Hi!
I have fallen in love with the descant recorder and want some proper repertoire, can anyone advise? I don't know what standard I am, probably between 2-4 somewhere! But I just have some kids recorder books and would love a proper piece for it. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Nicki

I'm not much help with classical pieces, but I get a lot of my music as MIDI files. You can then open it up in a sequencer and play along. It's like having your own band and you're the star!

Classical, pop - anything you want - is avaliable in MIDI.

Start combing for some free ones, and then you can buy some too.

S.

Thankyou - I'll see what I can find!

Hi Nicki,

Jazzy Recorder books 1 and 2 are good. There is a new Harris and Adams 50 Graded Studies for Recorder out, which has some great tunes in it (not just studies) from different periods. The Telemann Partitas are good baroque pieces to try.

Would these be available in a good music shop?

Possibly, but music shops are not brilliant at stocking recorder music in my experience. If you can order online, everything is available at Saunders Recorders, and quite a lot (post free last time I ordered) from Music Makers.

Your music shop may well be able to order the titles for you, otherwise.

Alan Ridout "A Day in the Country" is very good, it has a wide range of Grades within the collection.

Mr Everingham at Saunders Recorders is indeed very reliable - most music gets posted out within 48 hours of ordering, in my experience. You wouldn't fancy trying out the treble though, would you? Yes, it's in F and yes, it can be a bit of a pain shifting, but it has MUCH more repertoire - and the higher notes are easier on your ear and those of your listeners....

I don't have a treble recorder....maybe I'll buy one from my Christmas money

Would I be able to reach the keys - I can't reach keys on a tenor.

Any treble makes then? Oh, and I'll need a beginner book for the treble!

oh, why not buy the the recorder exam pieces of trinity college, they have books of exam pieces(9 pieces in a book) from grade 1 to grade 5. i have the grade 2 one and it is great, after learning the pieces you can take the exam as well .

Ok - I'll look out for those, thankyou.

How much do treble recorders cost? Are they different to descants? *feels stupid*

I thought that they were the same thing.

An Aulos descant is about ten pounds and an Aulos treble about twenty five to thirty pounds. Trebles are the next size up from descant, but are in F instead of C (eg the lowest note with all the fingers down is an F on the treble, but a C on descant). Trebles have a lovely mellow tone and there is a much bigger repertoire of music for the treble than descant. After grade 5 recorder, you major on the treble, but one of your pieces can be on descant or tenor if you wish.

Ideas for descant books? Sally Adams - First Repertoire for descant recorder, Christopher Norton - Microjazz for Descant Recorder, Geoffry Russell-Smith - Jazzy Recorder, Amazing Solos for Descant Recorder.

Most music shops would have these books for you to look at.

Happy playing. Recorder is great fun!

Ooh I quite fancy a treble recorder.

I got a plastic treble for about £23. Doesn't sound brilliant but it's very consistent and reliable. I'm no expert but it seems like yamaha or aulos are the best plastic recorders. Maybe Jo will confirm if she reads this. I've been playing some Telemann sonatas I originally got for flute, like the D Minor I did for grade 6. It's OK reaching the keys. My descant feels like I actually squash my fingers together if anything, though I have had it since I was about 10! could be a small version.

A good guide would be the Early Music Shop website. There's only about two of them in the country but their models look a good guide. I'm hoping one day to get a Moeck or Mollenhauer Rottenburgh, maybe ebony, olive, or rosewood. About £4/500.

If you're buying a plastic treble, the Yamaha 302 is hard to beat. It's suitable for small hands (ask Katyjay ) and holds its own against some more expensive wooden ones. It's a few pounds more than the standard Yamaha, but is well-worth the extra. They're currently £21.49 at Saunders, but might be cheaper elsewhere (although you won't get the same service ).

The treble is an F recorder, rather than a C recorder like the descant. The note you get with all fingers down is bottom F, and the one with all LH fingers, but no RH fingers is C. The music for treble is written at pitch, rather than an 8ve below pitch as for descant, so it appears higher than descant music whilst sounding lower.

This is so confusing.

So how much do wooden trebles cost?

Anything from £80 upwards. You have to pay around £300+ for a decent one, though.

Ah don't think I'll be getting one of those then.

Would a plastic one do?

Certainly. Jo.clarinet has had people getting Grade 8 distinctions playing a Yamaha 302 plastic. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Jo).

Oooh ok, so the Yamaha 302 is a good one to get then? Priced at about £21.49...

What good books are there for treble recorders? I guess I'll need one that teaches me the basics and fingerings etc.

Yes, that's right - although I do prefer pupils to have a decent wooden one by the time they get to about Grade 7-8 standard, but some parents genuinely cannot afford it, especially when there are several other children in the family.

Nicki - a few possible books for you might be 'Spielbuch for Descant Recorder and Piano' (Moeck 2076), which although quite expensive has lots of material in it, 'First Repertoire Pieces for Recorder' (there are both descant and treble versions of this, with completely different pieces in, so make sure you get the right one!), 'Der Fluiten Lust-Hof' by van Eyck (Schott OFB 25), Valentine Sonata in G (Schott ED 11726), and the Jazzy Recorder 1 and 2 which others have mentioned.

Nat - if you can already play the descant you don't really need a 'basics' book - you just need to remember that the same fingerings = different notes than on the descant, so, for example, 'all fingers down' gives you an F. From knowing that, you can go straight into easy tunes. I usually start my treble beginners on 'First Book of Treble Solos' (Forsyth) and Six Pieces for Treble Recorder and Piano (Madeline Dring - pub. Lengnick)

I've never actually played the descant properly though, so maybe I do need a beginners book..

i have got a yamaha plastic treble recorder which is YRA-18BII, i bought it in hong kong for only 10 pounds!!

Nat...you seem to be forgetting that you live above a recorder player!! If you want to borrow any music/have any tips etc you know you can call on me!!!!
Regarding prices......at the other end of the scale....I have just spend an enormous amount on a new treble.....it is A=415, and about a month ago it was a block of wood....has been made just for me!!!! But so so so expensive!

Oooh, I'm envious. What sort of wood? - you must still be blowing it in, very carefully, if it was so expensive. My A=415Hz is very mellow - pearwood, but the windway is so narrow that I get a lot of fugging problems.
Trebles are really wonderful to play!

I really want to get one now!

Get one then

And visit ruth a floor below pronto and get some lessons

I want a treble. I am going to find it very confusing though.

I might do, but not now when I need to pay Xmas money into my bank, and I'll have to order it when my parents are away, or they'll go mad.

It is to start with. I spent a summer being moaned at for "playing with that whistle" before I could read the music correctly - and I still have to watch when switching between treble, descant and tenor, but it is worth it.

Hear! Hear!

Recorder playing is a tad addictive...I used to play with other people once a week which was tremendous but just don't have the time to do it as regularly any more

Several years ago I took out a second mortgage and am the VERY proud owner of handmade Dolmetsch descant, treble (boxwood - had rosewood initially but found I was very allergic to it ), tenor and bass (maple).

Bagpuss had a Big Birthday last year so she had a handmade Dolmetsch tenor as her pressie (only just finished paying for it!) - can't remember which wood though. Sis.....??????

Go for it, Nat and Nicki - playing with others in particular is just SO much fun

So, potentially, C, by Easter I might be playing the treble and the descant.

It is made of boxwood. Such a gorgeous sound! Is so annoying that playing in time...but has to be done I suppose....Trebles really are lovely....the sound is much better than out of a descant I think...

Yup, trios here we come, Nicki!!!