Barton Press - Learning Recorder: How to Play the Recorder | 143 Pages (With Video Lessons)

The recorder is a musical instrument categorized as an internal duct flute in the woodwind family. Woodwind instruments are the family of instruments that produce sound by blowing air into the instrument, with air being split by a sharp edge, such as a reed or other mouthpiece component. An internal duct flute is any flute with a whistle mouthpiece, like the recorder. These are also known as fipple flutes. What distinguishes the recorder from other types of flutes is the presence of a thumb hole and seven finger holes.

The very first recorder-like instruments date back to ancient times. These initial vertical flute instruments were primitive in nature and found in various areas around the world. The current-day recorder emerged in Europe in the Middle Ages, estimated around the 15 th century during the Renaissances period. The Golden Age of the recorder is considered to be the Baroque Era, in the 17 th to mid-18th century. Many prolific composers wrote solo music for the recorder during this time as well as ensemble music featuring the recorder.

After the Baroque Era, the recorder lost its popularity to the flute. It is important to note that until the invention of the modern-day concert flute (also called the transverse flute because it is played horizontally rather than vertically), the names flute and recorder overlapped as names for the recorder. In music prior to the 19 th century, musical scores marked flauto referred to the recorder, whereas flauto transverso referred to the transverse flute.

Although the recorder vanished for a time in music history after its Golden Age in the Baroque Era, it made a comeback about 150 years later. The instrument made a resurgence in the 20th century with the revival of Baroque music, and today is actively used in performances and educational programs. There are various types of recorders based on size, shape, and material. For this guide, we will discuss the most commonly played of todays modern recorders: the sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass recorders . Recorder sizes are named after vocal ranges in music and vary in range based on size. The sopranino recorder is the smallest and highest in range. It is about the size of a pencil and plays in the range of F5 to G7. The soprano recorder is next in size and has a sounding range of C5 to D7. The alto recorder has a range of F4 to G6, the tenor has a range of C4 to D6, and the bass recorder has a sounding range of F3 to G5. If you arent familiar with the register system in music that uses letters and numbers to specify notes, dont worry. These letters and numbers refer to the letter name of a note and how high or low it is. In simple terms, this means that the lower numbers are lower notes, while the higher numbers are higher notes. For now, it is useful to know that the sopranino recorder is the highest in sound, followed by the soprano, then alto, then tenor, and then bass.