Imagine you’re whispering the sound “too”. Your lips are blowing soft air with a circle shape. With the proper posture, it’s time to blow into the recorder. I tell my students their lips should make an O shape. Imagine your lips are making a seal around the end of the recorder. Your teeth shouldn’t touch the recorder ever. The mouth of the recorder rests on your lips with the tip of the recorder being covered by the thickness of your lips. Your head should be looking straight ahead neither lifted up nor tilted down. Make sure your fingers are perpendicular with the recorder and not slanted up or down. Don’t use flat fingers and don’t bend your fingers backwards at the knuckles. The fingers from nice arcs to come down on the holes of the recorder. Your arms shouldn’t be held in to your sides nor pushed out like you’re flying. The arms come around loosely to hold the recorder. The recorder forms a gentle 45° angle between your lips and the floor. There should be no tension in the body in this position. Musicians should be sitting tall yet relaxed or standing up straight.
TONGUE NOTE RECORDER HOW TO
With all of this in mind, it’s time to actually learn how to play recorders. I guess you could title this article how to play the flute recorder, but it’s not called this commonly.Ĭheck out this video for a more scientific explanation. In fact, the recorder and flute are members of the same specific family (though the recorder came first). This is similar to how the flute is played. As you lift fingers, the recorder gets shorter and plays higher. When you cover the holes, you alter the length of the recorder and therefore change the length of the sound wave and the pitch.Īs you cover more holes, the waves get longer and lower. The wedge splits the air in two with some continuing through the recorder while the rest goes out in the air.Īs the air is split, vibration is created which is the source of the sound. As part of this family, it makes its sound through splitting and vibrating the air.Īs you blow through the mouthpiece on the head joint, the air comes in contact with a wedge inside the windway. Of course, this only works if your left hand is on top as it’s supposed to be. Your fingers aren’t all the same length, so the recorder makers shift the holes slightly to make it easier for your fingers to cover the holes. Note: You may notice the finger holes don’t line up exactly on your recorder. The top two holes on the foot should line up with the rest of the top finger holes on the body. When you place the body and head together, make sure the front of the body (the one with all the holes) lines up with the rectangular hole or windway on the head joint.Īttach the foot joint to the body after this. You’ll know the top part of the body because the lone thumbhole on the back is towards the top. The right-hand ring finger covers up the top holes of the foot joint, and the pinky covers the bottom finger holes.Ĭheck out the Eastar Soprano Recorder made of maple wood for a high-quality yet affordable instrument. This is advanced stuff normally, you just cover both of the small holes in each group. The little holes are for playing half steps or semi-tones. The foot joint has four holes in two groups. However, covering the bottom will change the sound slightly and make it go out of tune. Against popular belief, if you cover the very bottom of the recorder it will still play unless you cover up all the other holes. The foot joint is the bottom of the recorder. Note: The thumb hole on the back is towards the top. The right-hand thumb goes on the back of the body underneath the fourth hole. The pinky finger on the left hand isn’t used.įor the other two holes, you’ll use your right-hand pointer and middle fingers respectively. The first 3 will be covered by the left hand’s pointer, middle and ring fingers. On the front of the body are 5 more holes. Important! The left-hand thumb will cover this hole. This is the back of the body, and this hole will be covered up by the thumb. This is also where many of the holes are. The body makes up the majority of the recorder’s length. In essence, the window is responsible for making the sound. This is where the air will be split to cause vibration. There’s a rectangular opening called the windway or window.
The curved part is where the recorder mouthpiece rests on your lips. The head joint is the top of the recorder where you blow into. Note: This guide focuses on the soprano recorder, but most of the information applies to all the types of recorders.