Omaygash! This is such a great timing! I just impulsively bought a 2nd hand Alto recorders a few hours ago! Without knowing anything about the instrument. Thank you!!
Yes, her videos can inspire such things. I didn't have an alto or tin whistles before watching her videos (or decent wooden recorders). Then she showed us the double recorder - and that seems cost prohibitive at the moment, but I love when she plays that and now I'm looking at traverso flutes after her most recent videos. @Team_Recorder - I'm not complaining in any way - I love music and learning different instruments. I can stop buying instruments any time I want to.
These kind of instructional videos (regardless of which instrument or content creator) on UA-cam & Skillshare are invaluable. Beginners of all ages don't know how lucky they have to have these resources nowadays. Recorder isn't my first instrument but growing up in the 90s, I would've loved to have this type of thing supplementing my teacher's instruction. Anyhow, wonderful job Sarah and thanks for the videos!
I've been wanting to take alto recorder lessons. I completely forgot about UA-cam university! Thank you! I took some lessons with the American Recorder association but that was over a year ago now.
I’ve had the Mollenhauer pearwood alto for several years and it still gives me goosebumps Ahhhhh the tone of baroque recorders Thank you Sarah for presenting it
Bought the alto recorder (my first ever recorder) a month ago and haven't actually taken the time to learn the notes haha, just been using a yt vid to learn the pirates of the caribbean theme instead. When I saw you had posted this I clicked very fast!
I just started a couple weeks ago after watching a ton of your videos. Not a first or second lesson type thing, but how to gracefully end a note or make an attractive sustain would be great topics too. I'm used to oboe and my usual tricks don't apply. Leaning the different fingerings is breaking my brain but in a fun way!
I should definitely have had a lesson like this as a kid. Mind you, I'd still have hated it, as I hated any adult attempts to teach me anything. But at least this is clearly put and factually correct information, coming from someone who can actually PLAY the damn recorder and has explored a few worlds beyond the clair de la lune and the cross buns.
Spookily perfect timing! Thank you so much! I have been practising the soprano in secret....but might be willing to unleash the alto on my poor household. ( Or they might be willing to listen) Keep going Sarah....I know this is going to be fab instruction!
I thought it'd be a dose to learn a new set of notes, but!! Alto recorder is the same as the low register of clarinet, and soprano recorder is the same as the higher register of clarinet. So I have already done that hard work!
First times I picked my alto, I mostly just improvised on simple chord progression; but it was a good thing to learn fingering patterns (I used to think like it was a soprano or tenor, just shifted by tonality: thus, if I had to improvise i.e. in G major, I thought it was like doing it in D major on an instrument in C). Now I can also read music with no problems on both C- and F-recorders (and also on the cornett, which has a pattern in G), but I don't know if it can work for everyone: for me it made it, just try various strategies and stick with the one best for each person.
Perfect timing! I have an alto recorder in my amazon cart, ready to buy, but I'm so scared that my brain will exlpode trying to learn a new fingering system than the soprano i used to play.
I promise you I can play one of those without learning to read in a different key ! Firstly I mostly know what I'm playing, so I don't need to read, and if I do a couple of clicks and the music is transposed so my fingerings come out right. Just like many other instruments do it. There's no need to pretend you are forced to learn two ways to read fir recorder.
That's all absolutely fine - until you want to play with other people! If you are ever looking to play with accompaniment, or backing track, or in an ensemble, then you'll need to be able to play the correct pitches. So much of recorder repertoire is for consort/ensemble setting, and I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on that joy. But by all means, play in any transposition you like! (meant seriously and encouragingly, not sarcastically)
@Team_Recorder I do play at the correct pitches! If I need the sheet music, then it's easy to transpose it. Many instruments do it that way. I don't think there is an authority to stop me doing it that way. Thanks for the brilliant videos and excellent channel by the way !
My mind was blown ages ago when I realized that alto recorder fingerings were so similar to the bassoon (my primary instrument). Is there a German version of the alto, that might be even more similar? Just curious, though. I really have no desire to confuse myself with more alternatives in recorder fingerings.
I totally need this Sarah...just got an alto recorder in today (Mollenhauer in pearwood)! I want to learn to play! Stupid question. If my wood recorder has cork gaskets should I assemble the recorder and leave it assembled? Or can I assemble and take it apart each time I play? It seems like the cork would wear out quickly.
@@Team_Recorder A lot of knowledge can be transferred to all the different sizes of recorders so I was a bit surprised to see you've made a dedicated beginner lesson video for the alto recorder knowing you've already made introduction videos about all of them. One thing I'm probably neglecting though is the correct way to read sheet music for each size of recorder.
