Recorder anyone?

Having learnt to play penny whistle a few years ago I "expanded my horizons" to the recorder, purely out of interest and because there was an old Aulos descant in a drawer, left behind by my wife, from her school-days, when she moved on.

Interest grew, in the sound, but I was never taken by the almost universal "baroque" shaping of the instruments mostly available. Then I saw a second-hand Moeck "Tuju" and fell in love :eek:

I had to learn to play it just so I had an opportunity to handle such a lovely-looking thing on a regular basis ;)

Time passed and, almost inevitably, the dreaded acquisition syndrome took hold and I've ended up with a complete set of Tuju's, sopranino to bass, all bought second-hand on your favourite on-line auction site, for a grand total of somewhat less than £500 sterling ... bargains are out there if you're not in too much hurry to buy ;)

The sopranino is a little cramped for my larger fingers, and I've yet to learn to read bass clef and transpose for the "F" instruments "on the fly", but they have a lovely sound and match with a finger-picked acoustic ukulele perfectly for a lot of renaissance pieces :)

Good luck !!

Afterthought:

I gave the xaphoon a little thought but read several poor revues and didn't fancy the different fingering patterns, however the chalumeau is effectively a cut-down clarinet that uses a Bb clarinet mouthpiece and reed, with fingering very similar to that used on a recorder ... I bought a Hohner.
 
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Interesting historical fact #2: In 1629, emperor Zhu Youjian decreed that "any man, woman, child or goat found playing the recorder will be stripped of skin and rolled in salt". Why? Because he was a kind man, decent to a fault, and lenient on crimes against humanity.

We get it, Dan, you like to troll recorder players. You can stop now. Thanks.
 
mmn

I never realised you could get the renaissance in plastic also

http://www.earlymusicshop.com/produ...nhauer-0119r-dream-soprano-descant-c-red-glit

Think I'm going to have to get one of these

Great instruments, I've got a black plastic one, but my experience is reflected by at least one on-line revue which suggests the "two full octaves" is a little optimistic. The left thumb placement and breath pressure becomes quite critical above G in the second octave ... just my tuppence worth, YMMV :)
 
Great instruments, I've got a black plastic one, but my experience is reflected by at least one on-line revue which suggests the "two full octaves" is a little optimistic. The left thumb placement and breath pressure becomes quite critical above G in the second octave ... just my tuppence worth, YMMV :)

not likely to get those notes with any instrument, if I'm honest :cool:
 
I have an alto and a sopranino, and I usta have a soprano but gave it away. I studied Baroque music on them for a long time, until I decided that I was trying to play too many instruments, so I picked the recorders to give up.

I really enjoyed playing the alto a lot, but the sopranino was difficult to finger and too high pitched for my taste. :eek:ld:
 
I just ordered a (very) cheap soprano recorder to reach the free shipping on a Thomann order. I'm just interested to see how much of my recorder-playing skills from way back when I can unearth and I also hope to brush up my music-reading skills a bit.
 
I posted a comment on "Music Opinions" in General Discussions that some of you recorder UUers might like to add something to. :eek:ld:
 
I first learnt to play recorder in primary school and really took to it and I've played the recorder on and off ever since. I played for a short while while at university then left it for many years. In those days the lack of affordable reasonable quality instruments was partially why I stopped playing. I picked it up again when my daughter started to learn it at school and I've carried on since. By the time my daughter started with it decent plastic instruments had appeared which made starting much more affordable and I 'graduated' to treble (alto) recorder.

I still play with a recorder group that belongs to the UK Society of Recorder Players. We meet once a month and we play a variety of music from renaissance to modern compositions written for recorder and from all eras in between. I mostly play tenor and bass which are my preferred instruments but I have a complete sets from sopranino to bass. Over the years I have suffered from RAS and it's much more expensive than UAS as apart from the plastic instruments - which are actually very good - recorders tend to be expensive. I have Kung soprano and alto recorders which I don't actually play much these days. For some years I played a keyless Moeck Rottenberg Tenor, An excellent instrument but my fingers are losing stretch these days and I was struggling with it so I recently bought myself a Mollenhauer Comfort Tenor. It has keys for RH hole 3 and LH hole 1 as well as C/C# keys at the bottom and makes playing tenor so much easier. It was pricey but it's a lovely instrument with great tone.

I have a SATB set of the Mollenhauer 'Dream' recorders - the hybrid renaissance/baroque instruments. I use these when I play with the folk band I'm in though the bass is also my regular bass with the recorder group. They have a more robust sound than the baroque style instruments and actually fit quite well with fiddle, squeezeboxes etc. that is the typical folk band instrumentation.

