recorder music

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,DESTINY ANNASTASHIA DUARTE
Date: 24 May 10 - 06:47 PM

wERE DO YOU GO TO GET GOOD MUSIC 4 RECORDER

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Tootler
Date: 24 May 10 - 07:11 PM

What sort of music are you looking for?

BTW, try to avoid all capitals. It is considered shouting.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 May 10 - 07:47 PM

Looking back at this thread, I see all those articles about Koch recorders. I got one (an F alto) off EBay not long ago and it's fantastic. Supposedly made of cocobolo but hasn't been a problem for me.

There were two Kochs, father (1892-1970) and son, though the father seems to have made most of them.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: mattkeen
Date: 25 May 10 - 11:30 AM

e have a Moeck Tenor and a Kung descant
Fantastic tones

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Bettynh
Date: 25 May 10 - 11:48 AM

I bought a Koch recorder from his widow shortly after he died, after seeing an entry in the Whole Earth Catalog. If I remember correctly, he had a special process of curing the wood in a bath of special wax or oils, possibly to keep it from becoming toxic? It was beautiful, but a puppy chewed up the fipple.

picture of workshop

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 25 May 10 - 12:53 PM

Hello, Destiny. I saw your question about getting music for recorder.

Please tell us a little about your playing.

Are you a beginner or experienced?
Do you have a C recorder (soprano) or an F (alto)?
Can you read music?

=========
Betty, it is very common for recorders to be treated with wax or oils. It is to keep water vapor from the breath from soaking into the wood. It also makes the flow of air through the instruments go more fluidly.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 May 10 - 01:35 PM

Music teachers like to think of their pupils as using "music for recorder" (or "...for cello", or "... for trumpet", or whatever), and that's what's printed on thousands of sheet music covers, but most of the recorder's earliest repertoire was meant for any instrument that could play it.

Most of us here play folk music a lot of the time, and most folk tunes work on most recorders. You don't need that "for recorder" label on music you get. You will sometimes come across effects that only work on the violin - if so leave them out or look for alternate ways to do them. You will very rarely find a folk tune version using an effect that only a recorder can get.

Probably the tunebook I've used more than any other is "Kerr's Merry Melodies for the Violin", book 1. It's a collection of Scottish tunes published around 1880, at a time when hardly any recorders were in use, and Kerr can't have ever imagined a recorder playing from his book, but most of it works fine. It's never gone out of print.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Creede
Date: 25 May 10 - 01:57 PM

My parents got me my first recorder some 40 years ago when the music store in the town I grew up in had a fire sale (yes, first they had a fire). They got me a very nice soprano for $1. It smelled a bit of smoke, or maybe that was just my overactive kid imagination.

I still have several around the house somewhere, but most are either missing a foot joint or need some repair. The exception is a very nice alto with ivory or ivoryesque joint rings. Wish I knew which box it was in, this thread has me of a mind to play it some more.

And just yesterday my grandson was visiting and brought his recorder along. He's pretty good at Hot Cross Buns and similar songs; I just need to work with him on his breathing. He still hasn't quite mastered how to get the right pressure to produce a good, solid note. (That's another reason to find my alto, so I could do duets with him.)

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 25 May 10 - 02:41 PM

Sounds good, Creede. Actually, I'm in favor of anything that causes someone to get an instrument out and start making music.

For duets, however, you might want two sopranos. An alto only goes down to an F, while a soprano goes down to a C.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 06:38 PM

Just got another couple of recorders, brand new Zen-On C tenor and F bass in sycamore wood (from a charity shop that was selling them for about a tenth of the new retail price). Tried them out at an acoustic music session on Christmas Eve. So one of the first things I tried with the bass was playing it left-hand-only making a percussive train-whistle sounds while playing a cajon with my right hand, for a song I'd never heard before called "Santa Claus is Coming on the Boogie-Woogie Train".

The Zen-On bass is a bit hard to play in its high register, but it has a great response to really hard attack. In a group of miscellaneous folk instruments it stands out much more than its continuous volume would suggest, it's almost like a wind-powered marimba. And it's extraordinarily light. Playing Telemann on it would probably be a non-starter but it does what I want. The tenor is less unusual, though it has a very bright tone compared with my others. I am thinking of it as a specialist Happy Music instrument.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 25 Dec 10 - 10:30 PM

The Zen-On bass is a bit hard to play in its high register.

I don't know if it has a scientific basis, Jack, but people say you shouldn't try to make a new instrument play high until it's been 'broken in.' How long that would take, they never say. I would give it a couple of months, anyway.

Did you know that sometimes the note in the high register has different fingerings than the same note lower down? (If not, check a fingering chart.)

I once commented that the high A on an alto was squeaky, and my teacher said "Blow me a ribbon." That was very helpful advice.

Sometimes it helps to put your thumbnail across the top of the hole in the back versus at the side. Or vice versa, depending on the instrument.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 06:41 AM

Other people (including dealers who sell them) find the Zen-On bass unresponsive high up, so it isn't just me. I know enough to not just try the standard fingerings but also use alternatives or make up my own. This is a common problem with wide-bore basses - the Zen-On is more like a Renaissance recorder than a Baroque one. I once tried a Mollenhauer Kynseker bass and it was even more extreme - fantastically loud in the low register but nothing would make it play above C in the upper octave. Doesn't matter for Renaissance bass parts.

