Nine times out of ten, when someone asks me what I do and I tell them I'm a recorder player, their response is "What, you STILL play the recorder??" Their surprise generally comes from the fact that they haven't heard the recorder played since primary school, and assume, along with the majority of the population, that the recorder is simply a squeaky, plastic instrument which is used to teach music to children before they progress onto other, 'serious instruments'. The truth, however, is somewhat different! I personally believe the recorder to be a terrible instrument on which to learn music: it sounds awful when played badly, is difficult to play in tune and even simply covering the holes proves difficult when you are small!  

The recorder came into existence in medieval times, originating from the flute family. There was a huge amount of music written for the instrument during the late renaissance and baroque periods (roughly 1500 to 1750), but with the birth of the modern flute and the modern (much louder) orchestra, much less music was written for the instrument and it therefore faded into the background as an instrument for professional musicians until the early music revival in the early twentieth century when recorders started to be made again, and to an increasingly high standard. During the twentieth century composers began to write for the instrument again, and as compositional styles changed, the recorder became involved in the avant-garde scene, with composers such as Berio writing for the instrument and making use of modern techniques such as flutter tonguing and singing whilst playing, which bring a whole new dimension to the instrument (have a listen to the first piece on the 'Listen' page for examples of these techniques).

In terms of the actual 'equipment' of the recorder, please drag your mind away from the image of a bright red, plastic, £5 instrument, and think instead of a stunning, handcrafted instrument made of specially selected wood, to the individual player's requirements. Something in the range of £1000 would buy you something decent, but something top class would cost quite a bit more! Then think that no recorder player would just play one instrument: you need different instruments for different periods of music (the pitch changes and therefore the recorders have to be different sizes), for different ensembles (maybe a harder wood if you're playing as a soloist for a concerto with an orchestra and a softer wood if you're playing with a small group of musicians), and then there are recorders of different sizes, starting with the sopranino, and getting bigger … soprano, alto, tenor, bass and contra-bass. And that's just conventional recorders, without moving into the world of electro-acoustic recorders!

So, as you see, there is a whole world out there waiting to be discovered! If this has tickled your taste buds, please do get in touch via the contact form on this website to find or more, or to purchase a CD which will give you an idea of what this amazing instrument is capable of!