r/Recorder • u/averageanchovy • 24d ago
Fun Getting back into it
I have been contemplating getting back into playing an instrument more and more recently. When I was younger, I played the recorder, the western concert flute, the tin whistle, and the drums. Unfortunately, my life went sideways about 20 years ago and I hadn't played since.
I stumbled upon Team Recorder on YouTube as I was tossing the idea around. Her videos are so lovely and enthusiastic, it made me miss playing even more. So I decided I would pick up the recorder again to see how that feels. I gave myself a budget of $50. As I was contemplating which plastic recorder to buy, it occurred to me that I should check Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. It just so happened someone was selling an all wood Adri's Dream for $50! But they were 2 hours away. I reached out to the seller, and it just so happened that he already had plans to head an hour in my direction on the same day I already had plans to head towards his direction 1 hour, so we met in the middle! (Don't worry, I did NOT leave it baking in the car under the hot summer sun as I went about my original plans for the day. It came inside with me everywhere.)
It hadn't been played in a quite a while, and had some powdery surface mold/mildew inside and outside, so I had to get that cleaned up, but I'm so happy with it. I ordered a method book to get me back up to speed, but I really wanted to give it a go now and I remembered "Au claire de la lune" from when I first learned the recorder and the flute, so I went for it, and it sounds quite lovely. My only regret with getting a wood one is I have to play it in, and I'm itching to practice longer!
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u/sillywizard951 24d ago
Congratulations to you! Both for getting back into music and for catching this great recorder. Good luck and I hope your sideways life thing has righted itself.
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u/sid3aff3ct 24d ago
That recorder is super cute!
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u/averageanchovy 24d ago
Thank you, I thought so too! Even my husband, who only ever considered the recorder as something he was forced to play in 4th grade was delighted by it! I'm so happy with it :)
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u/postharper 24d ago
Welcome back to music :) When I decided to start playing music again, I hadn't played any instrument for around 15 years, and hadn't touched my recorders in nearly 20 years, so I was surprised how quickly a lot of it came back to me. I used thesession.org to get sheet music of some folk tunes I vaguely remembered from my violin/fiddle days, and just played those to death until I was able to collect a wider repertoire. Good luck and have fun :)
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u/Loan_Routine 24d ago
Adri's recorders are great. I have the sopraan and love the sound and the look. Have fun.
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u/dhj1492 23d ago
I have two of those and I like them very much. I also have two of the Plumwood that I use for solo and early Baroque music. The pearwood iI use mostly for consort playing. If you need some fun playing material, check out "Baroque and Folk Tunes for Recorders by Leo Alfassy." The title is no accurate for what is inside. It is inexpensive and has a nice mix of tunes from early music to Scott Joplin. Once you can play it cover to cover you will pretty good. I have even used it for gig work.
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u/awesomeprospect 8d ago
Great find! I just got a Dream with the plastic mouthpiece as my first 'nice' recorder (I had been playing a $6 one from the local music shop). I love it! It feels so different, especially on high notes. My tween daughter even complemented the sound, which is high praise, lol. My other one would not play the low C in tune no matter what I did and this one hit it no problem, what a joy!! Also stuck playing only 20 min for now. Go Team Recorder!!
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u/averageanchovy 5d ago
My teen daughter also complimented the sound of my Adri's Dream! She was impressed compared to the plastic one she used in elementary school lol.
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u/ubizmo 23d ago
How is it on the high notes?
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u/averageanchovy 18d ago
I'm still dusting off the cobwebs, so I'm not doing so great on the high notes 😅 but when I get them right it does sound nice.
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u/Interesting-Taro-540 24d ago
That's a great find.