The Portland Recorder Society is a non-profit membership organization that promotes the pleasures of recorder playing. The recorder is a serious instrument with sizes and voices in every octave. Furthermore the recorder is a gateway to many forms of early to modern music and especially the delights of playing in social groups.
Portland Recorder Society members and guests play together monthly on the 2nd Sunday of each month, with some exceptions (Mother’s Day, summer). Look here or join and receive our newsletter to learn all the details each month. We also hold the annual Columbia Gorge Early Music Retreat. Click here to see the photo gallery from the 2025 CGEMR! Members also have access to the PRS Free Forum to discuss all things recorder!
The PRS Forum is a new benefit for PRS members. CLICK HERE to join the PRS. Also, CLICK HERE to learn how to join the Forum and conversations among your fellow PRS recorder players!
Mission Statement
• To promote recorder playing for enjoyment in the greater Portland Oregon area
• To raise the level of proficiency among the members
• To provide performance opportunities for members
• To spread the joy of playing music
Click here to download a list of local recorder teachers!
PRS 2026 Summer Activities
June 11, New Zoom On-line Class: “Best Practices for Practicing”: Thursday, 7-8:00pm PDT
Click here to read about this zoom class and then access the registration form if interested. Free to PRS members and $10 to others. You can sign up for it and get a link to the recording to watch later if you can’t attend.
July 11 Workshop: Blockflute Blockbusters. Saturday, July 11th; 9:30-3:30pm; with Glen Shannon
Watch here to access the registration form.
The Portland Recorder Society presents “Blockflute Blockbusters”, a full day workshop with Glen Shannon on Saturday, July 11. Get ready to dive into some of my most favoritest recorder music throughout the centuries. We’ll savor standouts from the Franco-Flemish Golden Age with works by Senfl, Josquin, Isaac and more; visit the game-changing new style from Venice and the German High Baroque; enjoy fabulous contemporary pieces by living composers such as Raphael Meyer of Switzerland, Clive Lane from Australia, and Yours Truly from just down the street in California – maybe even some shiny new pieces fresh off the press. Bring any larger basses you might have hanging around, we will be needing them on occasion in the recorder orchestra pieces. Difficulty level will be about intermediate, but we might turn up the heat along the way and put the “work” in “workshop”!
August 15, Potluck Picnic and Playing in the Park; Wilshire Park, 4116 NE 33rd Ave, Portland, OR; 12:00 to 4:00 pm
Location: Wilshire Park, 4116 NE 33rd Ave, Portland, OR 97212; picnic areas A and B; (parking in the neighbor-
hood around the park, not on 33rd); look for the picnic tables behind the shelter in the middle of the park)
Leader: Laura Kuhlman
Time: 12:00-4:00 pm
Music: The music will be provided
Bring: A dish to share, instruments (all instruments welcome), music stand, a chair, clothes pins to hold music
Cost: None; bring family and recorder friends
Supplied: Chicken, drinks, plates, eating utensils, music
What is forScore?
forScore is a software developed for Apple products to display music to replace using paper copies of music notation. There is a conversation about forScore in the PRS Forum.
Click here to access a list of locally generated recorder playing opportunities (some in Zoom, some in-person). Also included this month is a new opportunity with the Rose City Renaissance.
Portland Recorder Society 