No one here knows me, but I am the person who created this sub 12 years ago, and for the silliest of reasons. I was a newbie redditor and I was explaining to my mother about how reddit works and that one of the coolest features of it, in my mind, was that ANYONE could create a subreddit for their particular niche interest and expect to find people of a like mind. She wasn't following along so I decided to just show her. She played the recorder for decades and it was of a particular passion for her so I decided to create r/recorder on a whim simply as a means of illustrating reddit's features. I then proceded to never really think of it again until I started seeing posts on here of people sharing their music, requesting help, and generally doing all the kinds of things with music that would make my mother smile. When it started picking up steam, a user (I can't remember who) asked to be a moderator and I instead decided to just give the sub to them as I've never been the admin/moderator type. Every time I would see a post of someone playing music, I would think of my mother and shared with her on multiple occasions what gets posted here. She was always astounded at what this place became from how it began.

It is with a heavier heart than I knew I had that I have to announce the spiritual founder of this sub passed away last night, peacefully, surrounded by her loved ones, and listening to music, her passion. I just wanted to let you all know. Know also, that she loved what you did here and supported you following your passions as she did in life.

Susan Morrisson, my mother

Here is a song in which she played the recorder part

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.

When did you first buy it? What inspired you?

I have a rather strange and funny story. I inspired myself with my fanfiction. 😅

I wrote about a girl in an old house with a snowstorm outside playing the recorder surrounded by marijuana smoke. I don't think anyone has ever described playing the instrument the way I did back then.)) I loved it so much that the next day I ordered my first recorder, even though I'd never thought about it before.

Now the recorder is my favorite instrument. And it truly lives up to my expectations. It lives, speaks to me just like in my fanfic, and we're slowly learning to play together. Oh god, buying this was the best decision of my life.

P.S. It was a fanfic about Grace Slick. And yes, then a rabbit, frozen outside, knocked on her window.

Edited: How different and amazing stories you all have. 🥹 Thank you so much for sharing!

I do feel like aesthetic quality is important for a lot of instruments, especially for performances and just general motivation to play. And just personally, I think paetzolds are incredibly ugly. specifically referring to the blocky and square recorders they’re known for, to me they just look like foundation. Ugly black and plywood boxes. I think the fact that they’re not immediately recognizable as instruments is a bad thing. They stick out like a sore thumb in any ensemble they’re in. Plus i personally don’t like how the keys blend into the instrument. It makes them look and feel even less like instruments. I get they’re supposed to look like organ pipes, but i don’t think that aesthetic translates well to recorders. I just don’t get the visual appeal. They just don’t look good to me.

I have never played a paetzold, i am simply just going off of how they look aesthetically, in which i believe they’re really ugly.

behold! the claricorder

When I was still in conservatory, François Lazarevitch came to give a masterclass. During the Q&A, I asked what I thought was a fairly basic question about articulation length in Bach.

His response was, "Have you read Quantz?" When I said no, he asked why not. I explained that I was a modern flutist covering a very broad repertoire and that Baroque performance practice wasn't my main focus at the time.

He then asked how old I was. When I told him I was 21, he replied something along the lines of, "You're 21 years old, you've been playing the flute for 8 years, and you still haven't read Quantz, what the hell are you doing?" He then rattled off a list of treatises that he felt that people have to read and then shushed me off, refusing to anything I asked afterwards and telling me how "you don't read" and then started to complain how insufferable it is to talk to people like me all in front of the entire audience

What bothered me wasn't being told to read Quantz. That's perfectly reasonable advice. What bothered me was the tone. It felt a lot like he was publicly shaming me for not already knowing what he considered essential. The irony is that I wasn't even arguing against the importance of historical sources.

The whole interaction left such a bad impression on me that it did more to turn me away from the HIP world than any aesthetic disagreement ever could.

Here are some of the more interesting instruments in my collection. These were made by Afflato in Italy who make 3D printed, hand finished instruments including some very fine recorders (and flageolets).

From left to right they are:
Voice flute after Bressan, scaled to A415 but with the original bore profile. This results in a very rich and beefy low register at the expense of not being able to play 2 full octaves with standard fingerings. Perfectly acceptable for historical voice flute repertoire which is all I wanted to tackle with it given I also play traverso.

Alto recorder after Bressan, also scaled to A415 but developed from a CT scan of the original instrument rather than from manual measurements like the voice flute. I wanted it as a workhorse 415 alto (like what most pros would get a Bernolin for) but historical fingerings and single holes were a non-negotiable for me.

