Chiff and Fipple Forums

I am interested in learning to play jazz or blues type songs on recorder and have tinkered around with irish whistles a little and have a question or two. The main two recorders I am interested in would be the soprano in Key C and the Alto in Key F since I think these are the only keys they are made in but with the way they are made I would presume that with them a person should be able to play any song no matter what key the song is written in. am I correct? I am thinking the way they are made every note is possible due to them being chromatic instruments and practically any musical score in no matter what key it should be playable on these two instruments. Please correct me if I am wrong. I am no musical scholar for sure but just want to play a little music with a recorder after seeing some different people on youtube playing jazz songs. At present I own this soprano Schreiber I bought in 1982 for my wife, but she never desired to play it so I figured I would try to put it to use.

scottie wrote:since I think these are the only keys they are made in

Largely, but not wholly, true. Some other keys (eg soprano D or 'sixth flute', Bb or 'fourth flute' and tenor D or 'voice flute') were popular hundreds of years ago and are still made on a limited scale by higher-end makers today. And C and F recorders at A = 415 or 392 would give you a semitone and tone respectively below modern concert pitch, so you could theoretically also treat those as B or Bb and E or Eb instruments.

but with the way they are made I would presume that with them a person should be able to play any song no matter what key the song is written in. am I correct? I am thinking the way they are made every note is possible due to them being chromatic instruments and practically any musical score in no matter what key it should be playable on these two instruments.

While you can play in any key (and Johann Christian Schickhardt wrote a series of 24 sonatas, of which I seem to have 12, in all keys for alto), some keys are more practical than others. But they're still far more versatile key-wise per instrument than whistles.

scottie wrote:I think these are the only keys they are made

What Peter said.

scottie wrote:At present I own this soprano Schreiber I bought in 1982 for my wife, but she never desired to play it so I figured I would try to put it to use.

Whoa! I was somewhat surprised by the photo. I happen to have one of those Schreiber sopranos (I have the matching Alto too). I don't see many of those around these days. That should serve you well. Have fun with it.

Feadoggie

Feadoggie wrote:

scottie wrote:I think these are the only keys they are made

What Peter said.

scottie wrote:At present I own this soprano Schreiber I bought in 1982 for my wife, but she never desired to play it so I figured I would try to put it to use.

Whoa! I was somewhat surprised by the photo. I happen to have one of those Schreiber sopranos (I have the matching Alto too). I don't see many of those around these days. That should serve you well. Have fun with it.

Feadoggie

I am pretty sure the upper portion of mine is suppose to come off and has a cork ring because I remember putting cork grease on it years ago before it was stored away. It feels pretty stiff right now but when I need to disassemble it do you have any suggestions if it is stuck?

Thanks,
Scottie

scottie wrote:It feels pretty stiff right now but when I need to disassemble it do you have any suggestions if it is stuck?

Wear a pair of rubber/latex gloves, and give it a firm twist. If that doesn't work, then ask about Plan B.

scottie wrote:I am pretty sure the upper portion of mine is suppose to come off and has a cork ring because I remember putting cork grease on it years ago before it was stored away.

Yes, it is a two piece recorder - head and body. The foot is integral to the body and non-adjustable. The head is removable. The body joint tenon is corked. The head joint mortise stops at the last turned bead just above the finger holes.

It is likely that the cork grease you remember applying years ago has dehydrated and become an adhesive of sorts. Hopefully MTGuru's Plan A works. It is what I would suggest as well. Worst case should be that the cork breaks up and needs replacing. That's an easy and cheap fix if it happens.

Beware that there are instances where the wood in the joints, usually due to ambient moisture levels, can swell to the point where the joint will not break loose. If you feel that the joint is that tight I would not suggest overdoing the twisting. You want to avoid cracking either the tenon or mortise. The twisting motion should be concentric with the axis of the bore of the instrument. So just work at it with some common sense.

Most of the major manufacturers of recorders (Mollenhuaer, Moeck, Kung (maybe), etc.) have a care and feeding section somewhere on their websites as do recorder societies and similar interest groups. So you might browse through some of those for advice as well.

Plan B sounds ominous enough without the details.

Feadoggie

Jazz on recorder? Chromatic notes? Here ya go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmj-g4OQ ... ata_player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI-h4urm ... ata_player

Feadoggie wrote:

scottie wrote:I am pretty sure the upper portion of mine is suppose to come off and has a cork ring because I remember putting cork grease on it years ago before it was stored away.

Yes, it is a two piece recorder - head and body. The foot is integral to the body and non-adjustable. The head is removable. The body joint tenon is corked. The head joint mortise stops at the last turned bead just above the finger holes.

It is likely that the cork grease you remember applying years ago has dehydrated and become an adhesive of sorts. Hopefully MTGuru's Plan A works. It is what I would suggest as well. Worst case should be that the cork breaks up and needs replacing. That's an easy and cheap fix if it happens.

Beware that there are instances where the wood in the joints, usually due to ambient moisture levels, can swell to the point where the joint will not break loose. If you feel that the joint is that tight I would not suggest overdoing the twisting. You want to avoid cracking either the tenon or mortise. The twisting motion should be concentric with the axis of the bore of the instrument. So just work at it with some common sense.

Most of the major manufacturers of recorders (Mollenhuaer, Moeck, Kung (maybe), etc.) have a care and feeding section somewhere on their websites as do recorder societies and similar interest groups. So you might browse through some of those for advice as well.

Plan B sounds ominous enough without the details.

Feadoggie

Thanks for all the good info Feadoggie. I just gently worked at it after warming it with my hands and kept trying to turn it and it finally broke loose. I was able to clean it and apply fresh cork grease.

That's good to hear. Enjoy the instrument.