For an extensive listing of workshops offered by other groups in the region and across the country, see www.seattle-recorder.org and www.americanrecorder.org.
Each April we gather on a Saturday to play all day at the annual Northwest Recorder Meet (formerly called the Moss Bay Annual Meet), co-presented by the Moss Bay Recorder Society and the Seattle Recorder Society.
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Download 10:00am tutti session music here: NW Recorder Meet Morning Tutti Music
Come play with us!!!
2026 Northwest Recorder Meet
Saturday, April 18
featuring
The Farallon Recorder Quartet
Miyo Aoki, Frances Blaker, Tish Berlin, and Vicki Boeckman
Sand Point Community UMC–Perry Hall, 4710 NE 70th St, Seattle
Enter from parking lot behind building.
Playing sessions 10:00am to 4:30pm
Faculty concert 7:30pm
The Farallon Recorder Quartet, with our beloved former director Miyo Aoki along with stellar instructors and players Frances Blaker, Tish Berlin, and Vicki Boeckman, will be leading an extra-special 2026 NW Recorder Meet on April 18 at Sand Point Community UMC, 4710 NE 70th St, Seattle. They will not only teach, inspire, and conduct us in a full day of playing sessions, but also treat us to a delightful and varied concert in the evening. The concert will be open to the public as well as to Meet attendees.
Leran more about the Farallon Recorder Quartet: https://www.farallonrecorderquartet.com
Playing Sessions 10:00am to 4:30pm
Faculty Concert 7:30pm
$125 for all day (including the concert) or
$45 for each single session/$30 concert*
Please bring all your recorders, compatible instruments, a music stand, glasses/light if needed, a pencil, something for your lunch and, optionally, a snack to share.
*All fees are on a sliding scale or pay as able; donations welcome!
Please pre-register if possible to help us plan for the day.
Schedule for the Day:
Pitch A = 440
9:30 am Registration and set-up (helpers welcome)
10-11:45 Tutti Session (all levels, taught by Miyo, Tish, and Frances)
11:45-12:45 Bring or buy lunch (coffee and tea provided)
12:45-2:25 Session 2 (divided by level)
2:25-2:50 Break
2:50-4:30 Session 3 (divided by level)
7:30 pm Farallon Concert (public welcome)
Repertoire for the concert will include pieces by Antoine Busnois, Heinrich Isaac, Jean Japart, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Johann Sebastian Bach, Fanny Hensel, and Calliope Tsoupaki.
Registration
To register, please email mbrsmem@gmail.com with completed forms, or send your name, overall playing level, recorder sizes, and which sessions you plan to attend. Payment is due the day of the meet, by cash, check, or Zelle*. Registration forms can be downloaded here and will be available at any upcoming Moss Bay or Seattle Recorder Society chapter meeting: 2026 Northwest Meet registration form, self-rating form, 2026 Northwest Meet flyer.
Thanks to the many who registered early, we have opened up three groups for each of the afternoon sessions, while the morning will be a single large-group Tutti session led by Tish, Frances and Miyo. The music for the day will range from Medieval to Renaissance to Baroque as well as modern. There is plenty of space for more players to join us for one, two or all three sessions and everyone is welcome to the faculty concert at 7:30pm.
As soon as we have music for all the playing sessions, everyone who pre-registers will get an email with their individual music for the whole day along with neighborhood information about spots to find lunch or dinner or a nice walk. You do not need to pre-register to join the fun, however! Walk-ins are welcome!
*Email MBRS Director Laura Townsend at mbrsmem@gmail.com with completed forms, any questions, or for instructions for paying with Zelle.
Tutti session 10:00am, music details
Download 10:00am Tutti session music here: NW Recorder Meet Morning Tutti Music
Tish will be leading Pierre Alamire’s Tandernack, 4-page score attached. If you are not comfortable playing alto up on the top line, and do not play tenor, you can play the modified 3rd line part which comes in two versions: one counting whole notes, and one with note values halved, counting halves. The parts can be found on the IMSLP page for this piece.
Miyo has Telemann in her sights, and will lead Two Movements from the Burlesque de Quixotte and Die concertierende Frosche und Krahen from the Alster Suite. Scores are included, with lines clearly marked for which size instrument to play!
Finally, Frances will untangle some of the challenges in Purcell’s Chaconne from The Gordion Knot Untied. Separate parts are attached, please print at least two that you’d be willing to play so she has some flexibility to balance the parts.
Presented by the Moss Bay Recorder Society and the Seattle Recorder Society with a generous grant from the American Recorder Society.
We look forward to having you join us for a wonderful day of music making, fellowship, and fun!
The Farallon Recorder Quartet is a Bay Area and Seattle-based early music group that brings the music of the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Modern Eras to today’s audiences. It was founded in 1996 to explore the vast and varied repertoire for four recorders. They employ a range of recorder sizes and period styles, from 6 inches to 6 feet tall.
