I'm a new, adult player, just playing as a hobby. I am a guitarist, and have played for 40+ years. A couple of years ago, I developed an interest in Native American flute, but those are expensive. My son recomended a recorder as a joke. I tried it, and did some good, but have never really got very good.

In the process, I got sidetracked by the Irish whistle. It is much easier to get the second octave on these, and they can be very expressive, like a diatonic harmonica, but I miss the chromatic scale, and there is music I like that just isn't suitable for the whistle.

I have a plastic Yamaha 300 series soprano, a plasitc "Dreamflute" soprano and an Angel alto (this looks like a renisance recorder, but has a tapered bore) that I really like.

I need help on getting the second octave consistantly. It is much harder than the whistle. Sometimes I can play for an hour or two just fine, and then I start squaking and squeaking. Or, I play with someone listening to me, not just by myself, and it is simply terrible. Any help?

Also, is there a place in this forum for those of us who are never likely to have anything but a plastic instrument, but would like to find out how to get the best out of them and how and where to buy them?

you should ask the 8notes staff to make up a new forum for whistles and ocarinas and stuff, i might soon.

Couple of possibilities for the squawking high notes. You didn't mention which instrument is giving you the trouble - soprano or alto. Problems are similar between them all though.

Squawking after playing an hour: Could be your water logged. Be sure to plow/suck out the moisture fairly regularly.

Thumb position: This is the most common problem for me. The right thumb wants to just "crack open" the hole for e" (soprano) or a" (alto) and higher. Maybe 10% to 20%, depending on the instrument and the note. To complicate your life, the amount of "cracking" may vary from note to note on a particular instrument.
There are two common methods: 1)inserting the thumbnail into the hole to provide a very small opening. You need a close-trimmed thumb nail for this. or 2)rolling the thumb slightly open a small hole.

Another thing with these high notes is to increase the air velocity when playing them. It can also help to raise the end of the recorder closer to horizontal to get a more straight-on air flow through the windway.

Hope some of this helps.

A source with a fairly extensive list of catagories of interest to new recorder players is "Recorder-Haven".
http://www.getphpbb.com/phpbb/index.php?mforum=recorderhaven
--Jerry

Hey, thanks for the reply. Really, the squaking is a problem on ALL of them, and I have tried all the solutions. I've found that using the edge of the thumb best, rather than the thumbnail bit . . . the inconsistancy of my manicure is a problem. It DOES seem that moisture may be a major factor, because I can often play fairly well without squawks for 30 minutes to an hour, then it all falls apart. I suspect that practice and swabing out the bore may be my best solution.

I am not interested in ocarina (sp?) I do play the whistle, and the high notes are markedly easier (up to b in the second octave- C nat is often managable but a bit of a problem).

I do wonder where to get some of the instruments. Like I said earlier, I have a Yamaha 300 series soprano, a plastic "dream flute" by Mollenhauer (again, sp?), and a Peripole Angel alto. I really like this one; it looks like a renissance recorder, but has a conical bore. It plays fairly easy, and my wife doesn't complain about it hurting her ears so much. I ordered it from a supply house that ususally sells to schools, and they really weren't too interested in selling just one recorder to an individual. I am a minister, and selling to a church helped helped convince them so sell me just one. The price, including shipping was really reasonable. Couldn't have gotten a comparable Yamaha for the price, even before shipping. But I wonder . . . is there someone who sells these retail? I'd like one of the sopranos in the same line.

I have bought most of my instruments from Lazar's Early Music. Look his shop up at http://www.bill-lazar.com/.
A couple of other dealers are Unicorn Music http://www.buyrecorders.com/
and Courtly Music http://www.courtlymusicunlimited.com/index.html
They all sell both wood and plastic instruments and can be very helpful in selecting an instrument.

In addition to swabing out the bore, blowing out the windway by blocking off the open end of the head joint with you hand and blowing into the windway so the moisture exits out the mouthpiece opening will be more effective. An interim solution when playing is to suck back the moisture at breath points.
--Jerry

If you know some notes then I'd be happy to give you a few songs to play. Just leave me a comment

If you know some notes then I'd be happy to give you a few songs to play. Just leave me a comment