Six additional tutors actually give X 01234- as high Bb, a fingering that would be far too sharp on most original baroque instruments.Hotteterre and Freillon-Poncein give X 1234-H- (H for half-hole) as high Bb, what most people today would call Baroque fingering.This is the same as our English (Dolmetsch) fingering. For high Bb the situation is reversed, with all but eight of the tutors giving X 1234-6- as the proper fingering.The exception: "The Complete Instructor for the Flute, The Second Book", published in 1700 by Young of London has the English (Dolmetsch) fingering, 0 1234-67.All but one 18th century fingering charts give 0 1234-6 as low Bb.English (Dolmetsch) fingering gives 0 1234-67 as low Bb and X 1234-6- as high Bb.American Recorder 11(4):128-137, provides adequate evidence that there is no SINGLE authentic baroque fingering chart.Ĭoncentrating for a moment on low and high Bb and B natural (for treble/alto recorders) as being the most characteristic indicators of what the fingering system is: "17th and 18th century fingering charts for the recorder". Since the player has no choice on any particular instrument, we must conclude that different fingerings are being recommended for use on different recorders, and that the non-standardisation lies deeper, with the recorders themselves.ĭavid Lasocki's article: Lasocki, D. Eighteenth century recorder fingerings (and even more so, those a century before) were not standardized and there are several charts from these periods offering different fingerings for particular notes. This is true, but it is not the whole story. You may have learned already that the modern 'English' fingering (sometimes called 'Dolmetsch' fingering because it was the system chosen by Arnold Dolmetsch in Haslemere, Surrey in 1919 when making his first modern reproduction treble/alto) differs from the fingerings used in the eighteenth century. While a huge number of mass-produced instruments may confirm rigidly to a"baroque" or "german" pattern, it's been my experience that the best instruments all have their individual quirks, and flexibility with regard to fingering is simply one of the basic skills of a serious recorder player.īefore examining particular sets of recorder fingerings we should say something about recorder fingerings and, particularly, baroque recorder fingerings. Defining this with any further restrictions would probably soon exclude instruments that are clearly recorders.Īs a player, one of my real joys has been discovering the optimal fingerings for each individual instrument and for the particular music to be played. A recorder would require, minimally, a fipple and - to distinguish it from the whistle family - seven principal fingerholes and a thumbhole as octave register opening. So while, the "baroque" pattern is indeed closer to that observed for most surviving instruments of the late baroque, the definition of the pattern as a standard for all recorders is itself as much a modern innovation as the attempt todefine the "german" fingering as a standard for German school music.įrom an organological viewpoint, the definition of a recorder is quite generous. One should also certainly consider the extended-range "Ganassi" fingerings and note that the last finger hole on one of the surviving "medieval recorders" appears to be a semi- rather than wholetone. At times, for example in surviving renaissance instruments, the pattern appears to be closer to that of "german" fingering at other times, the "baroque" pattern is more prevalent. Further, the historical evidence for recorders, in both surviving instruments and documents, shows a continuously evolving conception of the fingering (along with all other factors - bore and fipple dimensions, range and intonation, etc.). Boehm and Albert system clarinets are even more different from one another than are the so-called "baroque" and "german" recorder fingerings. I suggest some hesitation in defining the instrument by a single set of fingerings. Daniel Wolf, a composer based in Hungary, has some interesting comments on whether 'a fingering system can define what a recorder is'. If you just want to check a recorder fingering, use:ĭr.standard fingering charts in text format.If you want to print out fingering charts go to our:.Topics on this page :: defining a recorder :: historical fingerings :: high F# (alto/treble) / C# (soprano/descant) :: german fingering :: printable fingering charts To use the menu you must first enable javascript
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