Letitia Berlin teaches privately and at workshops around the country, including the Amherst Early Music Festival, the Oregon Coast Recorder Society WInds and Waves workshop, and the Santa Barbara (CA) spring workshop. In addition to the Farallon Recorder Quartet, Tish performs with the Bertamo Trio, the recorder duo Tibia, and Calextone, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of Medieval and early Renaissance music. During the pandemic Tish jumped into online teaching immediately and has enjoyed the challenges and benefits of teaching on Zoom.
Frances Blaker has Music Pedagogical and Performance degrees in recorder from the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen. She has performed as a soloist with various ensembles in the United States, Denmark, England and the Netherlands. She is a member of Farallon Recorder Quartet, the Tibia Recorder Duo, and the Ensemble Vermillian. She teaches privately and at workshops throughout the United States and is assistant director of the Amherst Early Music Festival, Inc. and a recent board member of the American Recorder Society. Her compositions have been published by PRB Productions and Lost inTime Press. She is the author of The Recorder Player’s Companon and the “Opening Measures” column in the American Recorder and a collaborator and performer on the Disc Continuo series of recordings.
Miyo Aoki is a dedicated performer and teacher. She has performed in the US, Germany, and Poland, with groups including Salish Sea Players, Utopia Early Music, and Gamut Bach Ensemble, and at the Bloomington Early Music Festival and Whidbey Island Music Festival. She is a founding member of the Seattle-based chamber group sound|counterpoint and helped to create the new chamber music series, Salmon Run Concerts. Performing music ranging from medieval to modern, she has premiered works by contemporary composers Natalie Williams and Agnes Dorwarth. In addition to performance, Miyo is an active teacher. As well as having taught at the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop, for the Seattle Early Music Guild’s Recorder Residency and privately, she also helps to plan and perform outreach programs throughout the school year.
Vicki Boeckman has been performing and teaching since the 1980s and is thrilled to be a member of the Farallon Recorder Quartet. Pre-pandemic she was an internationally acclaimed performing and recording artist who traveled all over the US and to many other countries to perform and teach. When the world went virtual she adapted to the challenges hesitantly, but now embraces the virtual platform with enthusiasm and awe, discovering formerly inconceivable possibilities reaching students all across the globe. Before settling in Seattle, Vicki resided in Denmark from 1981-2005 and had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the finest musicians and composers of the day. Her Danish recorder trio Wood’N’Flutes had a fantastic 15-year run performing all over Europe. She was an adjunct professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen for 12 years and taught at the Ishøj Municipal School of Music for 23 years. She is currently music director for the Seattle Recorder Society, co-director for the Recorder Orchestra of Puget Sound (ROPS), and Artistic Director for the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop, and dearly hopes these organizations can bounce back in the months to come.
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In case there is any confusion about our name and the name of the Meet, we are and will continue to be the Moss Bay Recorder Society, embracing our historic connection to our founder Winifred Jaeger and the bay in Kirkland near where early meetings took place. In order to acknowledge that the Seattle Recorder Society is joining us to present our annual one-day workshop, as well as to clarify the nature of the event, we are changing from the Moss Bay Meet to the Northwest Recorder Meet. We hope to encourage recorder players from all around the area to participate since it’s such a great opportunity to meet other players and experience several leaders in one day.
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Save the Date: the 2026 Fall Fipple Flute Forum (FFFF) will be on September 26-27
Has it Been Two Years Since The Last FFFF?The Fall Fipple Flute Forum is an all-inclusive two-day recorder workshop to learn new skills, improve your ensemble prowess and immerse yourself into the music. Whether you are at the lower-intermediate level, new to ensemble playing or a seasoned, experienced player — this Recorder Workshop is sure to please. See the FFFF website for more details. Scholarships will be available, so please let us know if that will help you decide to attend. This year‘s four fabulous female faculty will include the inimitable Rotem Gilbert, who was with us at the very first FFFF, local favorite Miyo Aoki, Hanneke van Proosdij from Voices of Music, and music director Vicki Boeckman. Registration will open in May, but with some twists!
Many pleasant surprises are in store for this year’s workshop, so stay tuned for further announcements. Vicki & Ellis |
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ARCHIVE
2025 NORTHWEST RECORDER MEET
Saturday, April 19
10:00am to 5:00pm
Sand Point Community UMC – Perry Hall
4710 NE 70th Street, Seattle
$60 for all day or $25 for a single session
Please bring all of your recorders, compatible instruments, a music stand, a pencil, something for your lunch and, optionally, a snack to share. Pitch A = 440
Schedule for the Day:
9:30 am Registration and set-up
10-11:45 Potpourri led by Peter Seibert
11:45-1 Bring or buy lunch (coffee and tea provided)
1-2:45 Tomás Luis Victoria/Klezmer led by Laura Kuhlman
2:45-3:15 Break
3:15-5 Girl Power! led by Laura Townsend
5-5:30 Clean-up and departure
Presented by Moss Bay Recorder Society and Seattle Recorder Society
Pre-registration is strongly encouraged to assist with planning. Email Laura Townsend at mbrsmem@gmail.com to pre-register, for the link to the music or with any questions. Payment not due until the day of the Meet.
