Im 11 yrs old boy and i haf to do
this thing for christmas
and i haf to play jingle bells.
The recorder is EASY to play
and it is in fact, a real instrument!
People who say that it isn`t a real instrument
are people who doesnt even know what an
instrument IS! So look it up in the dictionary!
Ins-tru-ment! A device that makes music!
I am learning the piano and I still think that
recorder is the easiest instrument to play!
By the way, i need the whole song including the
verses of JINGLE BELLS `cuz i only have the
chorus

But, then...THE RECORDER IS IN FACT, A REAL, REAL, REAL INSTRUMENT!!!!!

Get a grip!!!!! I don`t know how old you are, but you`re acting like you`re 5!!! The recorder is an instrument because it DOES play music!!!

a recorder is an instrument! lauren...who are u
calling 5 years old...me or the person who started this?

i sincerely think that even if the recorder is the most easiest and cheapest instrument there is to buy it still is an instrument!! it was because of recorders i got interested in music,, learned it in 4th grade, now i can play the guitar, violin, saxophone, trombone, piano, harp and beat the drums, and i owe it all to a recorder!!! and to say the truth, i love recorders very much, it may not sound so good but if u know how to blow in it right, it actually sounds great, harmonic like and peaceful to the soul... so to the people who say its not an instrument, well maybe u dont know how to play it right, thats why it sounds crap... dont blame the damn instruments for music`s sake... now get your sorry ass outta here and complain somewhere else!!

Anything that music can be made with is an instrument. The recorder is part of the flute family, only instead of using an embouchure with which the size and shape of your mouth helps form the sound, it uses a fipple and the tone is therefore fairly fixed.

It`s been around over 2,000 years, the instrument with which we commonly refer to today being of baroque style. As with all instruments, it takes MUCH practice in order to make it sound halfway good. An inexperienced guitarist, violinist or drummer make their instruments just as unbearable to listen to as an inexperienced recorder player.

The reason it`s a popular school instrument, is because it doesn`t require learning how to make a sound from the instrument before learning to play it as most other woodwind and brass instruments need. The reason a lot of people hate the sound, is because the cheap $2 plastic models normally found in schools are not well tuned, and on top of that, untalented people with no ear for music are unable to refine their fingering or blowing to account for it.

If it were not for the recorder (which I haven`t played in over 20 years) I would not have learned to read music, and most likely therefore would never have learned to play keyboard instruments. Anyone that hates them, either hasn`t heard someone that can actually play them, or has no talent at playing themselves.

My only question is that if it`s such a waste of time, why are you bothering to come here and type about it? Go play your playstation, as you obviously have no musical ability, and neither trombone nor flute are going to sound any better than a recorder in your hands.

Well said Wobbly... and I think Lauren was referring to the person who started this (James) as five years old, not Recorderer. Whatever I want to say, I`ve said already in my previous reply, and the rest I`ll leave to the many people who have argued against the idiot who decided that the recorder was beneath him.

O.k, o.k this is soo not what i meant. Of course it is a type of instrument but what i meant is that
A)its not an orchestral instrument (any more)
B)It`s seen more of a stepping stone towards learning a musical instrument.

I am sorry if I have offened people but please rememmber it was not I (Leprachaun) who started this thread. I beg you now to let this subject close and that my apology be accepted

Yours Leprachaun

I went and looked up Musical instrument on www.dictionary.com and here is what I was given: n : any of various devices or contrivances that can be used to produce musical tones or sounds.
Hence, the Recorder *IS* a musical instrument. No, it is not used in the orchestra, but it IS a musical instrument and James, making that post on here was the stupidest thing you could have done...it`s a RECORDER forum for petes sake. Take your complaints to a non-recorder forum like a mature adult/teen/pre-teen. You can make beautiful sounds on it if you are trained well enough and use your fingers softly so you don`t plunk down on the holes. Any beginner needs time to learn how to play, so please don`t judge on a beginners abilities.
~*Naira*~

The Recorder is the precurser to the flute actually....
Isn`t it funny that up until the 18th century, the western flute was non-existant and the recorder was what made it be.
Wow, if the recorder isn`t a "proper" instrument, then what have the english been playing all these centuries? And why can a good recorder cost upwards of three hundred american?
Go figure..heh
I adore my recorder over my guitar, flute and piano. It`s fun to play, and if played correctly, can sound as sweet as any other "proper" instrument.

I do not know about some people but I truly believe that the recorder is an instrument just like any of the others. Just because you do not see it in many groups or because when you play it it does not sound very nice, that does not mean that it is not an instrument. I am blind and play a number of instruments including clarinet, flute, alto sax, piano, guitar, percussion, and recorder. I also play in a professional group. One of the instruments I play for the group is the recorder and I have had a lot of people come up to me and tell me that it sounds really pretty. So really it kind of depends on the person playing it and the groups that have one.

I`ve never seen anything so stupid. Of course the recorder`s an instrument, it`s one of the oldest ever and can make a beautiful sound if you play it properly. Vivaldi wrote loads of music for it and treated it as a "proper" instrument, whatever that means. Descants can squeak a bit but the Treble doesn`t so much and that is what people like Handel meant when they wrote for "recorder" or "flute" - he was actually writing for the treble recorder. Recorders rock!

300 american dollars isnt very much compared to flutes at 40,000.

I agree I mean you can get a decent recorder for $15 in any music shop where as you can a decent flute for $700. Hmmm......bit of a diffenerence.

Leprachaun

I believe that the major price differences could be because the Recorder would be MUCH easier to make as opposed to the flute.
As to the rest of this, it is a stupid argument. Whoever brought it up, well, I won`t go there. Everyone who insists on fighting others on this, you fall into the same catagory. I`ve seen this numerous times on other forums. One side won`t change it`s opinion and neither will the other. The best bet is to let it go.
~*Naira*~

Re: "As for professional recorder players, haven`t you heard of Machala Petri? Frans Bruggen? Walter van Hauwe? Michael Copley? Keith Jarret? Hans-Martin Linde?"

I saw Michala Petri in concert two years ago. She certainly looked real to ME. The ticket prices certainly put a real dent in my wallet. I think Paul McCartney should be shot for his recorder abuse in "The Fool on the Hill".