20
votes
Accepted
Is there a recorder-analog for the flute?
TL;DR
Step 1: Soda bottle
Step 2: Fife
Soda bottle
Flute players are sometimes told that blowing across the top of a soda bottle is similar to blowing a flute. (Anecdotally, A flute-playing ...
- 94.9k
19
votes
Playing a C Recorder with classical guitar
'Guitars are normally G tuning' - no, they're not. They play quite happily in any key, unless open tuned. They're chromatic instruments.
So, play your C, or F (or any other transposing or fixed key ...
- 197k
10
votes
How important is it for the left hand to be nearest the mouth when playing tin whistle?
No, there is no good reason to have the left hand above, if you are only playing tin whistle. In medieval and renaissance times, wind instruments were played both ways. The only possible advantage I ...
- 6,560
10
votes
Scaling an object to change its key
You certainly need to make the complete instrument before you try to scale it, as another answer said. Unless the design is an accurate copy of the Yamaha recorder, the pitch of the head joint on its ...
- 101
10
votes
How similar (or not) are recorder, fife, and flute fingerings?
Out of the entire extended flute family, you've managed to name three that are about as far apart as they get! However, I'd still say that all woodwind fingerings are more similar than not.
The fife ...
- 22.6k
10
votes
Is it difficult to transition from German fingering to Baroque fingering?
There are only a few differences between the two fingering systems. For a soprano (descant) recorder the main difference is for fingering F and F#. So, it shouldn't be too hard to transition between ...
- 14.7k
9
votes
Should I bother to learn the correct fingering or transpositions by default when playing a second instrument?
From my experience as a brass player, you should absolutely learn the alto using the correct pitches and correct fingerings. It takes some time to get used to, but the future benefits far outweigh the ...
- 85.1k
9
votes
Accepted
Plastic vs. wooden recorder and saliva build-up?
With any plastic recorder you will always get some condensation due to the air coming from your lungs being very humid. This usually should not render the recorder unusable in a few minutes, unless ...
- 23.1k
8
votes
How to play low b note on soprano recorder
By design, the lowest note on a soprano recorder is C5 (which is in fact an octave above middle C). And unlike the high end, the low end of a wind instrument's range can't be arbitrarily extended ...
- 35.8k
7
votes
Accepted
Why is contemporary music for the recorder so weird?
It's not just recorder music! About 100 years ago a lot of composers felt music wasn't developing interestingly enough and made a conscious break from 'common practice' - which might (very) loosely ...
- 95.6k
7
votes
What does the plus (+) ornament mean?
Not contradicting @DrSvanHay's source, which actually only arguments, that a trill may be marked as +: This is just indicating any kind of embellishment, I'm not sure, whether due to sloppiness of the ...
- 11.4k
6
votes
How do I fix a stuck Joint on a plastic recorder
As Tim commented, warm water may loosen the grease, but for stuck woodwind joints we usually use a refrigerator or freezer. Chilling the plastic and/or grease can both shrink the joint and make the ...
- 7,544
5
votes
Accepted
How important is it for the left hand to be nearest the mouth when playing tin whistle?
The instruments in the family are built around the left hand being on top.
If you learn right hand on top you will be seriously limiting your technique on other wind instruments other than the tin ...
- 7,544
5
votes
Why is the recorder a good instrument to start with?
I teach recorder. People who loathe the sound should try the larger instruments. They sound gorgeous, even the plastic models. They don't weigh anything like as much as other wind instruments and are ...
- 51
5
votes
Yamaha tenor recorder
If your low notes are coming out an octave too high, and you are blowing very gently, then the most likely problem is that one or more of the fingerholes is not completely closed. You must make sure ...
- 6,560
5
votes
Yamaha tenor recorder
I had the exact same experience with my Aulos tenor recorder. You really don't have to blow much harder to get an overblown octave. I also found that the angle of the stream of air is important so ...
- 1,349
5
votes
Scaling an object to change its key
Have a look at the picture at https://www.moeck.com/en/service/faq/the-recorder-family.html. The instruments are indeed (roughly, at least) scaled proportionally in all three dimensions. I would do ...
- 26.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Recorder out of tune by a half tone up
As you've observed, the intonation of a recorder is highly sensitive to the pressure it's played at, i.e. to the dynamics. It should not be understood as a “keyed” instrument where the fingers just ...
- 35.8k
5
votes
Accepted
L'Arlésienne Menuet — where to take a breath?
On the flute (and probably on the recorder) it's almost impossible to play this in one breath.
It's probably playable in two breaths, but there is no good solution. I have a recording of Emmanuel ...
- 22k
5
votes
How similar (or not) are recorder, fife, and flute fingerings?
The fingerings for almost all woodwind instruments are 'similar' in the sense that covering successive holes gives you a diatonic scale. For the chromatic notes in between, every woodwind instrument ...
- 22k
5
votes
Which notes are played
Despite the names treble, alto, tenor and bass, all four recorders sound an octave higher than their vocal equivalents. Your tenor recorder, for example, is pitched too high to play the written tenor ...
- 5,543
5
votes
Has anyone required nonstandard fingerings for "normal" pipe instruments?
This week’s video from Sarah Jeffery on the Team Recorder channel covers playing ‘Austro’ by Giorgio Tedde, which calls for some unconventional fingerings. The video is at
...
- 2,576
5
votes
Playing a C Recorder with classical guitar
You can play a guitar in any key. You can play a recorder (whether C or F) in any key (although beginners are happiest in keys with few sharps or flats). There's no need to retune or transpose.
A ...
- 22k
5
votes
Accepted
Are smaller wind instruments harder to play in tune than larger instruments of the same family?
Sounds very logical, and very likely the same for strings.
As I said in my comment, all is about relatives: small instruments work on higher frequencies, which in turn, are smaller wavelengths. This ...
- 5,282
4
votes
Accepted
How to play A5-B5-C6 sequence on descant recorder?
There's no easy solution here. One B fingering makes A-B easy, and the other makes B-C easy. You just have to pick which transition is more critical.
This 1/2 "flip" (going from 1-- to -2-) is very ...
- 22.6k
4
votes
Curved v. straight windway
I would like to dispel the myth about curved windways. If a recorder is well made and voiced by a good and experienced maker, a straight windway will sound just as good as a curved one.
The quality of ...
4
votes
Is it possible to play a low A on a recorder
Not on the soprano recorder, because it's tuned in C and going below it hits the physical limit of the instrument. Only low B is achievable by playing like the low C but partially covering the bottom ...
- 141
4
votes
Accepted
Recorder left-hand thumb position with certain note combinations
I lift my thumb completely off for the D.
It may seem a bit counter-intuitive, but it's actually a smaller and easier movement than the slide you're talking about. When you "half" hole for the higher ...
4
votes
What does the plus (+) ornament mean?
HENKE, Stephanie Morgan. A Study of the Early 18th-century French Baroque Musical Style: An Oboist's Performance Practice Guide to Jacques-Martin Hotteterre Le Romain's Troisième Suitte de Pièces À ...
- 987
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