Musical Instrument: Recorder

Musical Instrument: Recorder

The expressive possibilities of the instruments of the Baroque era, which is distinguished by a gentle and noble sound, are of great interest among modern listeners. But the instrument which in our country is called a recorder enjoys special attention. At one time, she occupied an important place in the musical culture of many countries and was the favorite of kings and common people. The tool was a constant friend in the wanderings of wandering artists. Not a single celebration was complete without its romantic and velvety sound: the recorder sounded both solo and in ensembles, accompanying singing, dancing, accompanying solemn processions. Now the role of the instrument is much more modest: it is an obligatory participant in concerts of early music, and also helps the initial musical education.

Sound

The sound of flutes has always been considered magical. Suffice it to recall the plot of the famous opera V.A. Mozart or the legend of Gamel rat catcher. But the sound of a recorder and its transverse counterpart are significantly different. So, the timbre can be described as soft and silk. Her voice is so gentle that it reminds birds singing, because it was not for nothing that baroque composers used the sound of recorders in pastoral scenes. This instrument is not only very melodic, but also technical, it is subject to various performing tasks.

Sound recorder - the result of fluctuations in the air column in the instrument. Range makes two octaves: from a note to the second octave to a note of a re fourth.

A photo:

Interesting Facts

• In different languages ​​recorder is called differently. Germans call it blockflote, which means flute with a block. Italians - flauto dolce - "gentle flute". The French - flute a bec - "flute with a mouthpiece", the Americans and the British - the recorder- "recorder".
• In the city museum of Verona, which is located in the building of the castle of Castelvecchio is a copy of the old bass recorder. The tool length is 2.85 meters.
• The collections of recorders are kept in the Museum of Music in Paris, the Museum of Art History in Vienna, in Italian Brescia in a private collection, in the Metropolitan Museum of New York (USA).
• The English king Henry VIII, distinguished by his cruelty, was a great music lover and owned a collection of recorders, which consisted of 76 instruments.

• Famous German composer Karl Orff - reformer of music education in Germany, popularized the recorder for use in school programs.
• When composer I. Stravinsky was shown the recorder for the first time, he perceived it as one of the types of the ancient clarinet. This is evidence that at the beginning of the last century in Russia the recorder was a very rare instrument.
• The great English playwright W. Shakespeare notes the recorder in such famous works as Hamlet and Midsummer Night's Dream.
• Outstanding English poet John Milton in his epic poem "Lost Paradise" also mentions a recorder.
• The German Count Fugger von Glott, an eminent Renaissance banker, was a great music lover and possessed a large collection of wind musical instruments, numbering 507 copies, of which 111 were recorders.
• Recorder for decorating their musical compositions used such famous groups as "The Rollling Stones", "Beatles", "Jethro Tull", "The Alan Parsons Project", "Led Zeppelin", "King Crimson".
• Well-known musicians played the recorder: Paul McCartney, Ian MacDonald, Bruce Spingsteen, Ian Anderson, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and Lou Reed.
• We hear the sound of a recorder in the Quentin Tarantino film "To Kill Bill", as well as in the movie directed by Peter Jackson "The Lord of the Rings."
• The largest ever-made full-featured recorder was made from specially treated pine. At length, it was 5 meters, which is equal to the growth of a giraffe. The width of each instrument sound hole was 8.5 cm.
• In 1939, the American Society of Blottingists was formed, which today has its branches throughout the country, as well as in Canada and 30 other countries of the world. There, musicians meet, share notes, and share the skills of performing. The mission of the American Society is to increase career opportunities for musicians and recorders.
• The popularity of recorders at the present time is so great that every year, manufacturers produce 3.5 million only plastic recorders.
• Currently there are large orchestras in which 50 or 60 musicians play nine different types of recorders.

Design

The design of the recorder is quite simple and can be divided into three parts: the mouthpiece, the main part and the socket.

On the main part of the instrument there are 8 playing holes, one of which, replacing the octave valve, is located on the back side. On the one hand, the case of the recorder ends up with a bell in the form of a small corolla, and on the other, with a beak-shaped mouthpiece. A plug is inserted into the mouthpiece, which leaves the performer with a small hole for blowing the air stream.

Recorders are made of various types of wood, including boxwood, pear, plum, maple, kingwood, as well as various species of ebony trees. Nowadays, not so expensive plastic tools are widely used.

Varieties

Recorders are divided by size and pitch, but the basic structure is always the same. The most used instruments that are included in consort ensembles, there are five types: sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, bass.

• Sopranino, (stitch "fa") - small in size, the length of the instrument is 24 cm and the highest in sound. Sopranino range - from "fa" 2 octaves to the "salt" of the fourth.
• Soprano (“build up”) is a technically mobile instrument with an elegant, delicate sound, is very common and finds very wide application in the original musical training. The range of soprano is from "to" 2 octaves to "re" of the fourth.
• Alto, (Story "fa") - a medium-volume instrument, is very popular, most used in solo concert practice. Alto range - from "fa" 1 octave to "salt" of the third.
• Tenor, (build up ") - instrument with a soft and deep sound. Playing this instrument is not very convenient, since it requires a large stretch of fingers. The ensemble supports the sound of altos. Tenor range - from "to" 1 octave to "re" of the third.
• Bass ("fa") - a tool with a thick and dense sound. In the ensemble, it performs the function of a harmonic basis, maintains a rhythm or plays its own melodic phrases. Execution on the tool because of the size is very difficult and requires effort and experience. The bass range from the "fa" of the small octave to the "salt" of the second octave.

