This is a repeat of my comment to EyeTravel, based on many years of teaching and playing in various enembles:
Hi, I have started several recorder ensembles and will be moving to Bloomington, Indiana in a few weeks and so will have to start over. Here are some of my suggestions for you:
1)find a single partner first that is either at your level or a bit above your level and play duets. You can try Craig’s list or join ARS (American Recorders Society) and find other players in your geographical area. Another source of potential partners is a local SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). Join the Yahoo Recorder Group and post a message – you never know if someone from your area might not just read it.
2)acquire a nice renaissance duet collection of music to work on
3)start your renaissance recorder collection with one or two wide bore recorders each. Less expensive ossibilities are the Mollenhauer Dream recorders, Moeck Consort Recorders, or Mollenhauer Kynsecker Consort Recorders.
4) Other possible instruments and players would be viola da gamba, lute, renaissance flute, or shawm, but this can also create voicing and balance problems as opposed to an all recorder consort.
5) After you have played duets together and have determined that you are both musically and personally compatible (this is important), look for a third player to start playing SAT or ATB trios together. If you live in a town near an ARS chapter you can join as a consort and advertise for more members.
In general, you would like to meet on a REGULAR basis for about two hours. Pick a Sunday morning, or weekday evening or some other mutually agreeable time and COMMIT to it. If you can play in a space with a reverberant acoustic it will be much more pleasurable.
Do NOT try to grow too quickly, as this can create scheduling, interpersonal, and music level related problems and cause stress and the eventual breakup of the group.
Determine somewhere along the way if you want to just play through lots of music or rehearse a smaller number of items for eventual performance. Also, after you get four or five members, STOP adding new members and consider finding an ensemble coach. If money is tight, consider monthly coaching sessions rather than weekly ones. Attend summer music workshops as a group if possible and eventually consider getting a matched consort of renaissance recorders, sharing the cost if necessary.
