Is there any recorder with same fingering as tin whistle/six hole bamboo flute?

Question

Recently I bought a Hohner C-Soprano Baroque recorder, I love to play it. Unfortunately, unlike six hole bamboo flute or tin whistle, recorder fingering is somewhat different, especially while playing F# note. In recorder the fingering for F3 is (as of now lets neglect the thumb and last pinky holes):

But in case of six hole tin whistle/ bamboo flute the fingering is :

So is there any recorder with same fingering as that of tin whistle. Or please let me know if I can customise my recorder to have F# fingering same as that of tin whistle/ bamboo flute.

Answer 1

The short answer: no, there isn't.

The long answer:

The six-hole chart you give for your tin whistle is for a tin whistle in D. A soprano recorder is in C. No, you are not going to find a D wind with the exact same fingerings as a C wind.

However, there is something called a german-fingered recorder. A soprano (C) german-fingered recorder happens to have the same fingering for f as your tin whistle.

Here is a discussion of the origins and issues with german-fingered recorders.

A crucial difference between tin whistles and recorders is that a recorder is built to (allegedly) play all the notes in its range, and to (theoretically) be playable in any key. Tin whistle players, in contrast, expect to have an assortment of instruments to play in different keys, because they don't expect to be able to play every note well in a given instrument's range.

German-fingered recorders have the issues of tin whistles, and because that's not what recorder players expect or want of their instruments, they typically avoid german-fingered instruments. Or put another way, there's no demand among serious or even enthusiastic hobbyist recorder players for german-fingered instruments, so there's no market for them, and they're hard to find. To the extent they've been made, they were largely crudely made cheap instruments for children – and now that Yamaha is churning out shockingly high quality plastic soprano recorders with Baroque (normal) fingering for five bucks each, I don't know anybody is bothering to make new german-fingered recorders any more. Additionally, there is increasing resistance to teaching children on recorders that have the "wrong" fingering, because it deters them from going further on the instrument.

And just for completeness sake, let me mention that I gather there is such a thing as a soprano recorder in D, but it's rarely made: it would be a fancy, expensive historical reproduction instrument for serious players, and I suspect it wouldn't be in Baroque fingering but Ganassi. Here's one and note that it's in a historical tuning of A=415.

So long story short: no, just learn to love fork fingerings.

Answer 2

The answer by Codeswitcher is correct. The bore and construction of a Baroque Recorder is different from a whistle and means that it can't be played with the same fingering.

There is a mistake that they made in terms of the naming of the keys of the instruments.

In the folk world, a D whistle is named because a D note is made when all six fingers are covering the holes.

In the orchestral world, this is not how you name the key of the instrument.

There is a long explanation involving the fact that tin whistles are transposing instruments, which means that what the folk world calls a D whistle is the instrument that gives an actual C note when a C fingering is made.

This means that in orchestral/classical terms it is an instrument in C, the same as a Soprano Recorder in C.

Answer 3

Get a German fingering Recorder and close the thumb and left index finger holes. You'll get a Recorder with Whistle fingering.

Answer 4

And history marches on...

The accepted answer was correct in 2016, but in the last few years, the OP's dream has become a reality in the form of a "six hole recorder" (so called) available e.g. at Ebay at relatively low cost.

The instruments are based on a recorder in C, in good quality plastic, with familiar Baroque turnings. They break down into the familiar three joints and have the reverse conical bore of a recorder. The timbre is that of a plastic recorder of similar quality.

The fingering is, as one would expect from a 6 hole penny whistle:

D XXX|XXX
E XXX|XXO
F# XXX|XOO
G XXX|OOO
A XXO|OOO
B XOO|OOO
C OXX|OOO
C# OOO|OOO
d XXX|XXX

Other in between notes may or may not be available according the particulars of each individual instrument and the technique & perseverance of the player.

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Answer 5

You can approximate quite well a tin whistle fingering e.g. at c which has 6 holes , with a soprano german fingering recorder (which is also at c and has 7+1 holes ) by permanently closing the thumb and upper first hole (e.g. with a tape) and playing as a tin whistle the rest of the 6 holes. the deviations are slight.

This works well for high pitch recorders compared to low pitch recorders as usually recorders have larger diameter pipe compared to tin whistles , which is not so good in creating by 2nd harmonic the second octave with the same fingering.

If you want the recorders to work well at all ranges high and low, then close permanently only the 7th highest front high hole and leave the front 6 and thumb hole to use (a 6+1 system of fingering as with quena flutes). Then use the front 6 holes as with Irish whistles and use the thumb hole not as a note hole but just to excite the 2nd harmonic and the 2nd octave by opening a little only. because recorders have wider bore inner diameter the 2nd octave is not excited uniformly by over-blowing and is better to use the thump-hole as register hole.

The result is practically identical with the sound of the 7+1 fingering of the recorder, it is essentially a 6+1 fingering of quenas flutes or of the 6+0 fingering of Irish whistles. I use my self all my recorders in this 6+1 holes system which is easier and practically you transfer directly the fingerings from Irish whistles or quenas to the recorders.