ABSTRACT
One advantage the recorder has over other woodwind instruments is that it does not require the development of an embouchure as with the transverse flute, and it does not require the ability to adjust or manufacture reeds as with the oboe or bassoon. Michael Praetorius shows the 'great consort' of recorders in his 'Syntagma musicum' of 1614-18 as comprising the following sizes of instruments: great bass, bass, basset, tenor, alto, descants in C and D and exilent. Despite Johann Christian Schickhardt's reliance on Hotteterre he uses the sounds ti and ri to define articulation. The problem of condensation in a sopranino recorder should be dealt with even more carefully given the small size of the instrument with its very narrow windway. If the player is not able to read music then learning to do so when playing the recorder will not only help but make it an enjoyable task as well.
