...happy, happy, joy, joy !

here you see an old woodcut of some Renaissance musicians...
a couple of singers and 3 recorder players...
FYI: the curved instruments laying on the table...
are cornettii, early lip-reed instruments made of wood & covered with leather...
the instruments on the wall are viols, the extreme right is a lute...

a group of recorder players is known as a consort...
[groups of early instruments are often referred to as "consorts"...
even when they are not all the same instrument...]



with recorders, however, there are many sizes...
and therefore, "voices", mirroring the vocal parts of the time...
in this group, there are: sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor & bass...
[they make contra & sub bass recorders...
but they are expensive & not commonly used...]

anything that could be sung by a group of Renaissance singers...
could also be played by groups of recorders or viols[strings]...
as a result, members of Renaissance singing groups...
such as the one I sing with...
quite commonly "double" as recorder consorts...

providing a wider variety for their audiences...
through occasional instrumental interludes & accompaniments...
since recorders are not hard to learn to play...
and good quality instruments are widely available...


[NOT our group...]

recorders are built in only 2 keys...
so there are only 2 basic sets of fingerings to learn...
sopranino, alto & bass are in F... soprano & tenor are in C...
and experienced players often own & play more than one, if not most...

I had played "some" recorder[soprano]as a teacher, years ago...
but certainly not at the level of a consort soprano[skilled]...
and when a teen, even owned a nice pearwood, alto...
which my hands were too small to play easily...

so I had "issues" before I lost part of my right thumb...
and then the double dislocation of my left middle finger...
really complicated things...

the sopranino and soprano recorders that I could finger, OK...
[because they were smaller and I could sort of hold...]
I would consistently, "overblow"...
and I would never be able to achieve the technique necessary...
to play those parts[skilled] at the consort level...

the alto & tenor recorders also required a higher skill level...
as well as just being too hard for me to hold on to...
though I found myself not overblowing so much as they are bigger...
bass lines move slower, right in my "wheelhouse"...
but I just assumed that a bass recorder...
would be too hard for me to hold on to...
as well as impossible for me to reach all the holes on...

then Trumpetman, our resident recorder expert, got involved...
he told me that his bass recorder...
had a neck strap, to support the instrument's weight...
a bent neck & keys to facilitate reaching the holes and playing!!...
& he thought that I'd be able to handle it, even with my, "issues"...

so we got together today to try it out...

I had no trouble covering the few open holes & reaching the keys...
the neck strap took the weight of the instrument off my non-thumb...
the bent neck made my short arms, just the right length...
AND... I didn't overblow it at all !!!

having decided that it was a good fit for me...
we checked out online auctions & stores...
to see if I could find one like his for my own...
[there are some modifications I would need to make...
and I can't "modify" someone else's instrument...

we could find lesser brands for around $200...
but I know all about,"knock-offs"...
and after years of dealing with "copies" that don't work correctly...
blend or play in tune [a requirement for a consort instrument]...
I knew that the headaches weren't worth trying to save a few dollars...
so I decided to get one like his, just to be safe...

but the MSRP for one like his[Yamaha resin, 302B Bass]...
was $450-ish... one music store wanted $300 for "new"...
there was one on E-Bay for $250 plus shipping...
another for $300 plus shipping...
a little price-y for my taste...

so after I got back down to the church, I went "hunting" online...

I searched several sights, not finding much better prices...
and several that were way worse... so I went to Amazon...

there I found "new" ones, complete with bag, fingering chart, etc...
for $239 plus shipping[$6-8, NO tax...] not too bad...
but... there was one "used"... so I checked it out...

it was being sold by a used book store with a stellar approval rating...
"used 6 times, like new, complete"...
for $199.99 plus $6 shipping, no tax !!!

which I took to mean came with this...



the nice vinyl, padded zippered bag...
cleaning rod, grease, fingering chart, etc...

and it's supposed to be "dark brown"...
[ie, plastic with fake wood grain that looks nicer than it sounds...]



I can't wait for it to get here so I can start practicing...

who would have "thunk it"...
used musical instruments at a used book store...
Amazon beating E-Bay's prices...
and no sales tax...

"happy, happy, joy, joy !"