Finally I have a contrabass. It's made by a German maker called Paezold and is square - I've uploaded a picture. I used to play it in a recorder orchestra but I began to find the travelling to rehearsals tiring so I gave up. I still play it when I get the chance. Recorder workshop days are usually a good opportunity and I have taken it to folk sessions where it has caused quite a stir. It's quite quiet but it's surprising how it still cuts through a room full of fiddles, squeeze boxes, and various other folky instruments.

The recorder is often very much underrated because most peoples' experience has been their kids' efforts at playing descant which is actually a rather unforgiving instrument but, of course, it fits small hands. Most folk are unaware that there are other members of the recorder family which have a much more mellow tone. Mind, in the hands of a good musician, the descant sounds great. I have performed in concerts with recorder groups and audiences have generally been pleasantly surprised at the sound we make.
 

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Wow! You are really into recorders. I always wanted to try a bass as I like the low tones a lot. That square contrabass must be somethin' else. I don't think I've ever heard one.

I've always thought that playing the C instruments and the F ones might be somewhat confusing. Has that ever bothered you? That's why I stuck to the Sopranino and the Alto and gave the soprano away. I mostly played the Alto. The other one was too shrill and whistley, and I much prefer the low tones. I have an upright tuba that I love to play though it's a pain to lug around.

All this talk about recorders makes me miss playing mine. I enjoyed playing Baroque music on 'em. :eek:ld:
 
Sorry for a bit of a delay replying. I forgot about this thread so forgot to check it.

Wow! You are really into recorders. I always wanted to try a bass as I like the low tones a lot. That square contrabass must be somethin' else. I don't think I've ever heard one.

I must make a recording sometime. Trouble is it's a bit clumsy to get out or I would use it as a bass on some of my recordings. It has a nice strong first octave and is surprisingly easy to play as the wooden flaps used for keys are well placed for the fingers even on a small hand like mine. It does take a lot of air, though as there's little resistance when you blow down it. It makes a great sound.

I've always thought that playing the C instruments and the F ones might be somewhat confusing. Has that ever bothered you? That's why I stuck to the Sopranino and the Alto and gave the soprano away. I mostly played the Alto. The other one was too shrill and whistley, and I much prefer the low tones. I have an upright tuba that I love to play though it's a pain to lug around.

All this talk about recorders makes me miss playing mine. I enjoyed playing Baroque music on 'em. :eek:ld:

It does take some getting used to switching from one to the other but if you do it regularly, you get used to it. If you take up bass, you then have to learn to read bass clef but again it's a matter of practice. I taught myself to play from bass clef by writing out a collection of the fiddle tunes I play on soprano and harmonica on the bass clef, then used my bass to play them. As I already knew the tunes, I could focus on reading the notes from a new position on the stave and it worked well and I was comfortable working from bass clef in a couple of weeks. It stood me in good stead when I joined a choir as I sing tenor and have to be able to work from both bass and treble clefs.

Being able to switch from C to F fingering - which is really a matter of learning that the same fingering gives different notes was very useful when I decided to tune my tenor ukes dGBE as I was comfortable with the idea that the same shapes would have different names in the two tunings and I was able fairly quickly to adapt to playing with the different fingerings.

I play Baroque, Renaissance and even earlier on recorders. There's some great music to be explored.
 
Same with harps, switching between differing layouts is tricky to start, but, as long as it's only between two or three, you soon get used to it - I found it easy enough switching between C & F recorders when I was playing them. :)

And having mentioned harps, I'm glad to say that I am back practicing on mine after my cold. :smileybounce:
 
I have a soprano, and I've noticed people tend not to take it seriously when I say "I play the recorder". :p But I like it very much. I use it mostly for folk melodies. I want to get an alto, too.
 
I too have played a Recorder in the past. Bought some (Soprano and Treble) and bought some books, taught myself and then put them to one side as three decades ago there didn't seem to be any groups to join. Now I'm wondering about dusting the remaining Soprano off and whether a different size might work best for me.

From YouTube the Tenors seem a bit big and maybe take a lot of air, there also doesn't seem to be much music written just for them too but, of course, you can use Soprano music (as they're both pitched in C). The Sopranos or Descants seem a bit high (piercing sound at times, well to my ears) but I had the fingering off pat as I recall and maybe it would be a good size (or at least pitched in C with them) to play along with youngsters at some point in the future. The Treble or Alto (pitched in F) seems more of a happy medium (with respect to size) but, as I recall, the fingering wasn't as natural to me - that's a few decades past so maybe that would be different now.

I'm UK based and wonder:
What sizes work best with recorder groups?
What size is most in demand with recorder and other music groups?
Which size sounds best to your ears?
 
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