I moved over from the descant to the treble recently, I consider myself to be an intermediate/advanced player with descant, but I learned in the 80s and 90s and then stopped for a long time. I notice in your video you use slightly different fingering to the ones I was taught as a child. For example the e flat , you put two fingers on the right hand. I do tend to vary my fingerings depending on how warm the room or my recorder is, as it seems some of them can get pitchy on some days and not others (b flat and e flat are notable for this I find) but is there a definitive guide for this? Some of the fingering charts I've found aeem to vary too. I am worried I'm learning bad habits by playing the wrong fingerings.
You're doing fine! Some of the notes have various versions - the Eb, for example, can be 0134 or 01356. It has a tiny difference in tuning which won't matter most of the time. I personally prefer 01356 and make an executive decision for this video!
I come from the tenor and soprano. What is the best strategi for training the new fingerings? I have bought an alto book i follow but i find it so difficult and frustrating, and I keep falling back to soprano fingerings mid song. should I only train alto for a while or?
I would spend some time in just the also fingerings, really giving youreelf time to get used to it. I also have a video called ‘How to transpose’ that covers going from soprano to alto- it’s an oldie but a goodie!
Wow! My husband's and my treble recorders just arrived in the post today! We'll be going through this lesson together tomorrow ❤
Omaygash! This is such a great timing! I just impulsively bought a 2nd hand Alto recorders a few hours ago! Without knowing anything about the instrument.
Thank you!!
You’re twisting my arm here Sarah. I suppose I’ll have to get an alto recorder now
I regret to inform you that yes, you must
Yes, her videos can inspire such things. I didn't have an alto or tin whistles before watching her videos (or decent wooden recorders). Then she showed us the double recorder - and that seems cost prohibitive at the moment, but I love when she plays that and now I'm looking at traverso flutes after her most recent videos. @Team_Recorder - I'm not complaining in any way - I love music and learning different instruments. I can stop buying instruments any time I want to.
Just do it
You should do first lessons for tenor, bass etc too :-) great to see this
Ahh I’ll get on it!
No pressure 😂! @@Team_Recorder
I have had an alto for a year and have out off staring. So happy to see this. Lease keep them coming. Thankyou
You're a good teacher, Sarah.
These kind of instructional videos (regardless of which instrument or content creator) on UA-cam & Skillshare are invaluable. Beginners of all ages don't know how lucky they have to have these resources nowadays. Recorder isn't my first instrument but growing up in the 90s, I would've loved to have this type of thing supplementing my teacher's instruction. Anyhow, wonderful job Sarah and thanks for the videos!
You're very welcome! ❤️
I've been wanting to take alto recorder lessons. I completely forgot about UA-cam university! Thank you!
I took some lessons with the American Recorder association but that was over a year ago now.
Hurrah welcome, you’re in the right place!
I’ve had the Mollenhauer pearwood alto for several years and it still gives me goosebumps
Ahhhhh the tone of baroque recorders
Thank you Sarah for presenting it
You're very welcome!
Alto is my favorite to play. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 😀
Bought the alto recorder (my first ever recorder) a month ago and haven't actually taken the time to learn the notes haha, just been using a yt vid to learn the pirates of the caribbean theme instead. When I saw you had posted this I clicked very fast!
This song was great to practice sheet music with the alto recorder
Lets gooooo! I will supplement my Aldo Bova book with your lessons. :D
I thought the same thing!
I prefer the alto so this is great news for me
Cool! I found a plastic Aulos Alto of in an old cabinet, and this has helped me clean up my self-taught technique a lot
I just started a couple weeks ago after watching a ton of your videos. Not a first or second lesson type thing, but how to gracefully end a note or make an attractive sustain would be great topics too. I'm used to oboe and my usual tricks don't apply. Leaning the different fingerings is breaking my brain but in a fun way!
HiSarah. Ive been watching your whistle tutorials. My you are adorable!.
Neighbors can deal with it by taking up their own instruments and joining in on the practice.
I should definitely have had a lesson like this as a kid.
Mind you, I'd still have hated it, as I hated any adult attempts to teach me anything. But at least this is clearly put and factually correct information, coming from someone who can actually PLAY the damn recorder and has explored a few worlds beyond the clair de la lune and the cross buns.
Thanks! And I chose really simple recognisable tunes as that helps people to find a way in and follow their ears too. Glad to have you here!
Lol I just got my alto as well. Perfect timing 😅😂 ❤. Thank you. Your videos are amazing!
Spookily perfect timing! Thank you so much! I have been practising the soprano in secret....but might be willing to unleash the alto on my poor household. ( Or they might be willing to listen) Keep going Sarah....I know this is going to be fab instruction!
Alto should be easier on your household than soprano 😂
@@smuecke too right!
Great stuff! 🎉
Wonderful lesson!!
I thought it'd be a dose to learn a new set of notes, but!! Alto recorder is the same as the low register of clarinet, and soprano recorder is the same as the higher register of clarinet. So I have already done that hard work!
