A woodwind player’s introduction to: recorders
For a “modern” woodwind player, recorders might show up in “period” classical music performance or in commercial situations like musical theater or studio gigs. They might be used in commercial settings to evoke Renaissance or Baroque periods, to function generically as “world” or folk flutes with robust chromatic capabilities, or (maybe due to their association with elementary school classroom music) to suggest themes of childhood or naivete.
The use of recorders in classroom settings is an odd one, as something like a pennywhistle has a similar just-blow “fipple” (duct) mouthpiece and a much simpler fingering scheme. The effort required to play recorders fluently and convincingly shouldn’t be underestimated.
Here are some important things to know:
- While the finest recorders are usually made of wood, there are high-quality and relatively inexpensive ones made of plastic that are quite playable. The top-of-the-line plastic ones made by Yamaha and Aulos are well worth considering, at least as a starting point.
- The alto (“treble”) recorder is the primary instrument of Baroque repertoire, with a solo range similar to the Baroque flute. The soprano (“descant”) is the one used in elementary classrooms.
- Recorders are available in “modern” pitch (A=440 or similar) and in various historical pitches, which may be required for playing with period ensembles.
- Recorders are often misunderstood as being in the “keys” of C or F. This isn’t quite the same thing as, say, clarinets in B-flat and E-flat, since properly-written recorder parts are always written in concert pitch (sometimes with octave displacements). Rather than learning one set of fingerings and reading from transposed parts, recorder players learn two different sets of fingerings, and may read in multiple clefs. (I’ve written more about this in a previous post.) However, some composers and orchestrators get this wrong, and transpose parts for “F” recorders as they would for F horns.
- Recorders require much less breath than “modern” woodwinds. Like most fipple flutes, they don’t have much dynamic range, since blowing harder tends to cause sharpness or unwanted leaps into the upper registers.
- The recorder’s left-hand thumbhole functions as an octave vent (this feature distinguishes the recorders from pennywhistles and other fipple flutes). The thumb octave vent helps balance the volume of the upper and lower registers, and gives the player some agility for moving between them.
- Recorders respond best to a low, open voicing.
- Vibrato may be produced on recorders using the breath-pulse technique used on modern flutes and double reeds. It can also be done with flattement, a microtonal trill technique common in the Baroque period.
- There are many historical and modern method books available for recorders; I like Walter Van Hauwe’s The Modern Recorder Player (in three volumes) as a good introduction that assumes a strong musical background.
Yes, it always surprises a recorder player that other instrumentalists receive their music “as is” end of story. Many bassists simply refuse to read treble clef. No problem. Whereas recorder players are expected to adapt on demand, and jump between F and C recorders, play up and down an octave, or play tenor ( C4 -treble clef) in bass clef without a fuss.
Actually, we learn fingerings in more than 2 keys. Most recorderists learn fingerings for C and F recorders, but most or at least many professional soloists also frequently play G alto, and the voice flute in D (it’s a D tenor, so a little smaller than the more common C tenor recorder). Furthermore, some renaissance consorts were not organized in the F-c-f-c’-f’ alternation we are accustomed to now, but rather in ascending 5ths: F-c-g-d’-a’. There are renaissance specialists who take the trouble to master thinking of their fingerings in concert pitch. For these as much as for the modern C and F recorders, we do not read transposed parts. We always read in concert pitch.