Recorders

[Dave2002]

What I heard of the Lucie Horsch concert was pretty amazing. I must listen to more of it.

In the meantime I'm wishing that Mollenhauer would make a treble Adri's Dream in plastic to go with their soprano model.
From what I've heard (both comments, and listening to samples) the red plastic soprano model is really good. Next on my list, perhaps. Who was/is Adri? The name seems odd for a recorder range.

[Dave2002]

Bigger ....

But why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3CsmeKU2vE

Very large recorder - which cost maybe around £14k.

Seems a bit specialised to me.

[Richard Barrett]

Bigger ....

But why?

Well, it makes a beautiful sound, don't you think?

[MrGongGong]

Well, it makes a beautiful sound, don't you think?

Fantastic

[Dave2002]

Well, it makes a beautiful sound, don't you think?

Maybe. Not sure I can hear that low - and I think it makes a difference who's playing it!

Here's another piece - very low and mellow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x52-VKWI9hg

I think I need to connect my computer to some audio kit with real bass to bring this out.

[Richard Barrett]

Maybe. Not sure I can hear that low

Really? Its lowest pitch is only the same as that of a bassoon. Plenty of instruments (piano, double bass, contrabassoon etc.) can play considerably lower.

[Dave2002]

Really? Its lowest pitch is only the same as that of a bassoon. Plenty of instruments (piano, double bass, contrabassoon etc.) can play considerably lower.

I can hear that low, and lower, but some of these instruments aren’t very strong at the bottom, and recordings may not always catch the sounds, or be replayed with strong enough low frequency reproduction.

Looking at the efforts of some of the players to use wind power to generate sounds it is fairly easy to speculate that compared with string instruments (e.g. cello, double bass) these particular wind instruments are not particularly efficient in the low registers. Do we know much about the relative efficiency of instruments in generating sounds? Organ pipes (most of them) use similar principles to recorders, but they may be larger, and have access to greater power. OTOH perhaps organ pipes are more efficient at low pitches.

[Dave2002]

Working with recorders in a group can be fun (maybe), and innovative - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FRMVrJmYJ0

[Richard Barrett]

The larger the volume of the air column in a wind instrument, all other things being equal, the more energy is required to produce a sound of a certain loudness in its fundamental register, that much is pretty obvious I would think. Another characteristic of recorders is that the second partial is almost absent in their frequency spectrum, and harmonics above it are also relatively weak compared with most other instruments. Perceived loudness is (again, all other things being equal) a function of frequency and of spectral content, as anyone who's twisted the dial of a sine tone generator will know, and the sound of a low recorder in its fundamental register is closer to a sine tone than any other instrument I can think of, so it's bound to sound quiet compared to instruments of richer spectra in the same range (of course, organ pipes have greatly more wind available to them, not having to depend on human lungs). So a very low recorder is going to be very quiet. The lowest pitch produced by a sub-contrabass recorder has a frequency of approximately 58 Hz, there's no way you're unable to hear that I would think, and there's no way it wouldn't be picked up by recording equipment (unless you were cutting a wax cylinder or some such!) Of course such a frequency might be hard to hear for example on laptop speakers.

[Dave2002]

Recorder stands

I'm not sure if this is a good idea, or not, but yesterday I tried (and succeeded ..) to make a stand for recorders using some dowelling from B&Q, and a piece of wood which I bought at the same time. Actually in the end I didn't bother with the wood for the base, as I found another piece of wood from an old broken chair base, and used that instead. I'm not really sure that standing recorders up like that is a good idea, except perhaps during oiling or for show, but I've done it anyway. A slight concern is about putting the dowel up inside the instruments, which could arguably scratch the surface, and also if the stand falls over one could break several instruments all in one shot.

Does anyone else have views on this?

[oddoneout]

I'm not sure if this is a good idea, or not, but yesterday I tried (and succeeded ..) to make a stand for recorders using some dowelling from B&Q, and a piece of wood which I bought at the same time. Actually in the end I didn't bother with the wood for the base, as I found another piece of wood from an old broken chair base, and used that instead. I'm not really sure that standing recorders up like that is a good idea, except perhaps during oiling or for show, but I've done it anyway. A slight concern is about putting the dowel up inside the instruments, which could arguably scratch the surface, and also if the stand falls over one could break several instruments all in one shot.

Does anyone else have views on this?

I would have reservations about insertion, and the domino effect, but these folks sell what appear to be something similar so presumably it's not a major concern.

https://www.recorderstands.com/

[Dave2002]

Oiling and audio samples

I bought some almond oil to lubricate a couple of wooden recorders I have. Didn't know whether it would make much difference - still don't in fact - though maybe later I will.

However, I also decided to use some of the oil on my ears - instead of olive oil - or no oil. I found some audio samples of recorders on the Thomann site - such as this one - https://www.thomann.de/gb/mollenhaue...rder_0119r.htm There are many similar such samples on that site for different models of instrument.

Before I put the oil in my ears most recorders of the same type sounded more or less the same to me, with the exception of the cheapest Yamaha tenor instrument, which sounded a bit different. I couldn't honestly tell much difference between different models from the audio files. However after a few days of applying the oil, there is a world of difference between some models - well significant differences anyway. Surprisingly some of the very cheap plastic sopranos do still sound very good, but there are some more expensive models which sound really luscious. Having said that, I have read that recorders can vary even with the same model. From the audio samples I listened to some of the most appealing sounds were from the top end wooden ones, but that wasn't always the case, and some of the middle ranges didn't sound as good as some lower end models.

Sadly the Thomann site doesn't have audio examples for some of the more exotic high end models. Even so, there are a lot of audio samples for soprano and tenor models, and that might help people to decide if they want to try new models. However, my own experience suggests that some people won't hear any differences - which for some, sadly will be unavoidable, while others might find that oiling their ears makes a melodious difference.

[Dave2002]

Virtuoso playing

Virtuoso recorder playing - quartet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZcB...ature=youtu.be

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A slight concern is about putting the dowel up inside the instruments, which could arguably scratch the surface, and also if the stand falls over one could break several instruments all in one shot.

Does anyone else have views on this?

A recorder stand isn’t the greatest idea. A flute stand is fine as the bore is cylindrical, so can slide securely on to a piece of dowel of the appropriate diameter. Oboes and clarinets have a conical foot-joint, so can fit on a suitably shaped stand, again securely. Recorders, however, have a conical bore in reverse, the inside narrowing towards the foot, making the instruments susceptible to wobbling on the stand.

[Bryn]

I would have thought a baize or felt lined tube a better option to a peg system for quick-access storage of recorders.