Yes, clarinettists have an advantage here! (or a disadvantage, maybe it's confusing..!)
I wish you will teach full songs...cause no one does
First times I picked my alto, I mostly just improvised on simple chord progression; but it was a good thing to learn fingering patterns (I used to think like it was a soprano or tenor, just shifted by tonality: thus, if I had to improvise i.e. in G major, I thought it was like doing it in D major on an instrument in C). Now I can also read music with no problems on both C- and F-recorders (and also on the cornett, which has a pattern in G), but I don't know if it can work for everyone: for me it made it, just try various strategies and stick with the one best for each person.
These are all great tips!
You are so lovely, Sarah! Greetings from São Paulo, Brazil
Greetings back!
I hope this means the Alto version of your book of favourite pieces will be out soon!
Ohhh we’re working hard on it as we speak!
@@Team_Recorder Can we preorder?
Perfect timing! I have an alto recorder in my amazon cart, ready to buy, but I'm so scared that my brain will exlpode trying to learn a new fingering system than the soprano i used to play.
Oh you will be fine! You’ll love the sound!
@@Team_RecorderI bought it! Can't wait to start practicing. Thank you for the encouragement!
Which make did you buy?
@thearm95 Yamaha YRA 402B Ecodear. Sarah recommended it as a beginner recorder in one of her videos.
@@gabyf001 Good choice! I have the same...and for soprano also...🙂 Enjoy!
I hoppy your sounds flute so much..
I promise you I can play one of those without learning to read in a different key ! Firstly I mostly know what I'm playing, so I don't need to read, and if I do a couple of clicks and the music is transposed so my fingerings come out right. Just like many other instruments do it. There's no need to pretend you are forced to learn two ways to read fir recorder.
That's all absolutely fine - until you want to play with other people! If you are ever looking to play with accompaniment, or backing track, or in an ensemble, then you'll need to be able to play the correct pitches. So much of recorder repertoire is for consort/ensemble setting, and I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on that joy. But by all means, play in any transposition you like! (meant seriously and encouragingly, not sarcastically)
@Team_Recorder I do play at the correct pitches! If I need the sheet music, then it's easy to transpose it. Many instruments do it that way. I don't think there is an authority to stop me doing it that way. Thanks for the brilliant videos and excellent channel by the way !
My mind was blown ages ago when I realized that alto recorder fingerings were so similar to the bassoon (my primary instrument). Is there a German version of the alto, that might be even more similar? Just curious, though. I really have no desire to confuse myself with more alternatives in recorder fingerings.
I totally need this Sarah...just got an alto recorder in today (Mollenhauer in pearwood)! I want to learn to play! Stupid question. If my wood recorder has cork gaskets should I assemble the recorder and leave it assembled? Or can I assemble and take it apart each time I play? It seems like the cork would wear out quickly.
Please do you have a video for soprano recorders?
Oh YES ua-cam.com/video/-d6uVjIEkMY/v-deo.html
Are you planning to do this for every other size of the recorder (like tenor or garklein)?
I… will if people want me to! Lemme know? 😁
@@Team_Recorder A lot of knowledge can be transferred to all the different sizes of recorders so I was a bit surprised to see you've made a dedicated beginner lesson video for the alto recorder knowing you've already made introduction videos about all of them. One thing I'm probably neglecting though is the correct way to read sheet music for each size of recorder.
😊
I moved over from the descant to the treble recently, I consider myself to be an intermediate/advanced player with descant, but I learned in the 80s and 90s and then stopped for a long time. I notice in your video you use slightly different fingering to the ones I was taught as a child. For example the e flat , you put two fingers on the right hand. I do tend to vary my fingerings depending on how warm the room or my recorder is, as it seems some of them can get pitchy on some days and not others (b flat and e flat are notable for this I find) but is there a definitive guide for this? Some of the fingering charts I've found aeem to vary too. I am worried I'm learning bad habits by playing the wrong fingerings.
You're doing fine! Some of the notes have various versions - the Eb, for example, can be 0134 or 01356. It has a tiny difference in tuning which won't matter most of the time. I personally prefer 01356 and make an executive decision for this video!
I come from the tenor and soprano. What is the best strategi for training the new fingerings? I have bought an alto book i follow but i find it so difficult and frustrating, and I keep falling back to soprano fingerings mid song. should I only train alto for a while or?
I would spend some time in just the also fingerings, really giving youreelf time to get used to it. I also have a video called ‘How to transpose’ that covers going from soprano to alto- it’s an oldie but a goodie!
@@Team_Recorder thanks a lot, will try that.
Sorry to be flippant but, the lipstick is...? 😀
She did a whole video on lipstick quite a while ago 🎶 💄👄
Yep I love wearing lipstick. I did do a whole video on it 😄
@@Team_Recorder Can you share what brand and colour this particular one is? I've been looking for something similar for ages!