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Thanks to this thread, I picked up a recorder yesterday. They only had sopranos at the shop I stopped by, with a choice between "baroque" and German fingering. Having left my phone in the car, I took a gamble on baroque. Later Googling vindicated my choice.  I must say, it's an amazing instrument. It makes a great sound with little effort. I picked it up and played Three Blind Mice in a snap. By the end of the day, I was playing the vocal sections to a dozen James Taylor, Carol King, Beatles and Jethro Tull songs, and any other tunes that popped into my head. (For the person asking about Tull songs, check out the woodwind piece on Velvet Green. It's easy on recorder! e: Also, Fire at Midnight) My only complaint is that it's a soprano, and is rooted in C, leaving me improvising or blowing low C every time a song dropped down, usually on the last or second last note. Either that or killing my ears on the second octave. What other keys are available? What are going to be most common? Are the mouthpiece / foot interchangeable by any chance, i.e.: swap out the main body for a different key? Tan Dumplord fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Mar 5, 2012 |
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Mar 5, 2012 15:18
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I'm still playing my recorder regularly (much to my wife's dismay), but I'd like to find some music that is not just me playing a melody by ear. I've been imitating guitar solos and piano fills in the tunes I'm playing, but it's just... too easy. A couple of tunes have really helped my flats/sharps, but they're still too simple. The Beatles' Blue Jay Way is an absolute bitch on recorder, but it's good for practicing tricky transitions. In The Year 2525 is great because you can just keep going up a step and hitting different sharps/flats. Where can I find music that would incorporate trills? I've been trying to parrot Jethro Tull flute / pipe pieces, but the recorder just doesn't have the range to do it.
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May 10, 2012 16:47
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It's my birthday, and my wife got me a trio of musical gifts. I ask now the proud owner of an alto recorder and a kazoo to go along with my soprano recorder. The alto sounds great. It has a haunting sound and my wife likes hearing me play it a lot more than the soprano, which she calls piercing. Also, a month's rental of a flute. Which I'm not sure I'm blowing correctly, as there's a lot of wind noise at the mouth piece. (Is there a flute thread?)
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May 26, 2012 20:07
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:So far as the flute issue, is this a modern silver/Boehm keyed flute, or a wooden keyless trad flute? Modern silver. I might go to an instructor to get some pointers. I doubt I'll be able to interpret an embouchure through a text forum, I guess. I make myself lightheaded playing it for more than 15 minutes.
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May 27, 2012 01:12
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So, 2 months have passed since I started playing the flute, and I'm really enjoying it. As my co-worker has lent me her old flute, I have returned the rental. Now I'm waiting for hers to be tuned up, so I'm down for a week. I can now play from the low C to the high G (G6?), and have been forcing myself to practice scales. I spend Thursday nights jamming with my neighbour (drums) and another friend (guitar), and it's a ton of fun. As the flute is out for this week, he offered to bring me a clarinet to play, lol. I'm not too keen on reed instruments, but I guess I could try. I keep reading that the Bb clarinet is a transposing instrument, and I just can't wrap my head around it. I mean, it's chromatic, so why would I need to transpose music to a different key? I can read sheet music, and I can play by ear, so I don't understand why this instrument would be different from any other chromatic instrument... just play the notes on the page. Any help? In the vein of strange reed instruments, here's something I stumbled upon. A Xaphoon appears to be a cross between a recorder and a saxophone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh5nBb1H38c If I'm going to learn reed instruments, this looks like an easy purchase for under 100 dollars. edit: and there it is, on page 9. Tan Dumplord fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Jul 24, 2012 |
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Jul 24, 2012 19:04
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:The main ones I'd look at are the Yamaha fife ($6 on Amazon) and the pipe fifes made by jemtheflute for about £10 shipped globally, over in his thread on Chiff & Fipple. The Jem fife fingers just like a tinwhistle, as do most fifes and band-flutes, while the Yamaha has a fingering system quite distinct, similar to a recorder. But both are supposed to be great instruments for the price. I can't find reference to jemtheflute making and selling flutes himself, just his big list of other makers. Can you link me?
