I keep having issues on my treble recorder with the best way to do the pinched notes. Maybe it varies depending on the make-up of your hand, but I found downwards or diagonally (top left of hole open) seems best. Is there any rule of thumb here (no pun intended!)?

The other major problem is it keeps getting condensation, giving a very funny sound. Can you stop this happening?

erm, does that mean you pinch your thumb rather than roll? I roll so can't help with pinching...

er not much to help condensation. to clear it, block the air hole nr the mouthpiece with a finger and blow hard. thats should clear it. once it's warmed up you should be ok.

I taught myself the recorder as a child (it's how I learned to read music - I'd recommend the School Recorder Book 1 to anyone!!!) and have always, always rolled my thumb rather than pinching it....I have never had any problems getting high notes like this, but does it mean I have been doing things "wrong" all the time?? Yikes!

well I'm a roller!! yey well if you can get high notes no problem then you're obviously doing it right! There's no official way.

Yay! Thanks, it's good to hear that from an accomplished player

Aw thanks!

I enjoy playing recorders, but do it too rarely to risk wooden ones (if they aren't played regularly and you don't break them in gently again they split). With plastic ones, dunk their heads in water with washing-up liquid in it, making sure the blowing end and window get thoroughly wetted. Wipe the outside of the mouthpiece if you don't like the taste of your washing-up liquid, leave the remainder to dry. It needs re-doing every so often. A friend who teaches recorder recommended that and I found it made a lot of difference. It's infuriating to get half way through some nice ensemble piece and have the sound suddenly go woolly even though you are playing the right notes!

Sounds like you are doing the thumb thing fine. I tend to go for the diagonal roll which works well for me as I can easily vary the ammount it opens.

As to condensation, warm the head joint under your arm for a while before playing helps. Additionally as others have suggested dilute washing-up liquid works wonders on plastic instruments, for wooden instruments I use Moeks anti-condensing fluid..........which I suspect is expensive bottled dilute washing-up liquid

I roll too, but pinching the thumb hole is best done with the top meaty part. You can close of half the hole, leaving the other half open. It becomes particularly important when getting to the higher registers.

It also depends on your thumbnail. Needless to say it shouldn't be too long, but too short makes life difficult as well. A friend who bites his to the quick has to roll and uses the skin to do the pinching and still manages to get clean top Fs - not fair! - I pinch for hard notes, and roll for easier ones at speed. Having only started to play a tenor last year, I found I had to change technique considerably as my thumb felt like it was falling down the hole...

I've always rolled my thumb. Barring accidents it's always the same, whereas nails grow and get cut - much more difficult to do anything consistent with them.

Re: condensation

If you're in the middle of a piece or something and you're getting fugged up, you can suck the moisture sharply back up through the mouthpiece... someone on here suggested it to me a while back when I was having the same prob, and it works a treat (bit more discreet than blowing hard!)

It was me, probably. That's just the normal thing to do in the course of a piece!

I roll my thumbs ratheer than pinch.

As for condensiation I try not to blow too wet (if that makes sense) I prefer playing wooden recorders to plastic, I do have some problems with them fogging up, but not too many

Cover the slot on the front on the Mouth piece, and plow hard, that normally clears it.

If the instrument's mouthoiece is warmed to your boby temperature before you begin to play you should not have problems with condensation. The best way to do this is to hold the head joint under your arm for a while. Do the same when you are resting for any length of time during playing to keep the temperature up. When I am teaching in schools I teach every pupil to do this when not playing. Then we do not get squeaks when they do play or extra noises when they should be listening to me! As to your thumb the generally accepted correct method is to use the thumb tip and nail for notes in the upper register. Then it is an easy matter to change from high to low notes rapidly with a tiny bend of the top joint. It is worth practising this as there are times when one needs to ride on the thumb nail to alter tuning etc. The nail needs to be filed to the correct length and used gently. I dislike the word "pinch" to describe the technique as it gived the impression that force is needed, when it is usually a change in breath pressure or a slightly harder tongue stroke. Hope that this helps.

Thats excellent advice. I too find I use a different breath pressure to play the upper register. But then I've also dabbled with tin whistles!

You have to use a higher breath pressure, that's obvious but really either thumb technique is the 'generally accepted correct method' as different ways work for different people.

I agree with this. It is hard to change quickly and accurately if you "roll", especially for the very high notes.

My prefered method for washing plastic recorders is to take the top piece off and dribble washing-up liquid down the mouthpiece. Let it stand for a minute or so to allow it to run all the way down, then wash it out with warm running water. It works a treat! I think the condensation is made much worse by small amounts of grease in the mouthpiece, so you need to get rid of these somehow. Oh, and the other advice I give my pupils is to make it a rule never to play immediately after eating - it gets greasy so quickly then! (Hard when they have a lunch-time lesson, though...)