The Recorder Nowadays

The flute is something we all know and often hear of, including kids. But what about the recorder, the flute’s forerunner? Did it get somehow neglected because of its more popular ancestor? Let’s see.

Paul McCartney playing recorder

Extremely popular during the Baroque Era (up to the mid-18th century), the recorders could often be heard within the small instrumental groups (consorts). Translated from Italian as ‘sweet flute’, the recorder was King Henry VIII’s favourite instrument (he had 76 in his collection), and Shakespeare played the recorder to make some music to his famous “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Hamlet”. And that’s not mentioning the well-known Baroque composers who used the instrument in their masterpieces (Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, some of Vivaldi’s concerts). The recorder was perceived as a perfect instrument for imitating birds’ singing.

However, at a certain point, the recorder has almost lost all of its musical fame. And the situated did not change until the 20th century when it was gradually revived, so to say.

Luckily today the number of modern composers who write music for recorder has tangibly grown. It’s been proved that this little stick can be really helpful in practicing coordination, which made the recorder return to schools. Many popular artists are known to play the recorder – Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, James Dean, Dido, among others. Lesser-known composers do not forget to include it into their scores either:

I’m always glad when certain instruments that have almost been forgotten get back to life like that. And I do hope that recorder will still show us its true potential.