Bruce Larkin
Recorder
Bruce Larkin has played the recorder since childhood, when his uncle (who had taken a class) got everyone in the extended family to play. Bruce’s enthusiasm for the recorder and its music has never waned: he has been introducing new players to the recorder and coaching ensembles for more than twenty-eight years.
Bruce received his Bachelor of Music in Music History and Musicology from the University of Michigan and went on to earn his M.F.A. in Early Music Performance from Sarah Lawrence College. He studied percussion with Don Patterson and Charles Owen. His recorder studies were with Michael Lynn, Steven Silverstein, LaNoue Davenport and Eva Legene.
Bruce has performed with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra League among others. He has developed and taught classes on the recorder including Medieval Dance Music, Renaissance Music and Dance and 20th-Century Recorder Ensemble Music to name a few. In 2004 he founded the Richmond Recorder Consort to explore a wide ranging repertoire of music written and adapted for the recorder. The Consort has given several successful programs in Connecticut and at The Cloisters in New York City.
Bruce has this to say about playing the recorder.”Henry VIII owned and played them. Samuel Pepys learned to play one and wrote, ‘the sound of it being, of all sounds in the world, most pleasing to me.’ Folk musicians, rock musicians, and actors have played them (for instance Pete Seeger, The Association, and James Dean). Artists like Frans Bruggen and Michala Petri have made it famous on concert stages in our time.”
Bruce has been teaching the recorder at the Community Music School since 2006. As many of his beginner and intermediate students who have been part of a joyous group ensemble will tell you, “the recorder is a sociable instrument known for its beautifully expressive sound, and you can join with other friendly players to explore a rich lore of early and modern music.”