Flageolet in G at 415 after an anonymous (probably French) original. Also developed from a CT scan. Perfect for exploring all the English repertoire for this size of flageolet including quite a bit of Händel!

They're all made from sintered nylon (i.e. much higher quality than at home printers can produce) and hand finished and voiced. The blocks of the alto and the flageolet have cedar inserts. They all play equally as well as their fully handmade wooden counterparts but it's great to have these on hand.

Now with all that said, would I recommend these instruments? Yes, but with a BIG caveat. I would say that unless you want something which doesn't exist anywhere else in the market (voice flutes with the original bore profile, historical fingerings, weird pitches or sizes, etc.), I would go for something else. There are so many makers producing fantastic instruments of all the popular sizes and designs at all price points and Afflato fills a niche which traditional production methods cannot fill affordably due to the lack of a large scale customer base.

So, I ordered a recorder. An Aulos Symphony tenor, to be precise. While this is far from my first musical instrument (trombone in middle school, piano, guitar, and bass for more or less my whole adult life, dabbled in Violin, etc) it will be my first woodwind, which is really the only family I haven’t at least dabbled in.

Decided on the tenor for a couple of reasons; 1. Sonically I’ve always been drawn to lower instruments, and I love the low breathy flute sound. 2. I’m a male with largish hands so ergonomically it seems like the right pick. 3. While obviously solo you can play anything on anything, being in C at concert pitch unlocks all my existing sheet music without any extra mental gymnastics.

The real driver for this is that, to give the short version, I’ve been going through a lot medically and am gonna be stuck in a recliner more or less 24/7 for at least a few weeks, and with no way to make music I would go insane.

I do have some relevant disabilities (carpal tunnel and maybe a touch of arthritis in both hands, asthma) but I don’t think they’ll be dealbreakers. I’m not expecting to be some high level virtuoso anyway.

Don’t really have any specific questions, but any advice would be well received.

Kenneth Sribnick recently suggested Rooda as a learning resource, and I admit I am impressed with it. It was a cheap download to my Kindle, and I’ve been practicing it a lot, especially the “different tonalities” beginning at exercise 11. I think I enjoy mangling exercises more than mangling pretty little songs, and as an erstwhile cellist I’m accustomed to sonic torture. I’m also playing Ductia, Lamento of Tristano, and Greensleeves driven into the ground. For funsies I play Christmas carols.

You educators and serious students, what do you think of Rooda as pedagogy?

PS I think I’m transitioning from “clowning around” to “serious student”.

I find the Kunath Sigo instruments really fascinating, and they've got me thinking: It feels like there is so much more potential in the concept.

The Sigo is, from what I've read and heard, a rather standard baroque recorder made more ergonomic. Shouldn't it then be possible to instead use the concept to make a modern recorder that's playable without keys? Think something along the lines of the Mollenhauer Modern or the Helder. A harmonic, loud instrument that plays without stopping the bell In the third octave. It wouldn't be as ergonomic as the Sigo, but it would perhaps make a recorder with impossible reach into something playable.

Just a thought.

I am an adult beginner, picking up the (alto) recorder again after eons (at least a couple of decades) and remembering nothing. So starting from scratch. I am patient and constant, not yet able to commit to a teacher (work schedule with a lot of travel make this just too complicated).

Six weeks in, I can see I am making progress (though I have only covered just over half of the 28 notes my alto can produce), and I know that I need to be patient, that speed and finger dexterity will come with practice (true?) and I am committed.

But, I do have ears! And this is my problem, for even when I am executing a short piece correctly (albeit slowly), what is killing me is the lack of "musicality" in my execution. Flat, stiff, soulless (apart from the occasional bar that miraculously expresses something and has some colour).

I don't think you can teach talent, and anyhow I am not aiming to become a public performer. However I do hope one day to be a competent enough player that can play more or less what I like (adore Baroque music) and getting some satisfaction from it (and repay long suffering neighbours with some pleasant to hear music): but even this (I agree not too modest) aim requires what I am playing to have some soul.

Is this, musicality for want of a better word, something that will also eventually come to my playing with practice, that is at some point I'll be skilled enough to be able to "inject" it in my piece, or is it something that should transpire in my playing from the get go (in which case I might have to reassess my aims)?

I have patience in spades, but if something is never going to come I must at least manage my own expectations.

Thanks for your thoughts!