It should also be noted that in addition to the main, mainly used, there are five other types of recorder, such as garklein, grandbasse, double bass, sub-bass, subcontrabass.

Application and Repertoire

Unusually popular in the Renaissance, but then supplanted by the transverse flute and forgotten for the time being, the recorder is again in great demand today.

The tool currently finds very wide application. Authentic music, ethno, rock, pop, blues - this is only a small list of musical styles in which the recorder is actively used.

Easy to learn, it is an excellent preparatory tool for starting music education.

The instrument, due to its low cost, along with the guitar, became very popular among young people.

Recorder in the Renaissance and in our time attracted and attracts the attention of composers, who composed for the instrument not only solo, but also ensemble works. Such great maestro of the past, as G. Telemann, A. Vivaldi, I.S. Bach, G. Purcell, G. Handel, J. Otteter, D. Loye, A. Marcello, D. Sammartini, I. Matteson, V. Schickard, I. Quanz left a rich repertoire to their descendants. Among contemporary composers who have significantly expanded the bibliography for recorders are L. Berio, J. Baur, D. Tavener, P. Hindemith, F. Cucuca, M. Arnold, M. Tippet, B. Britten, L. Bernstein, E. Karkoshka, M. Kagel, G. Kochan, K. Serocki, G. Jacob, B. Hummel and E. Rabbr.

Performers

The recorder, which at the time delights the ears of the kings and is currently in great demand among young people, according to authenticist musicians, does not receive due attention from academic musicians. Despite this, in our country and abroad there are many wonderful performers who do a lot to maintain the popularity of the instrument, with their art delighting the audience. Among them: E. Dryazzhina, F. Konrad, G. Linde, B. Krainis, F. Bryggen and others. But I especially want to highlight such musicians as:

• M. Steiger is a virtuoso recorder from Germany, one of the world's best performers. His repertoire includes works by composers of various eras and styles;
• M. Petri is a Danish recorder who conquers a European listener as a solo performer, as well as as a member of the largest orchestras;
• I. Stevin is a Czech musician specializing in free jazz music. The instrument in his hands sounds unusually lively and loud.

Story

The beginning of the history of recorder, like many other musical instruments, has been lost in the centuries. When it initially evolved is not known, because the first information about the instrument reached us only from the time of the Middle Ages. It is in the meantime that his earliest images are dated. Recorders were then independent instruments and were used mainly by wandering musicians to accompany singing and dancing. They had a soft velvety sound, which is why in Italy they were called "gentle flutes". Easy to learn and having a pleasant timbre recorders in the XIV century become the main wind instruments from the group of wooden. Analyzing the images in the paintings of the XV century, we can conclude that the recorders of that period, made by professional masters, were of different sizes, but of a certain design and used for playing music in consort ensembles. The development of recorder in the XVI century continues intensively. The first musical editions appear, and then the tutorial. The flute at this time undergoes a series of structural changes. The tool body, inside the cone shape, now consists of three parts. Sound holes approached, an additional hole appeared on the back side. The timbre of the recorder has become brighter and more saturated. At that time, three types of instruments were especially used: “Rafi”, “Ganassi”, and consort flutes.

The peak of the flowering recorder comes in the 17th century. It was at this time that the greatest composers, such as G. Telemann, A. Vivaldi, I.S. Bach, G. Purcell, G. Handel, J. Otteter, D. Loye, A. Marcello, D. Sammartini, I. Matteson, V. Shikkard, I. Quanz The repertoire of the instrument was enriched with magnificent works included in the treasury of musical literature. The recorder was so much in demand that its parts subsequently corresponded for a transverse flute.

In the 17th century, the tool was slightly modified, gradually approaching the one that exists at the present time.

Since the second half of the 18th century, joyless times have begun for recorders, the transverse flute replaces it, as an instrument with a brighter and stronger sound, with greater technical capabilities. Also, the transverse flute had a larger range and was more stable intonation.

Until the end of the XIX century, the recorder was completely forgotten and remembered when the passion for authentic music was born, and accordingly ensembles consisting of old instruments appeared. For the tool began its own Renaissance. Special merit in the restoration of the recorder belongs to the musical masters: the Englishman A. Dolmechu and the German P. Harlan. Since the 20s of the last century, authentic art, and with it the performance on a recorder has been developing intensively and continues to be improved to this day.

Blokleyta, which has a rich history, which has many hundreds of years, still has a huge number of fans. She didn’t receive intensive improvements like a transverse flute and remained a simple but very melodic instrument. People play the recorder without suspecting that they have a piece of history in their hands and that even kings liked to play music on it.