Alto recorder upgrade

[DominiqueF]

I play the alto recorder as a hobby, exclusively from the baroque
repertoire. I am self taught although I several years of formal
teaching on the baroque flute (20 years ago).

I have an alto Yamaha YRA-312B and wonder if it will be worth it for
me to upgrade to a wooden factory made recorder. I am impressed with
the sound of my Yamaha but the high register can be really anoying.
The type of recorders I am considering are the baroque inspired modern
instruments like Moeck Rottenburg, Mollenhauer Denner, Kung Superio.
Or some other in that price range. I was hoping to get it in
palisander.

These daily hours I spend playing for myself are my hobby and escape,
no more. I play alone, sometimes for my family who knows nothing much
about music. Will I, as a beginner-intermediate player, enjoy and
notice such an upgrade? Or would this be just an overbuy? What if I
went for a more reasonable type of wood, like pearwood? Or some
cheaper student recorder?

Thank you, all input is greatly appreciated.

[Laura Conrad]

Dominique> Will I, as a beginner-intermediate player, enjoy and
Dominique> notice such an upgrade? Or would this be just an
Dominique> overbuy? What if I went for a more reasonable type of
Dominique> wood, like pearwood? Or some cheaper student recorder?

You will certainly notice if you've been playing exclusively one
instrument and you go to a different one. What I would recommend is
that you go to a good recorder store (or wait for the Boston Early
Music Festival next June) and try a bunch of instruments, both within,
and a bit above and below the price range you're thinking of. Bring
the instrument you've been playing, as well.

They will let you take a few instruments to a quiet place, and loan you
some music to play from. Just play each instrument for a few phrases
at a time, and then move on to the next one. You will notice that after
10 minutes or so of doing this, there will be some you will be glad to
move on from, and some that you will want to linger on. Those are the
ones you should consider buying.

(Also, take a tuner, and make sure that any instrument you like can be
played in tune before buying it.)

If you find that none of them, or only the ones you can't afford, are
ones you linger over more than your current instrument, then don't buy
anything.

If you can't physically get to a place with a lot of recorders, many
of the good places (I know the von Huene workshop does this) will mail
you instruments on approval.

But I really enjoy doing this at the Early Music Festival. I go to
the ladies room, and when I'm really having trouble, I ask the women
coming through what they think. You can also find lots of
professional players and makers who can give you an opinion.

[Red Belly]

I have both an ebony Moeck Rottenburgh and an olivewood Mollenhauer Denner
alto. I'm very fond of both instruments but they have very different
characteristics, and they present difficulties of their own, for example,
the Moeck's tuning is more reliable in the upper register and has a stronger
tone generally, but the Mollenhauer responds more easily in the upper
register and it has a lovely fruity tone that I particularly like for solo
(as in 'unaccompanied') performance.

I use a plastic yamaha too from time to time and I agree that the high
register lacks the beauty of a good wooden instruemnt.. but be warned, that
nicer high register on a wooden instrument doesn't come immediately, the
instrument needs to be played in and your technique will need to develop.
The wooden instrument can be far less forgiving of technical flaws than a
plastic instrument.

As regards the particular type of wood, I picked ebony because many moons
ago my teacher told me it was the best sound, and I picked the olivewood
instrument myself because of the nice tone, but I must also confess its a
lovely looking wood and that played no small part in my decision to buy it!

I've tried a few palisander instruments and I'd be inclined to go with the
ebony myself, the price differential between those two is quite small, but
that really is purely a matter of personal taste. If you plan to play a lot
I'd steer clear of the cheaper maple instruments, as they are not usually
that much of an improvement on the plastic instruments for the money
involved.

I tried a Kung Superio when I bought my olive Denner and it was a very nice
instrument too. You should try out as many instruments as possible in your
price range before buying, and don't just try one Moeck, one Kung, one
Mollenhauer, or even one of each wood type within each make...try as many as
you can get your hands on, and if that means playing ten different
Rottenburgh palisander altos then do it, you could hate 9 and love the
tenth!

rb

Post by DominiqueF
I play the alto recorder as a hobby, exclusively from the baroque
repertoire. I am self taught although I several years of formal
teaching on the baroque flute (20 years ago).
I have an alto Yamaha YRA-312B and wonder if it will be worth it for
me to upgrade to a wooden factory made recorder. I am impressed with
the sound of my Yamaha but the high register can be really anoying.
The type of recorders I am considering are the baroque inspired modern
instruments like Moeck Rottenburg, Mollenhauer Denner, Kung Superio.
Or some other in that price range. I was hoping to get it in
palisander.
These daily hours I spend playing for myself are my hobby and escape,
no more. I play alone, sometimes for my family who knows nothing much
about music. Will I, as a beginner-intermediate player, enjoy and
notice such an upgrade? Or would this be just an overbuy? What if I
went for a more reasonable type of wood, like pearwood? Or some
cheaper student recorder?
Thank you, all input is greatly appreciated.

[BREWERPAUL]

The only way to know is to play as many instruments as you possibly can.
Even with the same wood, instruments from the same maker, same model can and
will vary: take it from this instrument maker!
It would be worth your while to visit a place that carries a LOT of recorders
and play everything in stock. Either that or work with a dealer who will send
you several instruments at a time to try out. If you're gonna spend the $$ it
will be worth the time and effort.
Where do you live? Maybe people here can suggest the closest good, reputable
dealer.

******************************
Got wood?
Check out my exotic hardwood pennywhistles at fair
prices...http://www.Busmanwhistles.com

[DominiqueF]

Thank you all for your replies. They have been very helpfull and meanwhile I
have reading many reviews on dealers sites, and all the articles in the news
archive that I could find about this matter. Interesting stuff, specially
the one thread about not worth upgrading from plastic unless spending at
least 1000 dollars. I am still not convinced about that though.

I live in Oklahoma and the closest early music shop, if any... would be a
three hour drive, in Dallas. I have no contact with nobody here remotely
interested in baroque music. The ARS has no chapters here either. So all of
my shopping has to be done online. An other question; are there any recorder
sound files on internet that let us compare the sound of the different woods
and plastic?

Dominique

(By the way I just received my new Yamaha baroque plastic tenor, and it is
love at first toot... What an amazing instrument for the price).

[Tom Gutnick]

Post by DominiqueF
I have an alto Yamaha YRA-312B and wonder if it will be worth it for
me to upgrade to a wooden factory made recorder. I am impressed with
the sound of my Yamaha but the high register can be really anoying.
The type of recorders I am considering are the baroque inspired modern
instruments like Moeck Rottenburg, Mollenhauer Denner, Kung Superio.
Or some other in that price range. I was hoping to get it in
palisander.
These daily hours I spend playing for myself are my hobby and escape,
no more. I play alone, sometimes for my family who knows nothing much
about music. Will I, as a beginner-intermediate player, enjoy and
notice such an upgrade? Or would this be just an overbuy? What if I
went for a more reasonable type of wood, like pearwood? Or some
cheaper student recorder?

I won't repeat the good advice that others have already provided. (Note
that some of the mail-order places will send you a few instruments on
approval, so you can find the one you like the best.)

But I will note that there is a sensuous pleasure in having a good wooden
recorder under your fingers that you don't get from a hunk of plastic --
at least that's how I find it. My collection includes a number of
different woods: sopranino, grendadilla; soprano, tulipwood; alto,
maple; tenor, palisander; bass, padouk; S/A/T renaissance, plum. (And
I still have one or two plastic ones -- good for taking to the beach.)
But don't ask me which wood is best -- each instrument has its own
strengths and quirks.

Tom