As we don't have an early music forum here (yet?) I thought that we should have a few threads where we can share thoughts etc on instruments.

I have some wide bore recorders and have had the occasional crumhorn in my youth. Who else is in to early music here and plays wind instruments?


OOPS! I don't know what happened to the topic title. It looked fine on the preview. It should read EARLY WIND INSTRUMENTS.

Well, I tried a couple of crumhorns today at the Early Music Exhibition. Managed to get a decent sound out of the smaller ones, but couldn't figure out the fingerings - there seemed to be more holes than I had digits.

Think I'll stick to recorders for now

I quite liked the gemshorns, but couldn't work out why they were designed for players with much bigger fingers on their left hand than their right.

I have a sneaky desire to take up baroque flute now.

I was given a baroque flute recently. I will keep it until you visit Anglesey next and you may be able to tell me more about it.

I guess that would be me then!

In my youth I played them all - had a large collection from garklein to bass shawm, and a lot of ethnic instruments. Then I discovered the joys of jazz and the saxophone...

After many years doing legit stuff I returned to the early music scene and found it reinvigorated with some outstanding young musicians and far less compartmentalised than before.

It never fails to impress me how much people unaware of the early music scene enjoy listening and learning about it - and how easy it can be play early music - although to 'play it well' is as hard as anything!

Back to early wind instruments. They have a most evocative sound. The beautiful watery sound of a gemshorn, the pungency of a full-blooded shawm band, the woodiness of a curtal or the simple purity of recorder consort music...

It got me in here, wondering what the heck an Oind Instrument was...

Recorders over here, though only five so far and all of a 'normal' shape/bore/pitch/etc.

I played with some gemshorns at the early music festival last year and I loved them. Unfortunately I was playing with bass ones which are a little expensive for something that's just a pretty-thing for me...

Personally, I'm convinced there's a bug in the forum's nanny-bot. Not only does it filter out rude words, but it makes random changes to other words too. No matter how often I re-read some of my posts, they always seem to appear with stupid mistakes. At least that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

As regards early wind instruments: I have been experimenting with a treble recorder. I'm OK down to G, but have trouble getting to the bottom F with my stumpy little finger. I suppose I could try one with a key, but it wouldn't be the same somehow.

I'd love to be able to play a cornett as well as I've heard one played though. Doesn't look a very promising instrument, but played well it has a soound I could just eat up with a spoon! But if I have trouble reaching the F on a treble recorder I don't think there's much hope with a cornett!

I have trouble getting F on some trebles, Jon S, but others are fine. It might be worth seeing if you can try out one or more other makes and see if one suits you more.

After years of thinking I couldn't reach the holes on a tenor recorder, I have found several I can play. And yesterday I managed to find several baroque flutes I could play as well. It's only partly physique, I've found. Practice comes into it as well.

As well as trying different instruments, Jon S, check that your right thumb isn't too high, which drags your little finger off the holes, and that you have the footjoint of the recorder turned to the easiest reach for your finger. The best position may be a fair bit further round than you expect.

When I had my first bass recorder I had a special cover made for me so that I could reach the bottom key. After a few weeks of practice I no longer needed it. I am hoping that the same thing will happen when my contrabass arrives.

I agree about a consort of wide bore recorders sounding fantastic, just like an early pipe organ. Wonderful!

I have a new bass arriving this week, courtesy of another well-known Forums member who sells them.

One more for the bass recorder consort next March then?

Andante, NoisyBassoonist and I played in a wide bore consort on the Easter Early Music Course at Ascot last year. It was a quartet, and the other person played a G-treble.

I've been a bit keen on G-trebles ever since.....

Hope so.

My daughter used to play a cornomuse in a early music band, though I never saw it and havent a clue what its like. The band also had a big thing called a rackett, which I gather sounds like someone passing wind.

Has anyone tried the plastic gemshorns from ebay or anywhere else for that matter?

