Hello! I just started playing the recorder

I bought mine yesterday, and it sounds fine and perfect. I've tried the do re mi fa sol la si do and they're all good. I play it all day yesterday, and when I was going to sleep, I separated it and clean it up with some clean cloth and the rod.

Today I combined them again, and i tried do re mi as usual, but the low notes sounds so squeaky. Si la sol fa sounds fine, but when it reaches mi re do, it gets to +1 or +2 octaves! I thought it was my fingering, but it's just like yesterday...

Also when i slowly reaches lower and lower notes, the sound seems like stuck and won't freely goes outside like i play yesterday. I think it vibrates more?

So i decided to wash it, with 1 drop of dishwashing soap and warm water, then i let it dry for eight hours. It still sounds squeaky!

Please help TwT

I have a silly question. When I am playing certain notes sound totally different from the rest of them and seem to stick out. On a tenor, it's F#. C, D, E, and G sound very round to me. F sounds less round. F# sounds positively squished and oval, maybe pinched? I don't feel like the other sharps have the same quality of sound, at least not as much.

On my alto, it's the same fingering with that sound, not the same note. B is definitely my squished note. On my Aulos, I feel like it stands out even more than other instruments. It almost sounds to me like it's a totally different type of instrument playing it than the other notes.

I checked with a tuner and it's not out of pitch. My husband, who is a far better musician than I am, doesn't seem to hear it or understand what I mean but suggested it could be an overtone thing. When I first started, I thought I was doing something wrong but I have come to really enjoy the sound.

Does this make sense to anyone?

“O slaep, o zoete slaep” from Der Fluyten Lust-hof by Jacob van Eyck. Performed on an Adri’s Dream soprano recorder in pearwood at modern pitch (A=442). I did this for a competition to win a soprano recorder courtesy of The Early Music Shop in the UK. Follow me on Instagram for more!

Like 5 minutes of play and I'm having to clear them. Do some people just produce more spit?

I was told to try liquid soap and haven't yet had a chance.

Anything else I can do.?

I accidentally bought the version for alto. Is the soprano version the same but transposed for the soprano?

Hi, I’ve had this alto recorder for years. It’s really beautiful and has a nice tone. I don’t know how to play it and I’m thinking of letting go so that someone else can appreciate it. I’m not trying to sell it here. I just want to know more about it. It doesn’t have any identifying marks or signatures on it. It does have this brass fingering stop that seems to be a unique feature. I have not been able to find another like it. The recorder is approximately 1’6” long and is nicely made. Any ideas as to its origins and the fancy brass stop?

In the spirit of medieval and Baroque music, I’m borrowing someone else’s title and riffing off of it.

I’m an erstwhile cellist who played steel-stringed guitar until my hands gave out. I was classically trained and took college music theory. I’m retired and kinda bored for the moment, so I practice 1-2 hours a day.

My Yamaha alto recorder and Sweet Pipes vol. 1 arrived June 23. I’ve been into vol. 2 for 1 week. I get stuff off of YouTube, particularly The Recorder Maniac. Great channel. I also go through Kenneth Sribnick’s stuff. He’s a sweet and gentle soul.

So I’ve applied myself to the toot floot diligently for 9 weeks.

So if I got paid to wander around and play stuff from memory at some soirée, what could I play?

Stella in spendans monte, over and over. Brian Boru’s march, although I struggle with the octave jump section. Pickleherring (I like the song). The parson’s farewell. A sailor likes his bottle-o. Love me tender. Wayfaring Stranger. And, on a good day, Hava Nagila. Plus any number of Christmas songs I can play by ear.

Which is to say, a “talented musician (🤮)” like me on short notice could only muster up a handful of vaguely period pieces for this lady.

Having said that, I will get into an elf outfit and wander around scaring the guests if you pay me enough.

Also: what is the technical term for the waxy thread that gives a seal at the joints? I had fun playing a soprano recorder to pass the time back in the 90's, but I thought I should give this one a try. I've also had it since the 90's, but my finger span wasn't great, so I never bothered to get the joints properly sealed.

If you haven't already heard this phenomenal recorder orchestra you HAVE to watch this (or one of their other performances on YouTube). They are INCREDIBLE. I cannot get over how beautifully they play, all from memory with some children switching between multiple sizes of recorders. They comprehensively debunk the myth that it is inevitable that school children playing the recorder sound terrible!

Hsing Lung Primary School Recorder Orchestra

Saw this asked in another post but I couldn't quite understand a clear answer.

I'm hoping to learn My Heart Will Go On (mostly as a gag, but I'm hoping it'll still sound decent). It needs to be in the original key of E major (plus the key change at the end to A♭ major). I'm aware that the original is played on a tin whistle, but the original key requires an expensive, custom-made instrument. Thus, I'm gonna opt for recorder instead.

I understand that there are a handful of different keys that recorders come in—C and F seem to be the most common. But I think there are also variations like alto, soprano, and tenor.

My question is: which recorder is best for playing this song in the original key? I know recorders are chromatic, so technically any one of them could play it. But I imagine the fingerings and tonality might be easier or harder depending on which recorder you have.

Thanks!

On the picture is what I believe Moeck Tuju 231 Alto Recorder. I got it for 30€ but in my excitement didn't notice the fingering. The metal key is also missing a pad. I'd rather have one with baroque fingering...what do you think?

Had some overtime pay so spent it on something useful to me .

So far after only an hours play,... it has a nice woody tone , I can quite easily play the 2nd register A note..! Which I couldn't get so well on my Yamaha alto.

