Music

Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood says playing the recorder is key to his success


He’s the award-winning soundtrack composer who reinvented rock with Radiohead.

Now Jonny Greenwood has joined a new group devoted to playing the humble recorder, in a bid to prove that the instrument that brought pain to generations of parents, is not just for children.

For some, the discordant squeak of the recorder is a painful memory of primary school music classes.

Recorder strikes right note

But the Radiohead guitarist revealed that learning the woodwind instrument provided the foundation for his musical success.

Oscar-nominated for his score for The Phantom Thread, Greenwood called on the government to reverse education cuts to ensure that all UK children have the opportunity to learn the recorder.

Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead perform live on stage at the 02 Arena (Getty)

Greenwood, 47, has even joined a new adult group, devoted to playing the recorder, near his Oxfordshire home.

“People make the mistake of putting down the recorder when they’re eleven but they should carry on. I still play it,” Greenwood told i.

Cuts plea

Accepting the Ivor Novello award for Best Original Film Score for the Daniel Day-Lewis movie last week, Greenwood credited the recorder classes provided by Oxfordshire County Council for nurturing his talents – and warned against further cuts.

The musician, who has written and arranged many Radiohead classics, told i: “I should have been more rebellious during my whole adolescence.”

“But I really was seriously learning to play the recorder and playing Bach at little village halls and loving it.”

“That was all down to those teachers and that kind of education system.”

US star Cyndi Lauper is also a recorder player (Getty Images)

Recorders becoming cool

Greenwood, who composed the soundtrack to Oscar-winner There Will Be Blood, added: “There’s been so many cuts to the things that funded me when I was a kid.”

“I was able to spend so much of my time doing music as Summer schools and being taught by peripatetic teachers at primary school.”

The perception that the descant recorder is a starter instrument offering a limited repertoire is being challenged.

Teenage Dutch musician Lucie Horsch became the first recorder player to sign to the Decca Classics label.

Dutch musician Lucie Horsch is reinventing the recorder

The recorder became a schools’ staple because it is the closest instrument to the human voice and simple to play.

With Radiohead on hiatus, Greenwood said he is currently immersed in a new piece combining electronic and acoustic instrumentation, called Horror vacui, which will receive its world premiere at a Late Night BBC Prom in September.



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