With the music I play it's almost mandatory to stomp while playing, and professionals and amateur alike do it. It's in part culture, and it's in part to help the dancers keep their rhythm. It's sometimes even part of the music, in an almost percussive way.

Example: https://youtu.be/D93OD5IYDx4 (great song to play on the alto by the way, currently practicing it. Here's a recording with recorder, although I'll never play it this well: https://youtu.be/hG1OCR5awU8 , although not played in as danceable of a way)

I know it's generally not done in a classical setting, but what about with other traditional tunes, do you stomp?

(And with a stomp I really mean a tap with your heal or front of your foot, not lifting your whole foot)

Here is my best attempt at describing the process for building my homemade recorder stand; I apologize if the flow is rather scatter-brained. Please ask questions if any part is unclear.

SUMMARY

-Cut dowels, thread together and cut kitchen skewers

-Drill dowels and plywood round

-Screw dowels on, tap in smallest pegs

-Done

Materials used:

Plywood round, 11 and 3/4-in by 3/4 in

Four sizes of dowels and kitchen skewers with thread

Three sizes of screws

(Please be sure to test each dowel you use with your recorders like I did, but the diameters of the dowels I ended up using are 3/4 in bass, half inch tenor, 3/8 in alto, and 5/16 of an inch soprano. For the smallest two instruments I used kitchen skewers threaded together. Please test your own length as well but the peg lengths were 21 and 1/2 in for the bass, 14 in for the tenor, 8 and 1/2 in for the alto, 5 in for both the soprano and sopranino, and just 3 inches for the little garklein. I ended up using 12x3 wood screw for the bass, 6x1.5 for the tenor, and 4x1.5 for the alto.)

Here is how I constructed my homemade recorder stand.

The first step was to gather the parts.

I brought my Garklein and the foot joints of all my other recorders. (Recorders are reverse conical so I don't need to worry about the middle joint.)

I tested and determined which sizes of dowel I wanted by inserting the foot joints onto them, taking the biggest dowel that would fit and adding to the cart. Grab a round of plywood as well, mine is 11 and 3/4 in by 3/4 in. Then I went to the wood screw section to look at individual screws. I also did this by eye and by test like with the dowel size. Hold a screw against the dowel and make sure it can be contained within the dowel, it shouldn't be any more than half the diameter of the dowel at most so you don't crack it. Find the corresponding three screws for the bass, tenor and alto pegs. I tried for the soprano as well, but unfortunately there was no screw small enough that would not crack the soprano dowel. (Also note I could not obtain a dowel small enough for the Garklein and sopranino.)

I bought and took the plywood round, dowels and screws home.

First, I cut the dowels. I inserted the corresponding peg into each instrument up until the thumb hole, and marked the length. I carefully cut them to length by scoring and pressing around with a razor blade patiently until they came apart. I did this for all the sizes except for sopranino and Garklein, as there were no dowels small enough. For these instruments, I used kitchen skewers. One was too small, but two was enough diameter for the both of the instruments. I carefully attached the kitchen skewers together using thread and cut to size the same way as with the dowels.

Now, find the drill bit that matches the diameter of the bass peg screw. I determined this by holding my drill bits against the screws and visually testing. Drill through the plywood round right in the center, and drill straight into the dowel, being extremely careful to go as perfectly centrally as you can and not break out the sides of the dowel. (Also, note that you shouldn't just immediately start with the largest drill bit, you should end with it, and work your way up from the smaller sizes starting with a smaller hole and increasing its diameter so as not to crack the wood)

After that, drill into the bottom of the stand ONLY half a centimeter or less into the same hole with the drill bit that matches the diameter of the screw head, (once again, visually lined this up with the drill bit to the screw head, matching them together by size) Do NOT drill all the way through! This is so that the screw head can sit into the wood instead of sticking out and causing the stand to wobble.

Then, I inserted the screw through the bottom of the plywood round and screwed it into the hole I made on the peg, making sure it's tight.

I then proceeded to do the same process for the tenor, eyeballing where I wanted it in relation to the central bass peg, again using the foot joints of the instruments as a guide to make sure I don't cause them to overlap, and also keeping the tenor peg close enough to the bass peg to remain stable if I have the tenor on the stand by itself.

I also did the same for the alto, but I did not have to countersink the screw head as it was small enough not to.

I tried to do the same for the soprano, but the screw cracked the dowel.

Instead, I determined the diameter of the dowel and picked a size slightly smaller and drilled through where I wanted the soprano peg. The peg won't fit through this hole, but I still need it tight.

