The soprano recorder in c², also known as the descant, is the third-smallest instrument of the modern recorder family and is usually played as the highest

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...

in four-part ensembles (

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part ...

= soprano, alto,

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors i ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

). Since its finger spacing is relatively small, it is often used in music education for children first learning to play an instrument.

Voice

The soprano recorder is an

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

above the level of the human soprano voice. Its lowest note is c² (this article is notated using Helmholtz notation, in

scientific pitch notation Scientific pitch notation (SPN), also known as American standard pitch notation (ASPN) and international pitch notation (IPN), is a method of specifying musical pitch by combining a musical note name (with accidental if needed) and a number id ...

the same note is represented as C₅), the normal range is c²–d⁴.

Compositions Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature * Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

for soprano recorder are usually notated an octave lower than they sound. Its

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and music ...

is similar to the sound of the

flue pipe A flue pipe (also referred to as a ''labial'' pipe) is an organ pipe that produces sound through the vibration of air molecules, in the same manner as a recorder or a whistle. Air under pressure (called ''wind'') is driven through a flue and ...

s of an organ, which is why some organ stops sound similar to a recorder. These registers are called then block-flute or forest-flute.

Fingerings

In addition to the traditional " Baroque" (or "English") fingering, which was created in Haslemere in 1919 by Arnold Dolmetsch, soprano recorders have been made that make use of "German" fingering, which was introduced by Peter Harlan around 1926. In German fingering the note f² is playable with a simpler fingering than the Baroque technique's forked (or cross-) fingering. However, German fingering has been described as a "step backwards ... made on the false assumption that the instrument would be easier for schoolchildren". The disadvantage is that other, unavoidable cross-fingerings become more difficult.

Material

Recorders with a plastic head joint or made completely of plastic are widely used. Soprano recorders are made from various woods such as

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pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the p ...

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost Sout ...

rosewood Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated in ...

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

, African blackwood, "

", or

ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...

References

Sources * *

. 1619a.
Syntagmatis Musici Michaelis Praetorii C. Tomus Secundus De Organographia
'. Wolfenbüttel: Elias Holwein, in Verlegung des Autoris. * Praetorius, Michael. 1619b.
Syntagmatis Musici Michaelis Praetorii C. Tomus Tertius
'. Wolfenbüttel: Elias Holwein. * Sachs, Curt. 1913. ''Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente, zugleich ein Polyglossar für das gesamte Instrumentengebiet''. Berlin: Julius Bard. {{Renaissance music Baroque instruments Early musical instruments Internal fipple flutes Recorders (musical instruments)

Voice

Fingerings

Material

References

Further reading