I make up a packet of songs that steadily increase in difficulty. I just used a folk songbook that I had, and I re-did them (ones that were in public domain) for recorder, because I couldn't find any children's recorder books that were reproducible and hard enough for this packet.

The title page for this packet is entitled, Recorder Karate Black Belt Degrees. I have 1st Degree all the way up to 8th Degree. Then, there are also special titles for certain degrees. 3rd degree is 'Teacher,' 5th Degree is 'Master,' 8th Degree is 'Grand Master.' Once they hit the 'Teacher' degree, they can help me with the other students: tutoring, testing (rarely), etc... For the recognition of this, I made necklaces. Some students wore them ALL THE TIME. However, I really like the idea of using different colored beads that some people on the list are doing for their normal belts. I think I will use beads this year instead of the necklace - it might be a little less time-consuming. Last year, I had to get some parent volunteers to make tons of the necklaces up for me cuz I just didn't have time and SO MANY of my students went on into the degree packet.

Also, last year when I actually did recorders before Christmas - I made up a Christmas recorder packet. I was TRULY AMAZED at how many students actually finished all THREE packets.

Hopefully this helps you get started!

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