Adapted from the real-life experiences of professional recorder players, this short story collection brings together music and literature to explore the challenges of a career in performance, the impact of lingering emotional wounds, and the healing power of music.

The world of Taiwan’s recorder ensembles and performers is given its first literary treatment in this collection from author and musician Liu Ting-Yu. The structure of Melody of the Recorder reflects the structure of the instrument itself, its seven short stories and two works of flash fiction corresponding to the seven holes and two half-holes of the recorder.


In “Fingers” and “Demon Dance”, aging prodigies come to terms with the inevitable decline of their technical abilities and the passing of the torch to the next generation of musicians within an ensemble. Middle school bullying and moral grey zones are illuminated through recorder music in “Student Diary”. “Memory Manager” traces the historical wounds of the 228 Incident and the role of music in preserving individual and collective memory. Making use of musical source material, “Seaside House”, “Solitary Star”, and “Ping the Geek Girl” explore intimate emotional connections between past and present. “The Girl and the God of Death” and “On Sad Sisters and Phone Calls” consider the potential of music to transcend death by acting as a gateway to the heart.


The interpretation, techniques, and emotional expression of the recorder repertoire are seamlessly woven into these seven stories about female musicians, providing narrative keynotes and offering metaphors for critical elements of the characters’ inner lives. Readers with a passion for music or literature, or both, will take great pleasure in the allusive overtones and resonant chords struck by this collection.