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Jul 26, 2012 16:08
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I have recently picked up the harmonica. At first, a $10 Hohner in D, then my wife found her old Lee Oskar in C. I can play melodies in key just fine -- I belt out a PERFECT Bach's Minuet in G (in C or D) after only two weeks' practice. Not that the tune is that hard, mind you... I don't use whatever the hell tongue blocking is, I just make a small embouchure to hit singles. What intrigues me is this SECOND position / Cross Harp technique. I can bend the lower notes down (my chromatic tuner says so, but I don't really hear the difference) a half-step, but no more. Bending the exhale notes at the top is really finicky, usually resulting in a squawk as I hit, then pass the bend, back to the natural note. I get the musical theory, bend the seventh and you can play a C harmonica in G... but how do I play in G with the gaps in that scale that arise? i.e.: A C harmonica's first few holes have C, D, E, G, B, C -- missing G's second. I get that you bend the inhale G down to F# to get the leading seventh, but the two is left out to dry. Also I can't bend the 5-hole's F down. Is cross harp just supposed to be in Mixolydian scale? Also, I can play Neil Young harmonica solos, but they seem to all work in first position, not second. An old live video of him playing Heart of Gold confirms this - he draws a G harmonica for the E minor song. Does he not play in cross-harp? Everything I read says that the majority of harmonica music is played cross-harp, so I'm a bit confused.
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Mar 5, 2013 19:39
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It's funny that you mention Piano Man. On my way out the door yesterday morning, I started singing it to myself. I didn't really realize that it had harmonica until I hit that part and started humming it. I laughed my rear end off at not having remembered it. It reminded me of after I started to play flute, and then I heard the flute EVERYWHERE. I have been trying to play cross-harp rather unsuccessfully. I get the initial draw draw blow draw rhythm, but can't seem to move that into a meaningful solo. That said, I am really digging playing the harmonica, and I want to pick up something that is a little more... melodic. Having read what I can, my options seem to be:
1 would allow me to play more tunes, having more full octaves but still leave me unable to play anything chromatic. Unless I got a valved model or something of the like that allows chromatic notes via bending. 2 is pretty expensive for a decent model. 3 is interesting because it's effectively the same a 1 but sounds ~pretty~. Except for the holes being different, there being a few systems of notes and oh god where do I start? My goals are really a) to play more songs (via chromatic notes or more full octaves) and b) to sound good. The $10 Hohner sounds like garbage with tons of air leakage, and even the entry level Hohner chromatic ($120?) that my friend has sounds pretty bad compared to the Lee Oskar, which is starting to have problems on a few notes. Any suggestions? I'm probably looking at a $50 or maybe $100 budget if I can convince the wife. Also she wants me to get a pBone pretty badly, but maybe I can transfer that budget over to a harmonica if that's what it takes to get a decent one. Also, an aside: Music really enriches my life! Thanks for this thread!
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Mar 14, 2013 15:36
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Yes, chromatic really does seem to be what I'm after. I don't really play my diatonics chordally (very well or often). I spend all my time playing song melodies--those which have no chromatic notes. And that's really my limitation at the moment. After talking to wifey, we have decided to stretch up to a nice model. A chromatic is definitely where I'm headed, and given the hours I spend playing it, it will be worth it to get something nice-sounding. Having played a cheapie Hohner chromatic, I'm wary of them. There was a lot of air leakage, the holes were awkward, and it did not sound very nice. I was looking at the Suzuki Chromatix for the phosphor bronze reeds, cover-all case, and reviews of airtightness. Nobody around me has it in stock, though, so I'll have to order it. Thank you for the advice. When I have my instrument in hand, I'll record something to share. Maybe the Sesame Street theme. 
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Mar 16, 2013 14:29
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Returning to this thread yet again to thank you for inspiring me to take up music. Instruments I have learned since first visiting include: * Recorder * Silver Flute * Tin Whistle * Harmonica (Diatonic and Chromatic) (Straight harp only) * Synthesizer / Piano * Trombone (pBone!) * Ukulele I'm not a master at any of them, but I can play in key and jam out a tune / chord progression. Sadly, I have yet to record anything, but perhaps that time will come. Thanks again TTFA / thread!
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Jan 20, 2014 15:50
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Thanks to this thread, I now own the following: recorders (Alto and Soprano), a tin whistle, a kazoo, a slide whistle, a set of harmonicas and a chromatic, a melodica, a piano, an electric guitar and bass, a drum kit, a Suzuki Qchord, and dozens of synthesizers including a $6000 modular. Thanks, TTFA.
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May 31, 2017 19:29
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I found a fife in the local music shop, helping to alleviate my flute withdrawl. It's like a cross between a flute and a tinwhistle. Super fun TBH. Super cheap too, I highly recommend it if you don't want to shell out for a flute.
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Aug 12, 2017 03:33
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Got a photo or brand-name for your fife? It's "American Fife" by "Woodstock Music Collection". I got it locally, but it's probably this one: https://www.amazon.com/Woodstock-Percussion-Inc-American-Fife/dp/B0002I1FD6 E: 20 Canadian doughnuts at Long and McQuade. Tan Dumplord fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Aug 13, 2017 |
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Aug 13, 2017 06:35
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