Recorders

[Dave2002]

Forgive me if you know this, Dave, but have you ever thought of recording yourself, playing it back and playing a second/third line over the top? It’s hard at first but you’ll soon get the hang of it. Playing duets trains you to hold your part, and it’s ever so good for your confidence.

A while ago I got hold of a CD of 6 Telemann Recorder Sonatas for 2 Trebles (Altos), put together by an early music enthusiast. (He happens to be highly regarded viol maker. I see he’s still about, and you’ll find him if you google Duets for One). You get one line at a time on a download/CD, and a slower tempo option, too. I still use them. If you can manage the Craen piece you’re not far off being able to manage the Telemann.

No problem. I do record myself sometimes, and do the kind of thing you mention. Sometimes it's easier to play along with the MuseScore version.

Playing with real people is different though - better in some ways - worse in others. We're amateurs, though I wish at times we were more professional. Then we'd perhaps have someone to conduct or help us, or we'd record ourselves and then try to play with the recording, or we could use a metronome or click track to keep sync. I tend to listen to the bass part, but if that gets tricky then the player slows up. If the other players keep going then we end up out of sync.
Also, I don't always get things right, though I try to keep going. The kind of music we are playing currently is rather different from what I used to play - there are often no "landmarks" to help, and the parts sometimes interleave quite intricately.If things come adrift even slight we are done for!

There's little point in upsetting people by being too critical - even if we could play better - and occasionally do!

Thanks for the suggestions for music.

http://duetsforone.com/howitworks.html

There are some duets at Musescore, such as - https://musescore.com/user/1366431/scores/3106431

It's quite easy to find other duets there using the search box.

[Dave2002]

Bach cello suites on recorders

Some musicians have tried to arrange Bach's cello suites for recorders. Some even manage to play them!

Bach Cello suites on recorders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MgtBQPouBA

Bolette Roed – Bach cello suite 3 Ondine CD *** Very good playing - recommended

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm574zZ6vc0 more Bolette Roed

Antonio Carrilho – Bach 4th cello suite - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg160ZzA5AA

Clara Guldberg Ravn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k48uxyv9a94

Bruggen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PAhkoATipk

https://www.8notes.com/scores/29870.asp?ftype=midi Prelude of first suite - for descant recorder

The first three suites are available in arrangements by Peter Billam at

https://pjb.com.au/mus/arr.html

First suite – https ://pjb.com.au/mus/arr/a4/bwv1007.pdf

Second suite - https://pjb.com.au/mus/arr/a4/bwv1008.pdf

Third suite - https://pjb.com.au/mus/arr/a4/bwv1009.pdf

Aldo Bova - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jikPq50QMW8 part of 2nd suite

Music arranged by Aldo Bova - http://www.lulu.com/shop/johann-seba...-23060939.html

Aldo Bova - https://youtu.be/pxJ87koc6_c Part of suite 3

Aldo Bova - https://youtu.be/uNF1TslPoWU Part of suite 5 (tenor recorder)

[Dave2002]

Not sure if I've mentioned these guys (!!) before - but heck they (!!!) can play - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9R0xG1Cgm4

I've been struggling to do multi-tracking. This video shows it can be done. Orlan Charles and friends.

[ardcarp]

Very clever. But sadly it leads to slightly wooden phrasing, as they need to keep an exact metronomic beat going.

[Dave2002]

Very clever. But sadly it leads to slightly wooden phrasing, as they need to keep an exact metronomic beat going.

I agree, absolutely - but being able to do this technically at all is impressive.

Strictly speaking he wouldn't have to keep an exact metronomic beat if he worked out the tempo and other fluctuations beforehand.
One way would be to lay down a few tracks - say in Logic, then figure out the time changes, then record all the tracks again using the phrasing/timing suggested in the first runs.

Also, we don't know how many takes he took to get this done. It is possible to overdub audio and video.

Maybe he has "nothing better" to do! Amazing anyway.

[Dave2002]

Notation - registers and pitches

I found this short duet - apparently by James Hook - a Hornpipe Opus 37-12 - https://www.free-scores.com/free-she...eur=james-hook I can't find any other copies to check - such as at IMSLP.

I don't even know if it was written for two instruments - some pieces set out as duets are arrangements of keyboard works, and if it was for two instruments, which ones?

What is quite unusual about this piece, which is short enough and seemingly simple enough to be manageable, is that Rolf Behrens who has arranged it, has produced several versions of the notation - all I think supposedly of the same pitched music. It is also curious that it shows up some difficulties in playing and transposing at sight.

One version - is for alto recorder (top) and bassoon - and is described as the low version. This has notes which go below the lowest notes of the alto instrument, so it has to be transposed up an octave to play. This turns out (for me) to be harder than I'd thought - though with practice it comes. There are two reasons for this (apart from my useless playing ...) - at the top end the notes are quite high, and don't always come out well, so slowing things up - and the fingering for notes in the top register is different from the fingering in the bottom register. Mentally it just takes a little longer to figure that out. There is another version - described as the high version. This still has the problem of the high notes, but the mental issue of upwards transposing by an octave disappears.

I also tried playing it on a soprano instrument (or you could use a tenor) in the high version, but it goes up to top E in bar 14 so it's difficult there too. It doesn't work on a soprano in the low version either, as it goes down to B and G.

It probably is best matched to the alto, but I was surprised at how the notation affects the way I react to it when trying to play. Recorders only (normal players) have a range of two octaves, and the fingering is different for some notes in the different ranges. Flutes are a bit easier, with a range of three octaves, and it's only when one gets up to the third octave that the fingerings get significantly different.

Of course there are recorder players who can play notes which are "out of range" and some who even manage to play the odd notes for which there isn't an "official" fingering, while others have simply asked recorder makers to make adapted instruments which can play the notes which are missing on standard models.