The Genteel Companion embodies the spirit of a period in which there was an abundance of music-making, both professional and amateur. Its aim, like that of other tutors of the time, is to provide the beginner with as complete an introduction to the recorder as it is possible for a written manual to provide. Salter succeeds in accomplishing this. Additionally, however, Salter’s tutor proceeds beyond the mechanics of recorder playing in some respects. For, although the tutor in no way aims to, or succeeds in, supplanting the role of the teacher, it does proceed beyond the mere technicalities of playing. Through the guidance of the ‘dot way’, and the graces that appear in it, the beginner becomes accustomed to musical forms and to certain intricacies of ornamentation. [Férdia Stone-Davis]