I've been thinking about one as a Christmas filler.

The only plastic ones I know are the Susato ones - but they make one in purple, so how bad can it be?! There is a link on that page to the 'media gallery' where you can hear a purple one being played...

Not that I'm at all tempted...(I'd be more tempted if they could make one that looked more like a horn shape, well, and colour too, I suppose...though purple wins on everything [goes off looking for a purple great bass ])

Think those are the ones Of course she wanted a real one but the price and limit of use make it inpractical.

Didn't realise they did plastic gemshorns too...

I bought one of George Kelischek's plastic crumhorns back in the late 70s - in pure white. Could almost be a mantlepiece ornament these days! I think there was a French make of plastic crumhorn too, Rhama or something like that?

Does anyone recall the plastic-backed lutes and viols, Progress Instruments?

What early musical instruments would you like to be more readily available at affordable prices? Just doing some market research you understand :-)

I remember those progress beastly things.

I would like to see the resin serpents again. I had one of those, and plastic renaissance flutes too.

The Early Music Shop bought the resin serpent moulds off David Harding a little while ago and were intending to make the odd batch here and there, as required.

I would have thought a plastic alto recorder at A=415 would be a good product to make. Maybe even a set of plastic wide-bore recorders too.

Does anyone remember the Musisca Cortol? They were a kind of plastic kortholt. I knew the chap who made them - Phillipe Oboussier - they were great for schools-based early music, and a bit of a Rubik's Cube for the early winds player - they had more holes than we have fingers!

Plastic 415s would be a very good idea. Also some decent plastic great bass and larger recorders. I hate the look of the square ones that are the only budget alternative at the moment.

Recorders

Crumhorn (sort of, depends if it's behaving)

apparently going to be attempting rennaisance bagpipes (though i sincerely hope that was a joke tbh)

Vague idea of a renaissance flute/that stick...but not competant yet.

There are some wide bore plastic recorders made but not a full set I don't think. I have seen soprano and alto ones but not any tenors.
The EMS used to sell plastic crumhorn reeds and they weren't any good for the purists but they took all sorts of abuse and if they were opened far more wide than was intended the instruments could growl an octave lower than intended too. They lasted for ages and never cracked or snapped.

Wasn't the bagpipe a clever way around the problem of learning how to do circular breathing! Go gaitas and friends!

My new bass recorder arrived yesterday (thanks, Liz!). Unfortunately I wasn't in a position to enjoy it, as I had a cracking headache which developed into the bug I'm suffering from today.

I now have to persuade Signor Dante_in_C that it doesn't count as having my Christmas present early if I'm only playing it in. Then, when it comes to Christmas, I'll actually be able to play it for a decent amount of time.

My favourite name for an early instrument is the Trumscheit - it's not a wind instrument but a sort of silly one-stringed double bass type thing, that you pluck rather than bow. I saw one at a very interesting instrument museum when on holiday in Basle.

A tromba marina! Let's see if the string players know it.

Well, I own a set of recorders (sadly not wide bore) and have just ordered one of the Susato gemshorns (oh for a real one...)

And I'm having a shawm in F for Christmas!

I know we're talking wind here, but I played the tenor viol at university, and fiance bought and built me one of the EMS harps last christmas. It's beautiful...

I wonder what a baroque oboe would be like? My teacher sais the reeds are horrible...

I wouldn't really consider playing the baroque oboe though. My favourite type of music is baroque but I like other music as well.

If it was a matter of piano and harpshicord then it wouldn't be as different as modern oboe to baroque.

Ah, now then. Wasn't it sort of one string bass thingy?

The baroque oboe's very different, Liz... lots of cross fingerings, a slender instruemnt... and just different! I was invited to play in a workshop with The Oboe Band, and played the Marcello concerto... I'd never dream of trying to play it on a baroque oboe!

The harpsichord is very diferent to the piano, so I understand from Fiance, who's an orgainst