minstrel: beginners, ren vs baroque, buying recorders

[Dustin]

I have to agree 100% with Antonia on her comments.

Morgan Ellisse

on 1/25/03 4:32 PM, toni seales at antoniadg at yahoo.com wrote:

> I and most of the dance/medieval band I play with at
> times (Jouissance) have gotten the Dream soprano and
> alto recorders made by Mollenhauer.  They are a newer
> model that looks pretty Renaissance but finger & range
> of the familiar baroque.  They are also reasonably
> priced.  They are available through Boulder Early
> Music.  We have always tried to get a couple on
> approval, or compare with one someone already has
> (generally a good idea with any wooden or handmade
> instrument) since there are definitely good and better
> individual instruments.  For myself, if I can't have
> an experienced person check out the instrument, I
> don't feel very confident determining sound quality
> unless I have something to compare.  I would have
> bought fuzzy sounding recorders if not for this check.
> Regarding baroque recorders: Of course it is much
> nicer to play a  Renaissance instrument especially at
> events, but for people just getting into it, the
> better baroque plastics are more affordable and
> consistent. We've tried to steer as many beginners as
> possible to the yamaha alto and tenors.  If there's a
> chance someone would migrate to a tenor from the
> soprano that is frequently a happy transition,
> although many believe the finger spacing to be too
> uncomfortable, or they don't want to spend over $20.
> Tenors sound wonderful to most people, are easy to
> play, and don't ricochet around indoor spaces.
> It's awkward to have a consort and want to include new
> people and encourage them, but they only play soprano
> and we have been working with a strong leader using
> soprano for some time. It's usually not an instrument
> that doubles well.  We have a few beginners who
> started on alto, which is great, except a lot of good
> music has the alto line to be read up an octave, a
> hurdle for those still working on just playing, which
> is frustrating when you're trying to find music for a
> group.  Also, books for C fingering are readily
> available at any music store, while alto study music
> requires more legwork.  So they all have tradeoffs.
> Just some of my experience.  (part of why I've moved
> to bass gamba for our bigger consorts!) If any of you
> have ever-evolving musical habitats and have found
> workable solutions, I'd love to hear them.
> Antonia
> 
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