I bought a plastic Aulos recorder of the alto (or treble) variety in Lancaster on Saturday. It did not cost very much, and came in an unattractive zip-up pouch complete with fingering chart, cleaning rod, and a charming little tin o' grease*, with which, presumably, to lubricate the joints. The thought did cross my mind of calling it the Japanese Flute, or Flauto Japonica, but Don's Engrish Frute is more than adequate as an affectionate handle with which to refer to this instrument, and for this I thank him.

My reason for buying this instrument is manifold; first, I wanted something to play with on dark autumn nights whilst my wife is otherwise employed about the business of her post-graduate researches (she also works full-time). Secondly, having recently picked up a first edition of Edgar Hunt's The Recorder and its Music (Jenkins 1962) (which, I might add, cost a good deal more that the Engrish Frute in question) I found myself desirous of a more corporeal communion with the topic of his study - yea, even with fond memories of my beloved Moeck Renaissance Alto from which I parted company back in 1982. Thirdly, there are times when chromaticism comes in very handy indeed, even in an entirely monophonic modal music such as my own, and being a dynamic instrument designed for chromaticism, it is entirely possible to use extended fingerings to discover more experimental or avant garde vocabularies than are available on simple whistle flutes. To this end I used to play my old brown plastic Dolmetsch tenor back in 1977, until I swapped it for the wooden Baroque alto in 1979 which went in 1981 in part exchange for the aforementioned Moeck Renaissance Alto, which, the following year, I traded in against a Camac hurdy-gurdy kit from which I made the instrument which I would eventually sell, in 1991, to fund the purchase of an alto Eb clarinet. This hurdy-gurdy is now back in my keeping, albeit temporarily; I have used it extensively throughout Naked Season, my new album of Dark Folk Songs for Sloow Tapes in Belgium, a track from which, The Leg of a Mallard, is currently playing on my myspace page.   

Anyhoo, with reference to Mr Hunt's book, it seems Arnold Dolmetsch was content with his original Bressan recorder until he left it in a bag on the platform of Waterloo Station in 1919, thus his hand was forced to manufacture a replacement, and so it was The making of recorders had begun (Hunt, 1962, p 132) - and with it the revival proper. Pre-war it seems we were entirely dependent on supplies from Germany; the author rather passively reports: The recorder was acquiring political associations and soon became the instrument of the Hitler-Youth, for which all kinds of marches, including the Horst Wessel-Lied, were to be arranged (ibid. p 139). Elsewhere he makes the significant confession that When I first imagined recorders being played in schools, I thought of well-balanced consorts in public, grammar and high schools, and some in private schools - I did not think 'council schools' would be interested. (ibid. p 137). It was only with the advent of WW2 that the recorder as we know it today comes into being - mass-produced, plastic, affordable, ubiquitous, and, sadly, as misunderstood (and often as unpalatable) as Dr Pepper.

Should my amateur endeavours on the Engrish Frute prove fruitful in any way, I will set up a Smoking Fund** for the purchase of a semi-serious instrument for public performance. Nothing too fancy you understand - in fact one of the new Moeck Rondo Altos in plain maple would do quite nicely, and, at a mere £142, isn't going to break the bank. Chances are however, I'll be making do with my Aulos alto Engrish Frute and put the bigger money to better use, such as one of Nadishana's new 5-in-one Futujaras which is a good deal more me somehow. Singarounds beware!            

* From Hip Priest by The Fall (Hexenduction Hour, 1982) comes one time feast was a tray o' grease. Interestingly most on-line transcriptions of this song see fit to omit this crucial line.

** A Smoking Fund is putting the money I would have once spent on snout to far better use.