Subject: RE: ukelele to replace recorder
From: WalkaboutsVerse - PM
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 08:41 AM

'Piers - I understand the recorder in Germany has slightly different holes/fingering...what is it usually called there?...it can't be the German-flute as that's another name for a transverse-flute...is it "block flute"?'

The word for recorder in German is "Blockfloete" (or "Blockflöte", if the o-umlaut displays on your terminal correctly). The word for a transverse flute is "Querfloete", which means just that, i.e., transverse flute. The popularity of the recorder in Germany is such that "Floete" alone is often interpreted to mean recorder rather than transverse flute.

There is German fingering on the one hand and Baroque or English fingering on the other. German fingering was based on a misunderstanding of how some historical recorder or recorders were meant to work. It is minimally easily to finger than Baroque fingering so it has established itself in German elementary schools. This minimal simplification (mainly the fingering of the fourth interval from the fundamental tone in the low octave) comes at the cost of serious problems with the intonation.

The consensus is that German fingering was a terrible mistake and both Mollenhauer and Moeck (two German manufacturers of recorders) recommend that children start with Baroque fingering right away. However, once something has gotten established in the German school system, you need a crowbar to pry it loose. Both companies do make recorders in German fingering, though not the fancier models.

I believe that there are various other fingerings found on historical recorders and ones modelled after them, as well as modern recorders with an increased range (up to 3 octaves, I believe, and possibly even more).