Subcategories

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  Garklein recorders are the smallest in the family of recorders.  Orpheus Music stocks Garklein recorders from Mollenhauer Recorders and Kung Recorders. They are made in plastic, pearwood, maple and plum woods. The Garklein is half the size of a descant recorder (soprano recorder). It is sometimes used in consort playing and Recorder Orchestra repertoire.

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  The Sopranino recorder is the second smallest in the recorder family.  Orpheus Music stocks sopranino recorders from a variety of makers including Mollenhauer Recorders from Germany, Kung Recorders from Switzerland, Dolmetch Recorders from England, and Aulos Recorders from Japan. Wooden Sopraninos are made from a variety of woods including pear, plum, olive, palisander, grenadilla, boxwood. The sopranino recorder was traditionally used to teach birds to sing and adds the very high sounds to ensemble or consort.

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  Descant recorders also referred to soprano recorders, are the third member of the recorder family. Orpheus Music stocks a large range of descant recorders, from a variety of makers including Mollenhauer Recorders from Germany, Kung Recorders from Switzerland, Dolmetsch Recorders from England, and Aulos Recorders and Zen-on Recorders from Japan. Beautiful wooden recorders come in a different variety of woods using pear, plum, satinwood, olive, rose, palisander, grenadilla, boxwood and cherrywood. The descant recorder traditionally is used to teach children music but is a wonderful instrument in its own right. In consorts it is usually has the melody line, but has some beautiful soloistic music written for it, some of the classic repertoire for the descant recorder includes Jacob van Eyck "Der Flutyen Lust-Hoft".

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  The treble or alto recorder is the most popular instrument of the recorder family, with much of the solo repertoire composed for its range. Orpheus Music stocks a large variety of treble/alto recorders from a variety of makers including Mollenhauer Recorders from Germany, Kung Recorders from Switzerland, Dolmetsch Recorders from England, and Aulos Recorders and Zen-on Recorders from Japan. High-quality plastic and wooden alto recorders are available and come in many different varieties of woods - such as pear, plum, satinwood, olive, rose, palisander, grenadilla, boxwood and cherrywood. The treble recorder is a F instrument, in consorts the treble is either the melody line or harmony and is an ideal instrument for an adult to begin their recorder journey on.

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  Voice Flute

  The Voice Flute is essentially a tenor recorder, but with the lowest note tuned to D instead of the tenor’s C. It was created in the Baroque period to give recorder players easier access to the flute’s repertoire. By tuning the voice flute in D, it is possible to play much of the Baroque Flute repertoire without transcription. The voice flute is constructed exactly like a tenor recorder, except the voicing is a little different. The particular voicing is used in order to accentuate the more flute-like aspects of the recorder sound. This is also supported by the use of softer woods in the construction.

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  Baroque A=415 Hz Descant and Treble Recorders

  Explore our range of Descant and Treble Recorders tuned to A=415 Hz. This lower tuning is considered the standard for Baroque repertoire, and Orpheus Music stocks a range of beautiful Recorders from Mollenhauer, as well as a brand new a=415 Hz treble from Zen-on, which brings affordable Baroque tuning in a treble recorder for the first time.

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  Please read all of this before buying a tenor!!! 

  Many players find it difficult to reach all the holes when playing tenor, especially for the smallest 2 fingers of the right hand. The tenor is by no means the largest recorder, but still it can involve finger stretches greater than on any of the larger bass instruments. Our experience over 25 years has shown that when a player encounters finger spacing problems, ninety nine times out of a hundred it will be on a tenor. These problems often result in either having to stop playing the tenor altogether, or having to upgrade to a knick or a comfort model - please choose carefully!!!

  There is quite a bit of variation in finger hole position from one maker to another, and from one model to another. The chart below was prepared to try and show which ones will be easier. There are several factors involved: the distance between the holes is important, but another significant factor is whether the recorder is straight or has a bent head ("knick"). Knick tenors allow the right hand to hold the recorder in a higher position than with a straight instrument - the right hand is not stretching down so far and consequently a spacing that may actually be a little wider will still feel easier to reach on a knick instrument. Players that have problems with their right-hand wrist should strongly consider knick instruments.

  The chart shows clearly that the use of split keys for C and C# doesn't automatically mean the right-hand little finger doesn't have to stretch so far. Many players assume that if they choose a model with C/C# keys they will have no problems, when in fact many of the most extreme little-finger stretches are actually on keyed instruments. 

  Often a player will have specific issues with one or two fingers. If this is the case, then you may need to focus more on comparing the measurements for the holes played by the problem fingers. In such cases the general ranking provided here might not be so relevant for your special circumstances.

  In this chart the weights shown are a guide only - weight can vary within a particular model depending on which wood has been used.

  

  A large range of tenor recorders made in a beautiful range of woods including pear, plum, satinwood, olive, rose, palisander, grenadilla, boxwood and cherrywood. Orpheus Music stocks tenor recorders from a variety of makers including Mollenhauer Recorders from Germany, Kung Recorders from Switzerland and Aulos, Yamaha and Zen-on Recorders from Japan. The tenor is a great ensemble instrument as well as a favoured recorder for contemporary compositions. 

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  Comfort Tenor Recorders

  Browse our range of high quality comfort tenor recorders. A Comfort tenor recorder makes playing easy: two additional keys reduce the stretch of the hand.
   
  Also available as a Knick tenor, getting the instrument even closer to the body and thus relieving stress on the arms.

  G-key

  The left ring finger no longer needs to be strained.

  F-key

  The right index finger

  C/C#-double key

  The ergonomically designed and easy to operate key mechanism relieves the little finger of any strain when playing the lowest notes.
  
  The tenor is the ideal instrument for anyone who already plays the soprano recorder but loves a warmer, deeper recorder sound.
  You don’t have to relearn anything: the fingerings and notation are identical to that of the soprano recorder.

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  Orpheus Music offers  Bass recorders, great basses, contra and subcontra basses, including Baroque and Renaissance models. Bass recorders are made from pear and cherrywood.  Orpheus Music stocks bass recorders from Mollenhauer Recorders from Germany, Kung Recorders from Switzerland, Aulos, Yamaha and Zen-on Recorders from Japan. The bass recorder is traditionally the bass part in an ensemble or consort of recorder players but now has many new compositions written for it. The bass recorder comes in plastic as well as wood in a straight neck form as well as a bent neck form. The traditional bass recorder is in F but there are larger and deeper basses including a great bass recorder in C, a contra bass in F (an octave below the first bass recorder).