Tootler, if music for F recorder was transposed to make it read with C fingerings, what problem would that create with deciding which range of recorder was best for the music? The fingerings wouldn't change one iota, only the sound that came out of the instrument. The biggest bugaboo I see with the practice is someone picking up a piece of music intended for an F recorder and playing it on a C. In a consort that could nicely mess up the works.

While I'm against treating the recorder as a transposing instrument, I'm also leery of naysayers who declare it must never be done. If leeneia wants to do so for a friend I figure that's her business. Frankly, I'd be willing to bet that he'd be reading the music at concert pitch and using the F fingerings in not all that long.

And, leeneia, you're correct that instruments don't transpose, people do. But "transposing instrument" is the musical classification assigned to those instruments for which music must be transposed for it to be heard at concert pitch.