How do I play: do re mi fa sol la si, on my soprano recorder?

Question

I am confused about there being different lowest notes for different sizes of recorder.

My soprano recorder says descant B. It is an average sized recorder (Yamaha YRS-24B).

What will the fingering be like if I were to play: do re mi fa sol la si, on it as opposed to on a bigger recorder.

Answer 1

I don’t believe that there are B-recorders. Your recorder is certainly down tuned almost a semitone about 435 or 430. So you think it is tuned in B. Try to push the mouth piece with the rest of the flute.

If you want to play together with other Baroque instruments (recorders or harpsichord) you can just play the C scale as doremi, as they all have lower pitch) but together with a Piano you will always have the problem that you are too low.

Answer 2

The "B" stands for baroque, which is the fingering system the instrument uses. The baroque system is the most common fingering system for the recorder, as opposed to the slightly simpler (but generally not as good overall) German system—see the video in this answer: Is it difficult to transition from German fingering to Baroque fingering?

---

To play the C major scale (the easiest scale) on a soprano/descant recorder with baroque fingering is relatively straight forward:

There is only one note that has a somewhat odd fingering in this scale and which requires a "forked" fingering. (The German system makes this particular note easier to finger, but to do this compromises have been made in the design that mess up intonation and various chromatic notes.)

---

For the larger alto/treble recorder, this same fingering pattern produces an F major scale:

To be able to play both alto and soprano recorders requires learning the fingering for each size of instrument separately. This can be confusing at first, but (with practice) it's not as hard as you might think.