Dear ASW:
What is a good all-around recorder for an adult beginner? I am not certain whether I will ever become an advanced player and don't want to spend a whole lot of money, at least not at first.
You should first decide whether you want to play soprano or alto
recorder. Most advanced players eventually learn to play both c-fingered recorders (piccolo, soprano, tenor, and greatbass) and f-fingered
recorders (sopranino, alto, bass, contrabass), but the beginning player needs to concentrate on one or the other. Trying to do both often leads to confusion and discouragement.
A soprano recorder is cheaper and usually plays the top or lead voice in recorder ensembles, but it is small for adult hands, has a higher and shriller tone quality, and has relatively little solo literature available – and the bulk of that consists of arrangements and transcriptions, not original music. The soprano is usually the beginning instrument of choice for children or adults with small hands.
An alto recorder, on the other hand, is more expensive to purchase (2-3 times as much for a wooden alto than a soprano of corresponding make and model), usually plays an inside voice in recorder ensemble, but is better suited to adult hands, has a more pleasant tone and range, and has a vast amount of original baroque solo music available. The alto is, all things considered, probably the best beginning instrument for most adults.
A tenor recorder can be another possible choice for a beginner who wants to play melodic material in a soprano range but prefers a deeper-toned, mellower instrument, can afford to spend a good deal more money for an recorder, and has sufficiently large hands. The tenor recorder is
largely an ensemble instrument and has relatively little solo literature written for it; however, much of the soprano solo literature can be played to good if not better advantage on a tenor, and solo oboe music from the baroque period also usually works well on tenor recorder.
I notice that you have both plastic and wooden recorders. Is wood preferable to plastic?
All other things being equal, yes – but then all things are not always equal. There are good and bad plastic recorders, as well as good and bad wooden recorders. A good plastic recorder is far better than a cheap poor wooden one. However, a good wooden recorder is always preferable to a good plastic instrument – AOTBE.
Advantages of plastic instruments: they are relatively inexpensive to purchase and require little if any care.
Disadvantages of plastic instruments: they have a hard, glassy sound which many players find unpleasant, and they also tend to clog up with moisture easily and repeatedly. Also, although there are a large number of makes and models of plastic recorders on the market, only a few models are really decent instruments.
Advantages of wooden recorders: they have in general a much more pleasant tone than plastic instruments and tend to clog less readily if correctly voiced and when properly played in. Perhaps most important, there is a wide choice of good makes and models available, although there are still many inexpensive wooden instruments of very poor quality, usually sold through commercial music channels. In addition, many more expensive wooden recorders have quirks and drawbacks of which the informed buyer needs to be aware before laying out a substantial amount of money.
Disadvantages of wooden recorders: they are more expensive than plastic ones and usually require more care and maintenance. In general, less expensive wooden instruments made of maple or pearwood are less care-intensive than more expensive instruments made of exotic tropical hardwoods, which typically require
humidification in dry climates and periodic oiling.
Summary: Caveat emptor – you pays yer money and takes yer choice. If you are anguishing over whether to invest in a custom-serviced instrument to replace your store-bought one, or whether to spend the extra money for a wooden instrument, take our course Recorder Buying 101. Whether you buy a plastic or a wooden instrument,
you would be best advised to buy an instrument from a source that will customize, voice, and tune your
instrument and guarantee that it will stay that way for the life of the instrument. Makers typically guarantee their instruments for six months to two years, but such warranties can be of little or no value if the ability and experience of the person doing the repair work are limited.
Ultimately, it is the selling dealer who is responsible for the customer's satisfaction. Dealers who run discount warehouse operations typically provide a limited choice of instruments and no custom service; customers who buy instruments from the cheapest commercial sources on a price basis alone should be aware that they are buying a recorder off the shelf
"as is". Such instruments rarely play well when new and will most definitely deteriorate with use. When you purchase a recorder, you are ideally buying not just a musical instrument but a complete package of goods and custom services, as well as investing in an on-going
relationship with someone who will hopefully be able to provide you with information, education, and guidance.
Okay, I think I want a good but inexpensive wooden recorder. Is there anything in the below $100 range that would be a good choice?
You can get any one of several very good wooden soprano recorders for
$60-$80. Unfortunately, there are no decent wooden alto or tenor recorders available in that price range; you have to spend $160 to $210 for an alto recorder and $250 to $350 for a tenor recorder of equivalent quality. See the section on inexpensive modern recorders in our ASW Guide to Recorders for a list of recommended instruments.
Unless you really can't stand the sound of a plastic instrument and don't want to deal with the chronic clogging problem, you are probably better advised to start off with a good quality plastic alto recorder rather than a wooden soprano instrument. If you find that, after a period of time, you are seriously interested in learning to play the instrument well, you can upgrade to a wooden instrument and retain your plastic recorder for backup. If you find that you are not all that interested, a good plastic instrument may be all the recorder you will ever need to buy. And if you find that recorder playing is really not for you and you would rather spend your spare time doing something else, then you haven't blown a big chunk of your disposable income. See the section on plastic recorders in our ASW Guide to Recorders for a list of recommended makers and models.
Bottom line: unless you have other priorities, buy yourself a top quality, custom-tuned plastic alto recorder (we recommend the Yamaha 300 series woodgrain alto in either palisander or ebony), both volumes of the Hugh Orr method "Basic Recorder Technique" for alto recorder, and Hans-Martin Linde's "The Recorder Player's Handbook" to educate
yourself as to what it is all about. Total cost: $108.35. We pay the shipping and insurance. Come back when you have worked your way through both volumes of Orr and read the Linde book from cover to cover, and we can talk about where to go from there.
I would like to get my elementary school-age children interested in recorder playing as well, so that we can learn together as a family. What beginning instruments and methods would you suggest for youngsters?
I have always been an ardent advocate of family music-making, which is called Hausmusik in German, and firmly believe that "the family that plays together, stays together." Many families have a home music tradition that goes back for decades and spans more than two
generations. The recorder and early music are also an ideal choice for both parents and children involved in home schooling. The Yamaha 300 series woodgrain soprano recorder in either palisander or ebony or the Adler Filius soprano, and Volume I of the Mario Duschenes "Method for the Recorder" for soprano recorder, together with a bit of adult
supervision, should get any youngster off to a good solid start. This method has some useful easy duets for soprano and alto recorder in the back for beginning parent/child ensemble use. There is also a separate volume of simple piano accompaniments available which can make learning a fun family project if someone has rudimentary piano-playing ability, and the piano accompaniments are now also available on a CD recording.
If several adults and kids are learning soprano recorder simultaneously, the Giesbert "Schule des Zusammenspiels" (don't let the name intimidate you) offers a wide variety of easy trios for soprano recorders. However, if you are seriously interested in family ensemble playing, I usually recommend that one parent learn to play soprano along with the child, and the other adult learn to play alto recorder. After the child has gotten beyond the beginning stages, the adult playing soprano can switch easily to tenor, since the fingerings are virtually identical, and the family ensemble will then be able to access the vast amount of trio literature available for soprano, alto, and tenor instruments. Edward B. Marks publishes three excellent, extremely inexpensive anthologies of early music (renaissance, baroque, and preclassical) that can be played on either SSA or SAT recorders and provide a wealth of material for the beginning family recorder consort.
All of the methods and materials mentioned on this page are listed in our detailed discussion of Adult Recorder Methods and Materials. as well as in our complete catalogue. If you have any further questions, contact me via E-mail at
[email protected]. or give me a call M-F 10-6 EST at +1 (508) 833-3979.
David H. Green, director
Antique Sound Workshop, Ltd.