder Belt” for each piece of music they learn. Those decorated belts— bronze, silver, gold, and the coveted “All-American Belt” dangle from the students’ instruments. Courtney’s husband is the belt maker.

The All-American Belt signifies the accomplishment of being able to play what Courtney calls “adult music,” like a recorder sonata. “It’s a big deal,” she explains.

Being in the consort takes dedication. The students practice for “a solid one-and-half hours,” from 2:30-4 p.m., after school each Thursday.

It’s different from choral, Courtney explained. “With choral, you take you music out, then put it back. With consort, you take your music home with you. You have to work pretty hard at it.”

With that, she notes, the consort has “some Crackerjack musicians.”

She said the majority of consort members go into the band program when they reach middle school in the sixth grade. “It’s almost pre-band,” she says of the consort.

“They’re learning multiple parts, like band or concert. “We can get pretty sophisticated.”

She said she always picks some challenging pieces of music for the consort and the students accept that.

They learn intonation by working on listening to others so they stay in tune.

“It’s just like baseball or football. It’s a team sport. It’s exactly the same, because if you’re missing someone, others have to work harder,” she continued.

Almost every year, Courtney said, a student gets turned on by music and they want to get ahead.

Her own interest in music was encouraged by her parents. “My parents definitely gave me the jump start, and it’s important for parents to give their kids the jump start.

“It’s a proven fact that music and the arts help develop parts of the brain that make students high achievers,” she continued.

She complimented the Botetourt County school division for keeping fine arts as strong as it has. “Kids need creativity. That’s what makes life so special,” she added.

Her first experience with music came as a member of the cherub choir at her church. She was the smallest and, thus, the first one down the aisle singing “This Is My Father’s World.” She’s wanted to perform ever since, although as she’s gotten older she said she likes to be in the background. “I love seeing what these children can achieve. They can do amazing things if you just give them that spark.”
While music is her vocation, she notes she does have an avocation— writing. She’s working on writing historical fiction set during the Roman Empire. After reading Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in high school, she said the period has always fascinated her.

Perhaps she’ll have as much success in that field as she’s having with the Recorder Consort.