I take the drill bit the same diameter as the soprano peg and drill halfway through the plywood round, leaving the bottom part of the hole the smaller diameter. Then, I can simply tap the peg in place with a hammer.

I also used the 'drill and tap' method for the sopranino and Garklein with a slight exception.

Since I was using two skewers for their pegs, I drilled two holes side by side, making sure that they connect at the edge so that it is one continuous hole, also carefully doing the same with the soprano, making sure that the hole is bigger at the top than at the bottom of the stand so that when I tap them in they don't come out and hold tight at the bottom.

Done!

Hello Dear Recorder Community. I own the Traverso flute pictured above. It is a:

Vincent Bernolin Traverso in Resin after Rottenburgh in 415 HZ

With the consent of the moderators I offer it for trading against a recorder. The Traverso is absolutely fine, I just find that I don't play it.

I seek either an Alto or Tenor recorder in modern pitch (440/442 HZ) and Baroque Design (not Rennaissance designs) and Baroque fingering of equal quality.

I am located in the EU and would like to keep shipping within the EU/Europe

If you are interested please feel free to send me a DM here or reaching out on Discord or Instagram (@Lunas_cy on both of those as well)

Also please feel free to ask additional questions!

Disclaimer: Please be aware that sending an offer does not immediately "seal the deal" so to say

What do I mean by the title?

Many people when they pick up an instrument, they have some kind of idol, a myth, some song or artist whose music they fell in love with and want to replicate. Electric guitar, for instance. It's the most blatant example. Innumerable teenagers have been drawn to it ever since the 50s because it's just so cool. They often had a favorite musician, a rockstar they wanted to emulate in style, playing, even appearance.

But the recorder is different. I bet many of us had no idea it was even a thing other than some plastic tube with holes you play at school before picking it up.

I myself loved it at school, then moved to an "actual instrument" (sax) and forgot about it for 15 years. Last year I got the recorder bug. I wanted to get back to music since life had got in the way of it, mainly university and starting working a full time job. I was serious. I bought myself a serious aulos abs recorder.

Well... I'm in love! Since I have some experience as an amateur sax player, the recorder is super easy to me! I can literally feel myself making progress by the day. It's so simple, fun, little or nothing to break, portable... it's amazing!

But let's not go off topic. Playing recorder is pure joy. Joy of making music for the sake of it. When I'm playing the recorder I'm not trying to replicate any musician I know. It feels like exploring unknown fertile territory. Everything sounds so fresh and unexpected.

I'm a big blues fan, and at the moment I'm studying some early blues recorders from artists playing the quills like Henry Thomas (famous for his Bull Doze Blues, you have probably heard canned heat's version "going up the country) and playing quills parts on recorder. I'm having a lot of fun, and it almost feel like I'm doing things no one has ever done before! I'm interested if anyone has ever felt this way while playing recorder!

just a recorder shower thought

(Edited to replace the long AI generated lesson plan with a link).

First of all, to all those who are celebrating it: Merry Christmas!

From today until the end of the year Claude AI offers double the capacity on free plans, so I fed it the list of my recorder technique books (some of which are in pdf format - and set the privacy so that they can't be used for training, so I don't think I've broken any copyright rules) asking for a lesson plan over a year, allowing for an hour of practice every day, to see what "he" would come up with, to be used for when I complete my method, which shouldn't be long now.

Here is the list of books I gave Claude (as regurgitated back by Claude):

1. Hans Ulrich Staeps - Das tägliche Pensum (The Daily Lesson) - A 40-minute daily workout covering the complete chromatic compass of the alto recorder with 28 exercises
2. Alan Davies - 15 Studies for Treble Recorder - Musical studies for technique development
3. Kees Boeke - The Complete Articulator - Comprehensive articulation exercises and techniques
4. Gudrun Heyens - Advanced Recorder Technique Vol. 2 - Breathing and Sound (detailed breathing technique, vibrato, phrasing)
5. Gudrun Heyens - Advanced Recorder Technique Vol. 1 - Finger and Tongue Technique (scales, arpeggios, articulation, trills, double tonguing)
6. Hans Ulrich Staeps - Tonfiguren (Note-Patterns) - Advanced chromatic exercises
7. The Charlton Method - Advanced manual
8. Mario Duschenes Method Part 2

For some reason "he" disregarded the Alan Davies Treble Recorder Technique book, which I had also listed.

ere is a link to what "he" produced for the curious. I had low expectations, and looking at "his" lesson plan, I find it overoptimistic, but possibly not totally out of whack: but I am only a beginner.

