Hi there,

I recently bought a kids' instruments' set at a discounter including a recorder. As our son is still a bit to young, I started playing. _But several things were odd.

- The first octave c (all holes closed) sounded awful. Is this a common beginners problem or is the instrument defect?
- The instructins included with the set tell me to have the lowest three holes open for playing the first octave f. Can this be correct? I thought, that at least one of the two lowest holes should be closed for playing the first octave f.
- There two holes for the two lowest fingers are not doubled. Can this intrument be reasonably used to play notes which require one of the two lowest holes partly closed?

Thanks for your help.

-The Low C is a difficult note for a beginner to play. Low D to Low G are usually the easiest to start with. A beginner starts to realize the more they play that you need a different breath power to make the low C sound. You eventually realize though that the steady breath you attain works with all the low notes including the low C.

-The lowest three holes open is technically correct although that fingering tends to be sharp. An alternate fingering that works well is to cover the second hole too. That way, the bottom hole and the 3rd hole from the bottom should be uncovered. You can see which one works best but I have found the alternate fingering usually does.

-Should be, although that will make playing the low C# even more difficult. Half-holing is used on many instruments.

Hope that Helps.....

The instructins included with the set tell me to have the lowest three holes open for playing the first octave f. Can this be correct? I thought, that at least one of the two lowest holes should be closed for playing the first octave f.

Actually, this depends on the recorder. There are two different recorder fingering systems, German and English, and some recorders are made to work with one system, some to work with the other. (The second octave F is different according to the system as well)