Does anyone know if there are diffrent types of recorders?

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dd1 is starting the recorder as her very first instrument at school. We have to buy one but I've no idea whether there are different types about? Is there a beginner's one?

There are lots of types, but beginners usually start with a descant - a plastic one will do for a beginner, though wooden ones have a better tone.

Yamaha do them and the one I had at school was made by Aulos. I think they're both decent makes.
You may also want to purchase some earplugs?

I think you can also still get Dolmetsch, but I think that most reasonable music shops are likely to have Aulos - and definitely go for a descant.

There are at least 4 types/size of recorder, with the larger wooden ones having a lovely sound (nothing like a screechy noise at all lol!). However, as ursa said, the descant is the best to start on, as the finger holes are a good spacing for small hands.
Recorder is a good instrument to start on as it is relatively easy to play, so children get quick results and can concentrate on learning to read music etc
hth

Aulos is a good make,better to get a decent one rather than one from a toy shop.

ELC do one for £8 here

DD had to get one for school and the ELC one was fine.

Thanks all - this is really useful

just make sure the one you get has a bottom joint that moves, so that it can be adjusted for her to reach the bottom double hole. Can't tell from the pic if the ELC one doles this or not

Get the Aulos descant - virtually all music shops stock it. Your DD will not want to be seen playing an ELC instrument when she is 9 or 10 and the Aulos is probably likely to be better made and more in tune.

My dd had lessons in the recorder for about 3 years. She played a plastic yamaha recorder, which the teacher said was better than Aulos - don't know why. I was a bit cross actually, as we already had an Aulos recorder, but I had to buy a Yamaha.

If you look on John Myatt, he sells some really lovely Yamaha recorders - I wouldn't go for the cheapest as it doesn't have such a good tone. I know this to my cost!!

We bought her an artificial Rosewood recorder, they also have an ebony one. They are both plastic, but they are very good recorders. The only problem with plastic is that they fog up a bit and you need to keep sucking out the spit. (lovely topic)

Also, she will probably learn the descant as her first recorder.

There are two versions of the aulos descant, only a few pounds difference in price but the tone is much better on the more expensive one.

One thing to be aware of with wooden recorders, lovely though they are they are hard for very young children to keep clean and you may not be able to adjust the middle c holes for the little finger.

yes I wouldn't bother with a wooden one yet as they are highter maintenance

you can't really go wrong with an Aulos, the more expensive one as IofS says. I started on one myself

I heart John Myatt though - got my first proper professional clarinets from there way back when.

I learned to play on a wooden descant at home but the school recorder group insisted on everyone using Aulos recorders because they all sounded the same and they were easier to tune than the wooden ones.

dd is now in P5 and will soon be starting to play the recorder at school. She wants to use my Aulos descant but it has a permanent groove across the hole at the back where my nail went, so I said she should probably get her own. Also, I thought that if we have two, I can help her practise.... But, so far there has been no note home from the school about the make of recorder that the School provides, or price. dd has said that one day the teacher asked who needed one and did a hand count, but I don't want to end up paying for a lousy one without first getting the opportunity to turn it down.....

How do you 'tune' a recorder purplefrog?

push in or pull out the bottom joint I believe Legacy.

OUr school stipulates the Aulos recorders. From the din at home I pity the teachers, but hopefully DS will soon make a slightly sweeter noise!

You slacken the top joint to lengthen the instrument. Decent wooden recorders need very careful preparation for playing to guarantee a good tone. They need to be warmed up carefully etc. Not that my wooden descant was one of these, but I remember sending off for a recorder catalogue when I was at secondary school and being horrified at the range of prices. That catalogue also contained tips for looking after the instruments.

Oh, nearly right - do remember doing it at school myself.

I wish they did recorder at our school - ds is learning the penny whistle!!!

Oh - I must have some penny whistles somewhere. I got one from a friend for my birthday when I was about 14, but the fingering was so different from the descant recorder that I bought another in a different key. I suppose I had better hang on to them in case dd wants to learn them later on.

I played the recorder from primary school; descant, treble and the diddy one I can;'t remember what it's called...anyway, all well and good and it certainly set me in good stead to be fairly musucal, but I NEVER got a part in the school play beacuse I was always playing the effing recorder. It's probably why I am an insufferable attention seeker now. BE WARNED, there will be tears.....

Spockle - the diddy one is the sopranino. I have one of these lying around somewhere as well. Jura - I think my original penny whistle was an F and it was the C I bought later as I could just about cope with the slight fingering difference. I never did get to grips with the sopranino recorder, though, which has the same fingering as the treble. Just to prove my brain can manage fingering different to the descant recorder , I would like to say that I also played the bassoon for 3 years and coped OK with that - maybe because it was on the bass clef ?