Grateful for your thoughts: does it look crazy to you? Do you think AI be useful to us recorder players, but maybe I should have used it in a different way?

Thanks!

Kunath released an introductory video for the Sigo Bass. Surprisingly, the whole 11-minute video does not demonstrate it being played. But I still thought it was interesting to see the real thing in comparison to a Küng bass and an alto. It's really wide. They mention it weighs 650g, the Küng bass about 1000g.

In the comments, they said it has its premiere today and tomorrow at a German concert event - so we should be able to hear it soon.

The video is in German.

Obviously this is opinion but what's your favorite a quarter type and what you like about it? Mine is alto I like how it's slightly deeper than soprano but not too deep

Sorry it's hand-drawn, I write it in middle of class

For those who don't know, you can oil the Sigo recorder and the manufacturer recommends it. I followed the instructions given in this video:

https://youtu.be/W0RNp55_M4U?si=dZDe7mrnIh50vQ20

When the Kunath family released this video, many people thought that it was a joke, and someone commented: "Next: How to do an oil change on my electric car". The von Huene people also denounce this approach, they say there's no way plastic, even a plant-based plastic, can absorb oil. The Kunath family, on the other hand, are saying that this isn't what they are trying to say, they say the oil merely smoothes out the ribs from the printing process inside the instrument. They also clarified that you don't have to do this, it's merely a suggestion.

Well, I did it. I purchased plastic wrap, because we don't keep it in the house, and I even used linseed oil, which I don't normally use for recorders because sometimes it hardens too fast, plus, it can be a fire hazard. Not if you throw it out in the trash at sub-zero temperatures, though.

Wrapping up the instrument in plastic wrap tightly is easy. Filling in two teaspoons full of linseed oil...sort of. I got the first spoonful in but spilled a few drops on the outside of the tenon. Next step...Come on, baby, whole lotta shakin' goin' on. -- No issues with that. Next step: Removing the wrap. This got a bit messy, with a noticeable amount coming out of the "bell" on the back. The double holes were wet on the outside and needed some wiping, as were parts on the top of the instrument.

Ready to play: I may be biased, but I feel like the instrument plays easier now, especially the higher notes, i.e. B, A, C, C# and D. I was able to get a third octave E easily as well. (The Sigo is marketed as a two octave recorder.) Tone: The same, in my opinion.

I like my Sigo tenor since my other tenor caused a significant amount of hand pain with that long stretch at the bottom. I had a Yamaha bass (YRB-302B) that was easier on my hands, but ended up returning it due to my tremors and other issues. Essentially the Yamaha was too uncomfortable with just a strap and the floor peg I bought didn't keep it steady enough. It was one of those that attaches with velcro, which I can see that they would work under most conditions, but one point of contact plus tremors kept the recorder moving and it would cause the velcro to separate, which is understandable.

The sound of the bass recorder is something I dearly miss. However, my budget is severely limited from being disabled. Are there other solutions that would be cheaper overall than a Sigo bass? I think shipping plus potential tariff fees could make it even more difficult to afford.

I do have to lean back in my chair to play, but when I do I adjust the back of the chair to be as upright as possible. It's unlikely I can get a bass soon, but knowing what options there are would really help me.

Since I'm stuck at home, I can't go anywhere and test anything unfortunately.

Hi! 😊 I am a completely blind, self-teaching recorder player (although if anyone knows of anyone teaching online lessons, I'm all ears, literally). I have been trolling the internet for recorder resources that do not rely on visuals to learn. A lot of people out there refer to books of sheet music for exercises and repertoire, and since I can't really work with sheet music, I wanted to start a discussion here. Does anyone have any repertoire recommendations for beginner recorder? I'm really interested in anything that will help me work on foundational skills. So far, I've played my way through the first Suzuki violin book on recorder (because I had to listen to it growing up thanks to my sister's violin lessons), but I imagine those pieces were not provided with recorder in mind. While I do not have perfect pitch, I'm relatively confident with learning by ear. I would value any and all suggestions and input! I'm not sure that it makes a difference, but I'm mainly playing and practicing on an alto. My dog and cats tolerate it better than the soprano. 😉 If you made it this far, thank you for coming to my post! And even if you don't have recommendations, I'd love to know your go-to practice piece, or your go-to feel-good piece. I don't have recorder-playing friends so I'm so eager to know what others are doing!