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Post by Zi on Jan 16, 2023 17:35:22 GMT
I play recorders. I started playing when I retired. I began with the descant and I've had several starts and stops for many different kinds of reasons. I started the treble too a few years ago but then life things got in the way and I gave it up only to restart a couple of times more. I have recently started playing the treble again and this time it's going really well and I'm enjoying it a lot.
I've had quite a lot of trouble finding a treble that I can reach to play all notes but just recently I bought an Aulos Symphony and it's really good and very easy to play so I am enjoying that a lot.
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Post by pavane on Jan 17, 2023 13:55:44 GMT
I also started after I retired. It was largely by accident: I was playing (very badly) the clarinet and I wanted something simple that I could just pick up and blow without having to bother with assembly or, most of all, reeds. I'd always thought, like many people, that the recorder was a horrific instrument played only by school children. My sister played a recorder at school when she was a child and she never made much effort unless she was in a really bad mood, when she would take it out and torment the rest of the family with it until someone got her to stop. A friend of mine owned an alto and a tenor he had bought in a music shop once because they looked interesting. I don't think he'd ever played them, so he lent them to me and I got hooked, to the extent that I completely gave up on the clarinet - though I have recently taken that up again - and played recorder exclusively. I learnt alto to start with but switched to tenor because I prefer the sound. It's the only one I play now and I'd have trouble switching back, partly because the holes would be "in the wrong place", and partly because I've forgotten the fingering.
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Post by Zi on Feb 11, 2023 13:20:24 GMT
While I was looking for the clamp that fits the harp to its stand, I found two more recorders... Both descant. One is the notorious 205 and the other the later 205-E The 205 is incredibly easy to play...
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Post by Misty on Feb 12, 2023 17:19:46 GMT
So how many is that now, Zi....?
Why is the 205 notorious?
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Post by Zi on Feb 12, 2023 17:37:27 GMT
So how many is that now, Zi....? Why is the 205 notorious? See I'm not embarrassed one little bit! I think it's 25 or there abouts. If my playing matched how many recorders I had, I'd be a maestro! The 205 was beloved by kids and it's very loud and quite strident - the kids blew it hard as well so I guess it was even more loud and strident. I have no idea where these two came from. I have a vague idea that one may have been a present a long time ago and the other must be one my husband picked up because I can't think why I'd have bought a 205 unless it was curiosity value... How are the recorders going for you? |
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Post by Misty on Feb 12, 2023 18:27:52 GMT
Well, the bottom Fs on my the grenadilla alto are slowly showing some improvement, although it still surprises me a bit when they come out cleanly. Also, fingering generally needs tidying up, and my right hand wanders off on its own instead of staying close to the keys. I'm working on the Gluck aria which is on the G3 syllabus, but it's written in Bb major which creates some issues. My last lesson was rather depressing, actually, as I kept going blank about how to form the right notes - not something I usually do. I realised why at 4.30 am the following morning when the migraine struck. 
I'm looking forward to the Van Eyck for alto arriving. In the meantime I am working quite hard on scales and arpeggios, as my teacher has a habit of suddenly asking mid-lesson for a random scale/arpeggio. It's an odd thing: I find it relatively easy on flute, violin and piano to play scales from memory, but this is a trick my brain hasn't yet got the hang of where recorders are concerned.
For my next lesson, my teacher is going to oil one of her recorders and then get me to do my flauto rondo which is feeling rather dry. Last week she showed me how to wind dental floss on the tenons, so now if I hold the flauto rondo upside down the headjoint no longer falls off!
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Post by pavane on Feb 12, 2023 18:50:42 GMT
There are various oddities about recorders! I find that if I play the recorder and move to clarinet I have no problem with the differences in fingering, but if I go in the other direction there are a couple of notes I get wrong and it takes me a while to settle back into them. I think that's because what I regard as the "natural" fingering for 2nd octave D would be all 6 fingers down (as per 1st octave) but with the thumb hole leaking to give the octave, so I go from E (5 fingers down) to D by putting the extra finger down, not switching to the actual fingering for the note.
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Post by Zi on Feb 12, 2023 21:23:43 GMT
Misty - Keeping fingers close to the recorder is difficult especially if you get flustered or panicky. There are exercises you can do before playing; I've never tried that but some people say it helps. Geert Van Gele took up yoga as a way of remaining calm when he was playing. Scales and arpeggios are a good way forward too because they get your fingers used to working quickly. It's something I must get back into the habit of doing. Don't you feel pleased about how far you've come? I mean G3 is amazing and it wasn't so long ago that the first little recorder arrived - here you are learning both treble and descant! You must be really pleased with yourself!  Do say how the oiling goes! I've never ever got around to it though I keep threatening to! pavane - It's strange the clarinet doesn't interfere at all (so far) - but, I still have only a few notes and it's a much bigger instrument. For you, it's probably a lot closer in size to the tenor - could that have an impact I wonder? I still get confused swapping between descant and treble though and it's still the descant that suffers...
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Post by pavane on Feb 13, 2023 10:46:32 GMT
pavane - It's strange the clarinet doesn't interfere at all (so far) - but, I still have only a few notes and it's a much bigger instrument. For you, it's probably a lot closer in size to the tenor - could that have an impact I wonder? The finger spacing is actually easier on the clarinet than on the tenor! I think it's simply that it's logical on all woodwinds to cover another hole to get the next lower note, but the recorder has some idiosyncratic fingerings that don't conform to that rule. Going from G to F (tenor/soprano) is one of them but it only occasionally trips me up, but E down to D often does. It's funny really that it's such a bad note on the recorder (ie 6 fingers down, upper register), not just out of tune but stuffy - so bad you can't even use it for the notorious E-D trill. |
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Post by Zi on Feb 13, 2023 10:56:00 GMT
It's interesting - that isn't the note that irritates me - it's Bb (first one -not the top one which sounds fine and is very easy to hit). I really don't like the sound of that note though it's got better over the years. I try to convince myself it's increased skill on my part but if I'm honest, I think it's hearing loss so I no longer hear how bad it sounds. Stuffy is how I find Bb!
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