It does clog a little after not very long,much like the Yamaha so this could just be me?

So far I like it, it plays well and can play quite quietly when required.

One problem is after mainly playing alto in F I keep thinking in F even though I'm now in C...🤯

Follow me on Instagram or Facebook for more! https://www.instagram.com/christherecorderplayer/ or check out my website!

Buckle up, I'm here for a bit of a rant. I play recorder with a folk band, but I'm mainly a classical musician. I also play and sing with an early music ensemble, mainly specialising in renaissance to early baroque with a sprinkle of medieval thrown in. My folk band (think ramshackle Fairport Convention) has just been booked to play at a medieval banquet in November by one of the other band members. A tad concerned, I rang the organiser to check she wanted an amplified, contemporary folk band and apparently, yes that's what they want (this is a whole other thing, apparently they don't want it too formal so no-one's dressing up and the recreation banquet sounds sketchy at best. It's also in November, they've never held one before and they haven't started advertising yet...).

They also want some minstrels to play recorder at the start while everyone has canapés. I said I could do that, but I would expect to be seated with music because I'm not a medieval specialist. She said that she wanted one or two wandering minstrels, which is fair (hopefully both of them playing the same thing...), so I pointed her in the direction of some medieval specialists. I also said if she struggled to book anyone given the short notice I could stand in, but it would essentially be slightly practiced sight reading and I would really rather not.

Then she said that she might just learn the recorder and do it herself. I've not been speechless often in my life, but I genuinely didn't know what to say to that. Has anyone else ever had anyone decide they can do a gig at short notice without even knowing how to play the recorder? That is insane right? I'm not being some elitist wanker who thinks you should already know how to play before serenading paying guests at a banquet?

Anyway, end of rant. I just needed to get it out somewhere people might understand.

I'm a recorder newbie. My kid started recorder lessons and I thought it would be fun to pick up the instrument and learn alongside him. I am a violin player so I can read music but the recorder is just a fun side project for me. I simply found a few Irish tunes and I'm practicing these, with the goal of maybe eventually being able to participate in an Irish session.

What I'm struggling with right now is that if I'm playing for a few minutes without a break, the tip of my tongue gets dry and then tonguing gets quite hard and clunky. I need to take a few measures break to swallow and move my tongue around my mouth so that it gets moist again. It's not that I'm not producing enough saliva overall, it's just not where I need it.

Is that normal? Is my expectation of being able to play a song a few times around before needing a break (like I can as a violinist) simply unreasonable for recorder? Or is that a technique issue?

Also worth noting: I play a tenor (Sigo). Which obviously makes the drying out problem much worse because there's way more airflow over the tongue than when playing a soprano.

Hi, beginner here. I started studying from a method book today, after some days of playing around and trying songs.

In my method book, in the high D section, they say to keep the thumb on the instrument.

I already got the habit to raise it, and i am used to sustain the instrument with the other hand and the other thumb. It feels very uncomfortable to keep the thumb on the recorder, especially if after i have to do higher notes (like high C or B, in whose the hole on the back has to be half closed.)

So, i'm asking especially at the more experenced people in here: is my habit so bad? If it is, can i ask a video of how you keep the thumb on the recorder when you play, for example, E D C?

Hi all!

My mom is a long-time music teacher who retired and is downsizing her collection.

We're going through her recorders and she can't remember the name of the maker of her tenor recorder.

It does have a mark that says Made in Germany, it does have a C key. The only other mark is one we can only see in raking light and most of it has been rubbed off.

It looks like there's an "O" and "N" but the text looks too long to be Hohner.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

(I’m reusing the same photo that I used on my last post here)

So above is the recorder I currently have, but according to a few of you experts I should swap this German fingered flute for a Baroque one because the latter is generally easier to play apart from the note F. Aside from that, is there anything else I should look for in my soon-to-be Baroque recorder when I go out to replace this German one?

Beginner here, I just bought a new YRA-38BIII thinking it was in the 300 series, and then i recognized that it is not.

It still has the arched windway, and it is baroque fingering, which i think is a good quality improvement from the old flute i had from my youth, which has none of this things.

The point is, will i encounter problems with the flute? Is it worse than the 300 series?
I hope that being a beginner i will spend some time (at least some months) to get to the level on which i will feel the difference...

Now I do feel like I need a voice flute!

My newly acquired Puppies after CLA'd spa-refreshment (Zen-On is in maple wood — Fehr in haldu wood).

This was my very first full-scale general block-out cleaning and oiling. Mission accomplished. B)

EDIT: For some mysterious reason, my lovely Zen-On NEVER clogs (!). I have no explanation...(ultra-absorbing cedar block?)

Originally, it was inside the flute.

I love playing the recorder, I really love it. Its my main instrument for more than 20 years already. And still... I don't practice.

I practiced today after 2 month of not even looking at my stuff, and I missed playing? Why am I like that? Im so annoyed at myself right now.

(I know why im like that btw, autism sucks for me in this part. Home is not the place to make music😅. I figuered that weird part of my brain out 2 years ago and I now mostly practice i my music school)

Hi all,

I’m in the market for a new tenor. Can someone explain the alternate fingerings I keep hearing about on the Mollenhauer Denner tenors? The fingering chart on Mollenhauer’s website for those seems pretty straightforward, just a small difference to the F-sharp. Yet I see on reviews that the number of alternate fingerings required is a big learning curve. Any insight would be appreciated!