I have a new (to me) tenor and find I have the same problem on it as I do on my soprano - the high A is very difficult and I can never depend on hitting it first time. I can get the G below and even a couple or three notes above, but that A defies me. Anyone have any suggestions?

i have that exact same problem....i just cant seem to hit the hugh A on the first time (or the second or the third). I dont really know what im doinf wrong...i get the notes aboveand below its just that high A that doesnt work.
If anyone has some advice that would be great

In desperation today on my tenor I tried holding down the bottom C key and it made the A easier to hit. Of course that won't work on a soprano!

well i have a soprano recorder(i think) so it wont work for me.
i Just find it really hard to play that high A and i dont know what im doing wrong....i usually just move my fingers around until i hit the note or some screechy sound thats is as close to the note as i can get

I played on someone else's recorder today and it hits the high A no problem, so I wonder if it could be the recorder itself?

I am a beginner recorder player and don't know many notes. I play a cheap yamaha plastic soprano recorder. what is the fingering of high a on soprano?

i really dont know....maybe it is the recorder itself
i dont know if my recorder is any good and to tell you the truth i have dropped it once or twice. besides i didnt buy it myself its really my friends.
but if it really is the recorder why is the problem be only on the high A, i can hit high B and C and also G and F without much difficulty.

High A is fingered half hole on the thumb, then first two fingers of the left hand.

The same fingering, a D on the alto, also seems to give me trouble. I've played alto only for the last two years, and it takes practice to get my D out.

It can be tricky on some recorders... try adjusting yur thumb postion as well as your air.

I read a lot on the internet about my type of soprano recorder - a Moeck Rottenburg - and one site said "they are not for the timid." So I tried blowing harder on this note and seem to be able to get it out easier.

But that same technique won't work on my tenor.

Yes, the high a' is a problem (I also have a Moeck Rottenburgh Soprano), and while I have no trouble reaching it when the last note was a high g, I have the problems with bigger jumps. So, I guess it is in the air. The Rottenburgh has a rather tight air channel, so you get used to blowing only very slightly, but the a' needs a rather abrupt, hard burst of air. On the beginner's recorders (my old one and a newer one with a platic head which my daughter plays) the air channel is much wider, making it easier to play, but there is no reaching the a' at all! I always thought that was due to the somewhat weakish German fingering of these beginner's recorders, but maybe it is just the air channel.

When I practice these notes, especially in chromatic scales (c' #c' d#' #d' e' f' #f' g' #g' - and now it comes: squeal!!! screech!!! - a' ) the neighbourhood boys pack up their ghetto blasters and go elswhere on their noisy scooters, the poor darlings. Is anybody familiar with the German fairy tale of the ratcatcher of Hameln, who freed the city by the aid of some flute or recorder?

Greetings,
Aleysha

Drew, do you still have the links of the sites you mentioned, about the Moeck Rottenburgh soprano?

Thanks a lo, Aleysha

I just looked them up. One site I was trying to find I seem to have lost, but I'll find it and write. The other, www.saundrecs.co.uk/rec2.htm is the one where the owner of Saunders Recorders is describing all the different models and makes of recorders. It's well worth a look.

This guy seems to hate German-fingered recorders, but I have one Moeck with German fingering and it hits the high notes (including that high A I have trouble with on my soprano and my other tenor) like there's no tomorrow, so naturally I tend to like that recorder.

i'm new to the forum but have played soprano, alto and tenor recorders since 1969. On the tenor recorder (yamaha 304B II) i can hit the high 'A' with no problem but on the soprano i can't hit it. I still haven't been able to hit the notes above high 'A' either. Maybe, i don't have enough lung compacity. So, I pick songs that don't go that high or I will play those notes an octave lower and let my friend hit the high notes.


recordergoose