The recorder is a member of the whistle family of instruments. The sound is made by blowing through a mouthpiece which directs a narrow stream of air over a sharp edge. It has seven finger holes and a thumb hole and a range of two octaves and a tone. The standard recorder fingering enables a full chromatic scale over two octaves.
The recorder comes in a range of sizes from the tiny garklein to the sub-contrabass, though the most popular sizes are the descant in c', the treble in f, the tenor in c and the bass in F.
A great deal of information on the recorder may be found at Nicholas Lander's recorder home page which is believed to be the most extensive site on the web devoted to a single instrument.
Copyright Geoff Walker © 2000 - 2003
Last Modified 26 December 2003