playing the recorder, a few questions, please?

Question:Hi - I am thinking about playing the recorder .... I do not do so yet....
I once borrowed a small plastic Aulos soprano recorder which was quite good, but the scale was slightly uneven......it bothered me a lot (I am a singer).... we did have wooden recorders at home which belong to another branch of the family by now ... those were lovely, and had no quirks in the scale ...

I was wondering if you could recommend a good inexpensive recorder to try out for a little while
and
if you could suggest basic repertoire out of your own knowledge....I would like some pretty, simple things to play ... I am hoping to find some really nice ones; I can make music from the little books, but I wonder if there is any lovely stuff a beginner might find satisfying (I am a fairly experienced musician, so I am trying to be fair and choosy at the same time)

Do you have any children? Do they play?
That might be just my speed. Thank you!

Thank you ever so much
LPM

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Hi - I am thinking about playing the recorder .... I do not do so yet....
I once borrowed a small plastic Aulos soprano recorder which was quite good, but the scale was slightly uneven......it bothered me a lot (I am a singer).... we did have wooden recorders at home which belong to another branch of the family by now ... those were lovely, and had no quirks in the scale ...

I was wondering if you could recommend a good inexpensive recorder to try out for a little while
and
if you could suggest basic repertoire out of your own knowledge....I would like some pretty, simple things to play ... I am hoping to find some really nice ones; I can make music from the little books, but I wonder if there is any lovely stuff a beginner might find satisfying (I am a fairly experienced musician, so I am trying to be fair and choosy at the same time)

Do you have any children? Do they play?
That might be just my speed. Thank you!

Thank you ever so much
LPM

Hi Scots
a Yamaha plastic one will do just fine (under $30 for an alto) ... I particularly liked learning out of the Von Trapp recorder book Enjoying Your Recorder (comes in F and C) and the MET uses a Yamaha plastic sopranino in their production of Peter Grimes

Cheapo recorders like from Walmart won't be tuned, or near it. If you want a nice one, stick to shopping at local sheet music/instrument stores. They should stock okay recorders, if a bit pricy. Ask the sales clerk about which is the best deal.

Why don't you ask the 'other branch of the family' to borrow theirs?

You're a kid (sorry, sure you're not), with a talent, too young to be involved in any family disputes.

Go for it babe, it's your birthright.

Hi, the descant recorder is quite good and usually available from music stores at reasonable prices.I haven't played one since i left school but seem to remember playing things like London`s burning,bobby shafto,go and tell aunt Nancy,we did learn to play the can can and Christmas carols too,i find now hearing the recorder that it is a bit high pitched but the treble recorder is more mellow ,but also rather more expensive than the descant.i hope this helps a bit and good luck with your music xx

Plastic recorders do not have the same wonderful sound than wooden ones, luckily Yamaha has got some inexpensive wooden recorders available at least (I have maple soprano and maple alto and they both have a lovely sound). If you decide to become a professional later on then it's recommended to have several sizes of recorders and not just the soprano, so then it has to be something from Von Huene for example. Those are a bit pricey though compared to Yamaha...!

As for repertoire, start from the real basics and then choose material you would like to learn, obviously classical music composers like Telemann are good starting points as not many pop composers use recorders anyway!

Plastic recorders, although machine made, are not all the same. Manufacturing variation means that it is worth while trying out as many as it takes until you find one with a good tone, speaking easily and with a true scale. Any decent music shop will be happy with you trying them; if you are a beginner, they might even have a woodwind specialist who will help you to choose.

My advice is to start with a plastic one (Aulos is as good as any) until you're sure you want to continue. A decent wooden descant (e.g. Moeck Rottenburgh in boxwood) will cost about ￡200, so it's wise to be sure before laying out so much money. Once you move up to an instrument of good quality, though, you have a friend for life. I can't play the oboe any more (front teeth fell out) but my recorders still console me!

The treble (or alto) is the main solo instrument. I don't know how old you are, nor what size your hands are, (you sound like an adult to me) but anyway, if you are (roughly) 9/10 or above you might consider starting on the treble. The tone is less shrill, and there's more music for it. On the other hand, a treble will cost more - not much of a problem with your first plastic instrument, but can be one when you move on.

If you plan eventually to study an orchestral wind instrument, it might in any case be better to start with the descant (or tenor) - oboe & flute fingerings, and to some extent the clarinet ones, are based on the same system. The treble fingerings use the same pattern, but give notes a 5th below the descant - the C fingering gives F on the treble & so on.

As far as repertoire is concerned, in the first instance, Schott publish a decent little book of Christmas carols (Come & Adore Him) in 3 parts; simple arrangements, but musical and satisfying, and nice to start learning at this time of year. I use this with beginning players, & it works well. The next step up might be to write out some 16thC madrigals for recorder consort - since your family play as well, you can have a session with them. Madrigals are lovely, and not hard on the recorder.

After that, just browse in the racks of your local music shop or, once you know roughly what you're looking for, get on line to any music publisher & search their lists. Remember that flute & oboe music often plays well on the recorder (descant or treble) with only a little adaptation - for instance playing low notes/phrases at the octave where the writen notes are too low. As you improve, have a go at some tuneful galant duos with a friend: Stamitz wrote a lovely set of 6 duos for 2 flutes, and Vanhal (friend of Haydn) wrote some for oboes. I've performed both of them on oboe and also on recorder - they went down as well on one instrument as the other. After that, the sky's the limit.

Whatever you do, good luck. I think you'll probably make it - so happy blowing.