I want to get back into playing the alto recorder and am curious who else plays. It can be any type of recorder. Currently I have several of the Yamaha 300 series altos along with an Aulos 709bw alto. Plus I have a Yamaha tenor, soprano, and sopranino. What do you own, and do you play in any ensembles?
Hi Cindy! I've played recorder since I first saw and heard one, an alto, in Jackson Square, New Orleans, back in the Hippi days. I was still in high school, and had learned to play guitar enough to earn some money. Some far out, free love couple were there, him on classical guitar and her on the alto, playing what I now know was Renaissance music. I was captivated! Went around the corner on Canal and bought a pear wood Schreiber and taught myself to play. Added it's sounds to my folk/rock trio.
Got to play it with my college orchestra once. (I normally played string bass.) In seminary, I branched out a bit with various plastic recorders, mainly Yamahas and Aulos, and was introduced to a wide variety of music and ensemble playing. In my first full time music ministry position, I developed a recorder choir. We had as many as 18 players, using sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass recorders. (I still have at least one of each.) We played everything from Renaissance music to Dixieland jazz, to Dave Brubeck, to standard hymns right out of the hymnal, to "Little Brown Church in the Wildwood." No, don't think we ever got to perform that one. When we got to the chorus, "Oh, come, come, come, come..." it sounded just like a steam calliope, and one simply cannot play recorder while giggling!
Today, I still have my old bass recorder (Ideal? with a bocal), but had gradually gathered sopranino, soprano, alto, and tenor Moeck recorders in maple. I've kept them in their individual cases until last week. Several times, I found myself without the one that I really wanted to play, so I bought a Yamaha 300 Series YACYRDC Recorder Case. My Moecks fit perfectly! It's a bit bigger than I'd hoped, but will do a good job of protecting them when I carry them around.
I seldom get to play recorder with other players now, mainly just at a summer youth music camp that I help lead, but play mine often, in church and elsewhere. Trying to learn some of the traditional tin whistle ornamentation to add a new dimension to what I've been doing. Okay, enough about me. Tell me more about yourself and your recorder playing!
cotten