recor&%#@what?

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 6:36 pm

Please indulge this silly question. What is it about r******rs that we so revile here at chiff & fipple?
Is it the tacky plasticity of the things? Is about the nasty kid who sat behind you in music class in first grade using it to fire spitballs? Is it merely that it's NOT a whistle, beloved conduit of traditional tunes? Of course, it is important that I state, with all the vehemence of a 2nd grader denying any remaining glimmer of fondness for Barney the Dinosaur (Me, watch Barney? No way! I hate Barney! I spit on Barney! Ptooey!) that I neither own nor play a r******r. (actually, my 1968 model got left behind at my parents years ago, where it's become a toy for the grandtoddlers to toodle on.)

Now I'll stand back and watch what manner of poo hits the fan...

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 6:42 pm

I personally have nothing against recorders other than I can't play it and the whistle....my fingers and brain don't swap back and forth. But the recorder is emphatically not the right sound for Irish/Scottish/Morris/English, etc.

I think the annoying thing is that other people don't recognize the difference, and we get tired telling them, its not a recorder, its a whistle. Kind of like people with Bichon Frise trying to explain that it isn't a Poodle.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:00 pm

Me? Revile r*c*rd*rs? No way. I LOOOOOOOOVE r*c*rd*rs. Honest.

I would pesonally love to see more of them -lots more- at ITM sessions.

It's a diversity thing.

TXwhistle · Post by **TXwhistle** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:26 pm

I play both. They are just different instruments for different kinds of music. (And I happen to like my recorder very much!

)

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:28 pm

You trolling for kindling again, Nano?

I actually like my recorders - for some things, like baroque and some early English music. And though it takes me a couple of minutes, I *can* make the switch back and forth.

But playing folk/trad music, though possible, just seems . . . wrong. Kind of like playing it on the piano would be. Or Bach on the accordion.

And I'm awfully tired of having folks ask me what I'm playing, explaining what it is, and that it is NOT a recorder, then hearing them describe me as "that guy over there playing recorder" not two minutes later. Same sort of irritation a highlander feels about having someone call his kilt a "skirt".

Post by **Nanohedron** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:38 pm

DCrom wrote:You trolling for kindling again, Nano?

Me? I...I'm crushed.

Everything in its own place, IMO. Recorders sound great with Baroque or Tudor-style music, for example. I think a whistle would sound rather out of place at such times, myself.

What do you have with a truckload of recorders at the bottom of a river? A good start.

antstastegood · Post by **antstastegood** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:48 pm

I have deep emotional scars from elementary school. From second through fifth grade each year of "music class" featured at least a month of shrieking out "Hot Cross Buns" on plastic Y@m@h@ rec*rders, causing deep headaches to the students, instructors, and parents. This class was intended to teach the love of music to kids, but the majority of students would afterward swear to never again take up an instrument.

I think the rec*rder is at least partially to blame for the horrible taste in music that so many young people now have.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:54 pm

Very interesting. I was certain I wasn't the only elementary school veteran with rec*****-induced post-traumatic stress flashbacks.

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 8:24 pm

DCrom wrote:Or Bach on the accordion.

Now, that's something i'd like to see! Honestly!

g

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 8:36 pm

Tyghress wrote:I personally have nothing against recorders other than I can't play it and the whistle....my fingers and brain don't swap back and forth. But the recorder is emphatically not the right sound for Irish/Scottish/Morris/English, etc.

I think the annoying thing is that other people don't recognize the difference, and we get tired telling them, its not a recorder, its a whistle. Kind of like people with Bichon Frise trying to explain that it isn't a Poodle.

Yeah, they may look similar to the uninitiated, then you pick one up(whistle/bichon) and you immediately KNOW you don't have hold of a(recorder/poodle).

spittin_in_the_wind · Post by **spittin_in_the_wind** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 9:01 pm

Somebody the other day asked me if it was a clarinet....to me that's even worse than a RECORDER!!

R.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 11:16 pm

There is no resemblance at all between a cheapo plastic school recorder and a real recorder made with precision and care of exotic hardwood.

They are not the same thing at all; comparing them is about as accurate as describing a kid's tricycle and a Harley Davidson as both being "bikes."

If all you had to judge from was the plastic school recorder, then hating recorders is understandable.

When a recorder is at its best, in my opinion, is in the ethereal open harmonies and contrapuntal melodies of the High Rennaissance.

--James

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 4:07 am

H-D a bike? Hmm... learn every day. Though, they did make big kids trikes for your metermaids, didn't they

Though, in earnest I'd better blow (up) a Harley than ride a re***er.

Recorders rock. It's the only instrument which blends well with a balalaika in a session, granted a serpent for the bass line.

Every tenor banjo* hides a recorder in his case. Just check, next time.

* The tenor banjo is to the alto balalaika what a Harley is to a kid's trike:
an upgrade, of sorts.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 5:26 am

I think the disgust comes from hearing badly played recorders, often by classrooms filled with disinterested kids playing them.
Well played, the recorder is a serious, wonderful instrument capable of truly virtuoso music.
Handmade wooden ones are gorgeous, but some of the good plastics are truly amazingly good. I have a Yamaha plastic alto which rivals my fine Von Huene wood. Really.

trisha · Post by **trisha** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 5:50 am

I share air space weekly with a boxwood Mollenhauer r***r**r and it's owner. Although technically competent and, as others have said excellent for Baroque/medieval/similar, it is not a ceilidh session instrument and emotion isn't projected either it seems. Sadly, it's owner has a fear of whistle fingerings...

Trisha

ps I own a Moech wooden r***r**r. Good for the right sort of music - horses for courses as they say in England...