The usual composition of the recorder quartet is soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. It’s in this environment or as an added extra to a quartet that you might find the Sopranino Recorder. It was popular in the 16th and 17th Centuries and is sometimes still seen today. For Recorder Ensembles And ConsortsĪ consort is a grouping of like instruments to form an ensemble. So, it can be a little shrill, almost like a whistle. The sound is higher in range than other common recorders. It certainly isn’t a recorder that you will come across very often and not an instrument to play a recorder solo. This is the smallest type of recorder and also has the highest pitch with a functional range of F5-F6. All recorders but each of them has a unique sound. They are Sopranino, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass. And that playing standard can be very high indeed.Īs I said, there are five types of recorder. In the courts of England and the rest of Europe from the late 1300s, it is still being played today. The likes of Bach, Handel, Purcell, and Vivaldi don’t write music that features “toys.” It was a favored instrument And even into the Classical and Romantic Periods. Through the Renaissance and the Baroque Periods, it gained its fame. Although you can get small versions for young children, it is an instrument that goes back centuries. That is certainly what it isn’t, even though, in some circles, it is considered to be. He was still there and didn’t know what to say when he saw me. Never mind, I went back to the school some years later for a reunion with a different hat on. Unfortunately, before I had a chance, our teaching hero banished me to the pottery class. I listened to a girl in the class play one day. The same as those given the triangle or a tambourine. I thought it was just a kid’s instrument given to those who couldn’t play anything. I don’t even know which of the five main recorder types it was, but that didn’t matter. At the time, I didn’t realize there were different types of recorders. But in that short time, I came across the recorder.