tenor recorder for short fingers
Sanford Levenberg
I have a Yamaha plastic tenor recorder and it is too difficult to play
with my short and crooked fingers. I do play without any problems the
alto and tenor sax and the soprano recorder. I would really like to find
a tenor recorder design that would work for me. All help will be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks
Sandy
Darkwater Cafe
Joan M. Mullhaupt
Sanford Levenberg wrote:
Sandy,
I have short fingers and also find the span between some of the fingering
holes on the plastic Yamaha Tenor Recorder a difficult reach. I do not have
any arthritis or other difficulty. My wooden Kung Tenor Recorder seems to
have the holes where I can reach comfortably. It is made out of Bubinga
wood. They seem to sell Rosewood and Bubinga wood instruments at the same
price. I have had it for several years and am certain it would cost more
now. Originally it was in somewhere in the $200.00 range. The Yamaha
Tenors work very well. Many of our Buffalo Recorder Society members use
them and, course, they cost much less.
Some of the mail order places will let you try out an instrument and send it
back if it doesn't fit, but if you know other people who play tenors, try
holding theirs to see what fits your hand.
Joan M. Mullhaupt
Malcolm Tattersall
Hi,
First let me say that adults, let alone children, don't need to have 'short and
crooked' fingers to have trouble with the stretch of a tenor recorder - it _is_ a big
stretch
I have a rosewood Ariel with a smaller reach than most and quite a good sound. Also,
the old Dolmetsch plastic tenors were designed with children in mind, I think. Stretch
is smallish, but so, IMHO, is the tone.
Another option is altering the instrument you already have. A competent repairer can
block up one or two holes, drill replacements closer to where your fingers fall, and
re-tune, all with little loss of tone.
Good luck!
Malcolm Tattersall
Mark Venn
Sanford Levenberg wrote:
> I have a Yamaha plastic tenor recorder and it is too difficult to play
> with my short and crooked fingers. I do play without any problems the
> alto and tenor sax and the soprano recorder. I would really like to find
> a tenor recorder design that would work for me. All help will be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> Sandy
> Darkwater Cafe
Roessler make a knick tenor which gives finger hole spacing around that of
an alto. It is a wooden instrument, apart from the knick which is brass. I
have just done some maintenance work on one of these, and found it easy to
play with good tone & volume throughout the range. Being wood it is more
expensive than a plastic one, and cost is of the order of 300 UK pounds. I
am sure there are other sites, but the Early Music Shop certainly has a
picture of it on their WWW pages. Home URL is http://www.e-m-s.com/
Mark Venn
Steve Mullany
I am a flutist/recorder player seeking to form/join a group of
complimentary instrumenalists eager to play High Baroque repetoire at
old and modern pitches on historical reproductions.
Serious professionals, or aspiring professionals only, please.
Harpsichord, gamba, cello, oboe, bassoon, french horn, violin, viola
and, of course, flute/recorder welcome.
Steve Mullany
2504 Lake Ave.
Cheverly, MD 20785
(301)386-1793
(301)386-2186
David Grosvenor
In article <351FC762...@nerc.ac.uk>, Mark Venn <m.v...@nerc.ac.uk>
writes
instruments for people with smaller finger-stretches. I don't know what
his prices are, but they are quite reasonable.
No E-mail, but his address is:
25 St. Oswalds Road,
Bridlington,
Yorkshire,
England.
No telephone either!
Hope this helps!
--
David Grosvenor
Nicholas S. Lander
>Albert Lockwood (works in Bridlington, Yorkshire, U.K.) makes various
>instruments for people with smaller finger-stretches. I don't know what
>his prices are, but they are quite reasonable.
>No E-mail, but his address is:
>25 St. Oswalds Road,
>Bridlington,
>Yorkshire,
>England.
>
>No telephone either!
Lockwood's catalogue may be found at
http://www.iinet.net.au/~nickl/lockwood.html
from which it can be seen that he makes a tenor recorder with 3 keys
which costs tenors with 3 keys for the price of his keyless tenors'
price + £50
His keyless tenor recorders range in price from £140 to £440 depending
on wood and pitch.
sie...@eosinc.com
HI,
A player in my recorder ensemble has a Moeck Rottenburgh tenor with an
interesting key arrangement. If you can find the $$$ it might be worth
looking into this. I have an old Küng in maple (one key for low C); it
works for me, but my fingers are sort of average.
Mark Siebert