Remember the recorder? It's that small plastic instrument — looks kind of like a flute or clarinet — that's often the first instrument children learn to play in school. Or, at least, they used to. But ...

The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Lou Reed have a lot in common. Aside from the fact that they’ve all helped cement rock and roll as a mainstream musical genre, ...

Pity the poor recorder, tortured in a thousand classrooms by reluctant schoolchildren. It’s still the most popular instrument learned in school, according to a survey this week, but is there any sound ...