Recorders are idiosyncratic things. The hard note at the top end for the Zen-On is D (t12- ----, like the upper A on a C recorder). It sounds more easily both above and below that. This is a fairly common problem; the Aulos plastic tenor has it too.

I expect the problem will lessen with time as the right combination of breath pressure and thumb opening becomes instinctive.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 26 Dec 10 - 10:41 PM

Probably.

Here's a story on a different topic. A friend asked me to play 'Silent Night' along with her at a big church on Christmas Eve. At her request, I had written a descant for soprano recorder. We practiced at my home, and I was disappointed. I felt that it sounded pretty ugly.

But when we played in the church, the recorder seemed like a different instrument. I believe that in the confines of our 'elbow room' (many windows, tile floor) the notes were echoing back and mixing up the frequencies, but in the church, they sailed into the huge space, pure and free.

Either that, or the soprano realized it was in church now and decided it better behave.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: RTim
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 10:05 AM

I know this is Blatant promotion - But my wife is a Recorder Player and her group - Ensemble Passacaglia has just brought out a new CD of music that people on this thread might be interested in. It is Early music including Spanish and some Turkish music.
Below is the link to the CDBaby site where you can listen to some tracks.

Tim Radford
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ensemblepassacglia

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 10:26 AM

I liked it and bought it, Tim. Thanks for the info.

You might pass it on that CD Baby has 'Passacaglia' spelled wrong. That might keep customers from finding the CD.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Mo the caller
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 10:49 AM

Leeneia, what did you mean by 'blow a ribbon'?

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 05:42 PM

flatten the tongue against the hard palate so that the air going out seems to be a flat ribbon of air rather than a soda-straw shaped column of air. Experiment with ribbons of various widths and thicknesses until the note sounds good.

I have found this very useful ever since.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 06:04 PM

Following a suggestion in another thread here (perhaps best forgotten otherwise):

Scott Reiss playing an Irish slow air

The accompaniment is a bit too Gothic for my taste, but Reiss is great.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Tootler
Date: 27 Dec 10 - 07:50 PM

I liked your Scott Reiss Clip, Jack. Beautiful, expressive playing.

Leeneia, I know what you mean about playing in church. I belong to the Northeast Recorder Orchestra (NE England, that is) and we mostly play our concerts in churches. I remember one particular concert where we opened with a piece by Byrd and it just seemed to soar in the way you described.

Here is a clip of me playing some Early music on a Mollenhauer "Dream" Alto.

http://soundcloud.com/tootlingeoff/tristano-la-rotta

If anyone else has clips of themselves playing recorder, why not post them?

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Dec 10 - 11:45 AM

Thanks for the link, Tootler. I like the way you bring the Lamento alive, as if it truly were a person singing of sad things. The Rotta is enjoyable too.

Do you suppose La Rotta means 'The Redhead'?

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Dec 10 - 11:49 AM

I think it means "round", as in a round dance.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Tootler
Date: 28 Dec 10 - 06:18 PM

Thanks Leeneia, glad you like it. I think Jack's right about La Rotta, though we will probably never know for certain, but there is another pairing in the collection: "La Manfredina" and "La Rotta" which have a similar characteristic of a lyrical tune followed by a lively one.

There is an excellent album featuring the tunes from the collection from Which Lamento di Tristano came from, called "Chominciamento di Gioia" by an Austrian Group called "Ensemble Unicorn". They have an excellent recorder player by the name of Michael Posch.

Here is a clip of them playing Chominciamento di Gioia

The original notation came from a manuscript in the British Library. I am not a scholar of medieval music and I found my copy of Lamento di Tristano in a book of medieval music for the recorder - in modern notation, of course.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 11:44 AM

Thanks for the link, Tootler.

for what it's worth, I think he's playing too fast. There's a difference between lively and frantic.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 12:47 PM

I've still never tried a wooden recorder, but would have if I'd seen the 1/10th deal mentioned above; rather, I introduce English hymns, folk songs and carols, and my own "Chants from Walkabouts" with the ABS Aulos, also, mentioned above - http://myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 01:42 PM

Somebody doing very unusual things with the recorder:

Racheal Cogan

An Australian playing Greek music on Renaissance recorders. Her homepage pops up a lovely solo sound sample; the other sample tracks on her site (mostly hosted on YouTube) are all with various groups.

She uses Ganassi-type recorders in C and G; I've never tried one (got rather put off by attempting to read Ganassi's book, it seems to be one of those occasions when the product is better than the manual). Probably not all that far from my Mollenhauer Kynseker G alto.

Cait Webb of the Scottish mediaeval music group Gaita also uses a Ganassi G alto, made by Tim Cranmore (who doesn't make them any more) - really nice instrument.

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 09:43 AM

Thanks for the link, Jack. Your first link didn't work for me, so here's another try:

http://www.rachealcogan.com/soundBytes/video.html

Subject: RE: recorder music
From: Jack Campin
Date: 30 Dec 10 - 09:56 AM

Strange - that link worked in Firefox on my Mac at home but doesn't work in the same version of Firefox on the Windows machine I have here. This one does, though, but doesn't do the pop-up:

http://www.rachealcogan.com/

Her website is fairly complicated so there's a lot to go wrong.