A link to the music will be sent to participants and posted here in advance of the meeting. Let Laura know if you would like to have music printed and brought to you. A few extra copies will also be available at the Meet. This music is for the use and enjoyment of this particular workshop and may be protected by copyright. The music is for educational purposes only. Please do not distribute this music outside this workshop. You only need to print out the parts you want to play.
We look forward to having you join us for a wonderful day of music making, fellowship and fun!
Download flyer: NW Recorder Meet 2025 Flyer
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Playing Session Descriptions
Potpourri will feature some delightful Renaissance and Baroque pieces as well as several of Peter Seibert’s own compositions, All Things are Quite Silent, an arrangement of an English folksong, and Divertimento (2010). He will guide us through Le Jeune’s Revecy venir du printemps, a familiar chanson with a tricky rhythm, followed by Hassler’s “Mein G’muth ist mir verwirret,” a German song that uses the same rhythm. This melody later became the well-known Passion Chorale melody of Bach, so we’ll try our hands at Bach’s Befiehl du deine Wege. Peter will round out the session with selections from Handel’s Water Music Suite No. 1 and perhaps something by perennial favorite Isaac.
Laura Kuhlman’s playing session will include music from two topic areas:
Tomás Luis Victoria: a sacred life of music
Tomás Luis Victoria was not only the greatest Spanish Renaissance composer but also one of the greatest composers of church music of his day in Europe. He dedicated himself to the Catholic faith through his music, which is all sacred and only using Latin texts. Musicologists hear in his music a mystical intensity and direct emotional appeal in his musical phrases and word painting. Lucky are we today to be able to experience the brilliant mind of this beloved composer. We will unfold, analyze and play some of his many hymns, motets and mass settings.
The Klezmer Recorder Band
Ready to get your fingers jumping?! Well, welcome to the Klezmer Recorder Band. Klezmer music is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. As Klezmer music reached the United States, it was influenced by the traditions of American big bands and other popular music styles. We will explore some of the many styles of Klezmer playing and the tunes that were used for the various celebrations of Jewish life.
Girl Power! Laura Townsend will explore works composed and/or arranged by female musicians. From Raffaella Aleotti’s Renaissance motet Vidi Speciosam to Annabel Knight’s arrangement of a favorite Beatles tune, we will traverse the ages. We’ll make stops along the way for A Staffordshire Ramble by Alyson Lewin, visit turn-of-the-20th-century New England to hear some of Amy Marcy Beach’s work, and swing by mid-century Chicago for a work by Florence Price. All aboard for a fabulous musical journey!
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Instuctor Bios
Peter Seibert is a conductor and composer who has a life-long relationship with the recorder. He was music director of the Seattle Recorder Society from 1970 – 2015. As a board member of the American Recorder Society, he established the ARS Personal Study Program. In 1983, he founded the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop, which he directed until 2001. He has written numerous articles for the American Recorder. Peter continues to be active as a composer and has had two new choral works performed this year. His compositions for recorders and for viols are played world-wide.
Laura Kuhlman resides in Portland, Oregon and up until 2014, was active in Chicago, Illinois, where she spent many years as a freelance musician. From Bach to Broadway, Laura has enjoyed partnerships with several early music ensembles. She is music director of the Portland Recorder Society and the Recorder Orchestra of Oregon, is past President of the national American Recorder Society and has taught at many early music workshops around world. Laura also performs, leads and arranges music for the lively medieval band, Musica Universalis, whose purpose is to play early music in unusual places and collaborations with other artistic disciplines. Laura is an active performer for the English Country Dance community in Portland, a member of the rowdy horn section in the acclaimed Portland Megaband. In addition, Laura teaches flute, saxophone, recorder, renaissance double reeds and renaissance bagpipes both at workshops and in her home studio. If she’s not playing music, look for Laura on her bike in the hills and dales of Oregon or in her glass studio!
Laura Townsend is the director of the Moss Bay Recorder Society, leads Seattle Recorder Society’s Back Room Gang and has a teaching studio in Seattle. Originally trained as a developmental psychologist, she’s dedicated to discovering the most effective ways to learn and is committed to growing her own skills. She takes lessons with Vicki Boeckman, plays in the Recorder Orchestra of Puget Sound, studied conducting with Peter Seibert, performs with the ensemble Quintessence, and attends workshops as often as possible.
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NORTHWEST RECORDER MEET (MOSS BAY MEET) 2024
Twenty-five enthusiastic participants gathered for the annual Moss Bay Meet on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at the Sand Point Community Church. This year the Meet was co-presented with the Seattle Recorder Society. Peter Seibert led us through a selection of pieces from medieval through classical periods, culminating with his own composition “Short (and) Suite”, complete with soloists. Vicki Boeckman selected several beautiful renaissance-baroque choral pieces, and an 8-part double-choir Sinfonia. She closed the session with Arthur Sullivan’s lovely “The Long Day Closes”. In the last session we rearranged ourselves as Laura Townsend challenged us with contemporary compositions by Steve Marshall, including his four-choir, 16-part “All Creatures of our God and King”.
A heartfelt thanks to all the directors for a sensational musical day!
