hi at the weekend shopping i found a descant and treble recorder and book all for 12.00 second hand so i bought both

want i wanted to find out was which recorder i should start first i had a go with both and the descant seemed easier given that i am use to flute fingerings

my aim is to learn both and play with the folk band that i belong to

if any one can tell me of any good books i will be grateful

also is a tenor recorder bigger than a treble as in the book i have it used same fingeringchart as the descant

thanks in advance monkey flute/recorderx2

I was told in a similar question I posted that I should go for the treble as the fingerings for each note are different. The descant fingerings are similar, but not the same and that is slightly confusing. I am fine on slow pieces but as soon as the tempo picks up im using the flute fingerings by accident and it all goes wrong......given up the recorder since then!

The finger patterns are the same on each instrument...it's just that 'all fingers down' on a descant or a tenor is C, but on a treble (or bass or sopranino) the same finger pattern is an F.

Descant and tenor have the same fingerings for the same notes - the tenor is an octave lower (and bigger than a treble). Tenor lowest note = middle C, treble lowest note = F above that, descant lowest note = C above that.

There are some exceptions to the identical finger patterns at the extremes, e.g. bass and garklein. However, those tend to vary by instrument with no hard-and-fast rules like 'Eb on a bass is always 0135' (it is on my bass, but it won't be on a different brand bass). Descant, treble and tenor will almost always have the same set of finger patterns.

Treble has by far and away the largest repertoire available, if that makes a difference to you. If any charity shops near you sell sheet music, any recorder stuff you pick up there is almost inevitably going to be descant (but also playable on tenor - descant is written an octave lower than played, so in written music descant and tenor both have a 'lowest' note of middle C).

Dolmetsch have an Online Recorder Method which is worth a look.

Edited: in order that it made some sense...

Normally I'd agree with the advise that has been given above about going for the treble 1st as it is more different and has a larger repertoire. However, as folk is your main aim I'd go for descant 1st. In general I think sharp keys are easier to approach on descant than treble.....from my VERY limited folk experience folk people seem to favour sharp keys - hence the D whistle being the most useful.

hi cjb

thank you for the advice i am just trying out all types of music to start with till i find what i like the most at the moment the folk is so fast i cant keep up the recorders were a bargain and will travel with out the worry of if i lose them they werent a fortune

i keep using the flute fingering on the descant whoops so will give the treble a go tonight

the recorder schoolbook
its dolmestch
that i know..
i shall dig out a copy now and update

I would say treble. I started playing treble a few months ago, and am already doing grade 4 pieces. I get confused with descant though because I keep applying flute fingerings.

No one I know who plays flute seems to have any problem picking up descant fingerings. Maybe they're just keeping that secret to themselves. The school recorder books are really goog. The orange one is first. It continues into the green and the treble starts halfway through the green book.

Make a start on the treble/alto recorder. Most recorder repertoire is composed for this. It also sounds nicer :-)