Chiff and Fipple Forums

Well of course you're right, benhall. This whole thing has shown me some things about myself. I'm rarely one to bail on something. the thing is, the rest of the class has been playing recorders in ensembles for decades. I was hoping to show that I have some skill on my lonely alto but I'm thrown int...

I'm taking my first sight reading class with about 6 other people. I've never played in an ensemble and my sight reading is shaky, but I was let in. All was fine until we were assigned reading alto up; i.e. playing the score an octave higher than it appears. My short amount of practice was alright w...

well I used my diamond file to shape my thumbnail and polished it to try to make it smooth. And then kept filing, looking for the perfect shape. and then overdid it and my notes from high d on up started honking something horrible. I tried just using the thumb flesh but with mixed results. Now the n...

I have Boismortier 6 concerti for alto recorder, all duets. I've learned much of this, although it will keep me busy for a while learning both parts of each piece. I play a Sammartini (sp.) sonata that's also a duet--and that's it for duets. Any suggestions for something in my intermediate range? As...

Thanks Andrew: yes, I probably was doing something stupid because I was in an unfamiliar situation. I'll find a regular tuner and see what's what.
I'm definitely blowing hard enough. Maybe my fingerings were wrong (wrong key.)

My understanding is that pulling the head out lowers the already too low pitch.

And I did try that of course.

I thought of that. I've played a few duets with experienced players playing their 440 altos. and we were in tune. remember that I've been playing alone in my apt. almost exclusively so tuning hasn't been on my radar. I can't find my regular tuner, only my guitar clip on. When I clip that on the reco...

I finally tried to play some pieces with a friend who has a very reliably tuned piano. With my alto closed as far as possible I was nearly a half step below 440. (I'm new to tuning and perhaps I was doing something wrong?)Apparently I can have a shop tune the recorder. Sadly i bought it at Lazars, w...

Woo-hoo! Now I can move on to twelve tone rows.

So in the end I can play a soprano part as written on my alto recorder with a guitar playing its part as written and both of us will be in the same key. My only concern will be with having to play some low soprano notes up an octave on my F (c, d and e?). OR, I could play everything on my alto up an...

I'll just clip my thumbnail short and see how clumsy I am with that. Happily things have been going better so I haven't damaged the recorder to where it can't sound notes clearly.l I must have just adjusted my thumb position intuitively. Now that I think about it, as a guitar player I file and shape...

I used to just use my nail in the thumb hole on all of mine. Thanks; that's what I've intuitively done. did you ever wear a groove or chip one side of the hole? How about others? is this your technique too? also: I've played since the post and things sound better; maybe I've just had a few bad prac...

Dear Chiff and Fipple: so my left hand thumb nail has caused a slight chip in the outer wood of the thumb hole. the inner circle of the hole appears intact. This has been there for a while and until recently I was able to get clear tones from my upper notes. It may have become slightly worse; I'm no...

Thanks again for all of your replies. sorry about the wording of my question. Just to be clear: I bought a book of Baroque pieces with written guitar part and a soprano recorder part. Since I play alto, I was wondering what would happen if I played the soprano part as written on my alto recorder. (p...

Thanks for the replies. I'm using the cork grease that Mollenhauer included with their recorder. But yes, I would think that the issue is one of humidity expanding the wood. The foot section presents no issues. And again, when I assemble the recorder, there is no problem. I always dry my recorder an...