Recorder shenanigans

 Been playing my altos over the last couple of days. Today I did a comparison of my cheap Gunter Wunderlich wooden alto with my Aulos Haka. Its hard to say which I prefer. The Gunter has some tuning issues and the foot is loose, but it has a lovely warm tone, whereas the Aulos has a brighter, strident tone, piercing at times but tuning is spot on. 

Darwall's 148th

 a hymn from the School Recorder book 1 played on tenor Sigo. I used Open Camera for a change on my other phone and an not happy with how it looks. Keeps going dark then bright again for some reason.

Sigo bass fun

 A couple of pieces on the bass, one of which is my own "composition" that I came up with on clarinet a few years ago. 

Something Blue:

A surprise recorder

 A Facebook friend kindly sent me a 3D printed stand for my Sigo tenor and along with it there was a surprise. A 3D printed copy of his 45 year old Hopf soprano. In gold plastic.

Looks and sounds great. Its single hole with a massive bore so is very clear and loud!

Sigo stuff

 So back in January before all this Myeloma crap came up I bought myself a Sigo tenor recorder, a new type of recorder made as a collaboration between the Kunath family who gave the world those weird giant wooden recorders, and Gerry Bollinger, a recorder designer. The internal bore is twisted back on itself and the outside bore is sort of square. As a result the tenor is about the size of an alto, but with finger holes closer together so its much easier to play than a regular tenor, although the low notes are a bit of a struggle; there's no foot joint. Just 2 pieces, headjoint and the body, is very lightweight, and is more versatile, giving the player more freedom to express him or herself.

Zoom forward to June and Jo Kunath heard about my cancer diagnosis and offered to send me a Sigo bass, for free. Like I'm gonna say no to that. I've long wanted to try a bass recorder and oh man is it good!

The instruments are 3D printed and made of something called Resona, which is basically wood particles suspended in modified vegetable starches. Pretty remarkable.

Here's the two side by side.

Anyway here's some videos of them. First the tenor

Now the bass. What a beast!

Recorder improv

 A little something I came up with ages ago when I was learning clarinet, played on my Aulos Haka alto recorder, bending a note by slowly uncovering a fingerhole.

Ronde by Susato

 A Ronde by Susato from the Brian Bonsor alto book I've been working through forever! Played on my Aulos Haka alto. Practising playing high A properly, changing a bad habit where I would lift the thumb and just overblow. Also I must look for more of Susato's music.

Aulos v Sigo

 A little comparison of my Aulos 211 tenor to my Sigo tenor. Big size difference yet the same tonal range.

Amazing

Sigo tenor recorder

 New year, new instrument...

I got this yesterday from The Early Music Shop. Its a type of recorder, but one that has not been seen before. Its basically a tenor recorder in an alto recorder body. Its small and light and achieves its small size through magic and witchcraft. Basically the internal bore is convoluted, rather than just being a tube, allowing them to produce a big instrument in a small body.

This seems like a new idea but its been around since the renaissance, when Table Recorders were made. They were small and fat cylinders that sounded very deep. The bore of those instruments consisted of tight loops. Like a switchback road.

Anyway here it is. I just need time to get to know it.

Ronde by Susato

 From the Brian Bonsor book

Aulos Haka alto

Happy Bicentennary Strauss!

 A special anniversary today. On this day 200 years ago Johann Strauss II, the father of dance music, was born.

My mini tribute, on alto recorder.

2 recorder pieces

 Learned 2 pieces today, one for soprano, one for alto.

Revisiting the soprano

 I began playing the soprano recorder in 2016 and I made my way through most of The School Recorder book 1. After a while I moved onto the alto and tenor and the little sop sat collecting dust. Till now!

Warm up exercise

A little F scale warmup exercise thing I came up with on my Aulos Haka alto, straying into the second octave. Not to be attempted on soprano or sopranino. Definitely not on garklein 😋

Of course it was a lot smoother when not recording...🔴

Brian Bonsor double

 Two pieces from the Brian Bonsor book From Descant to Treble, book 1

Go Tell it on the Mountain and Suzie Little Suzie 

Father Halpin's Topcoat

 On my Aulos tenor recorder, then on my Clarke Sweetone whistle in D

The Saucy Sailor

 A piece in the Brian Bonsor book I've been working through for like ever.

First a comparison between the CarryOn EWI I have, set to alto recorder, and the Aulos Haka alto.

Then the piece played through on the Haka, with a repeat and my own coda

Exercise 51 on the Haka

 Played on my new Aulos Haka alto.

Definitely a better instrument than the Yamaha!

A better alto

 Bought myself a Aulos 'Haka' alto recorder. I already have an alto, the Yamaha YRS312B but it clogs constantly and is very delicate on the low notes.

This Aulos seems much better, more stable with more room for air, and it doesn't clog, so far...

Playing the EWI

 There is an exercise in the Brian Bonsor alto recorder book that was quite tricky to get to grips with, so I was  using my Carry-On EWI to practise silently.

After I'd got the piece under my fingers I thought I'd unplug the headphones and record what I was playing. I had the volume down low so as not to disturb my autistic son, who was in the next room.