recorder

Any of a widespread range of woodwind instruments of the whistle type which flourished in consort ensembles in the Renaissance and baroque eras, along with viol consorts, as an instrumental medium for polyphonic music. Unlike the flute, the recorder is held vertically and blown into through a mouthpiece in which the air is diverted by an obstructive block called the ‘fipple’ and produces a milder tone than that of the flute. A modern consort may include a sopranino in F5, soprano (descant) in C4, alto (treble) in F3, tenor in C3, bass in F2, and great bass in C2.

Early Renaissance recorders are of fairly wide bore and penetrating tone; late Renaissance and baroque instruments are fipple flutes of narrower bore and sweet to brilliant tone. The solo recorder remained a popular solo instrument into the 18th century, and the revival of popular interest in recorder-playing after 1920, largely through the efforts of Arnold Dolmetsch, led to its wide adoption as a musical instrument for schools. Present-day makers have taken advantage of exotic hardwoods such as grenadilla to make instruments of brighter and stronger tone for concert soloists, and have also created hypothetical additions to existing consorts.