descant recorder

You blow into the head joint and then use your fingers to create the notes by covering the different holes on the body and foot joints. While recorders are now most often made of resin, wood was their original component. The descant or soprano recorder, you may know it as the one that we grew up playing in school.

descant, also spelled discant, (from Latin discantus, “song apart”), countermelody either composed or improvised above a familiar melody. Descant can also refer to an instrument of higher-than-normal pitch, such as a descant recorder.

In music, a descant is an additional vocal part above the main melody. Many church hymns include a descant, sung at a higher pitch than the melody. Literary types use descant as a verb to mean "talk on and on in a dull way."

Recorders are among the earliest woodwind instruments and are forerunners of the modern flute. The recorder has a mouthpiece and is played like a whistle, by blowing directly into the top of the instrument. It is a simple wooden tube, usually with eight fingerholes, which are covered to produce different notes.

The most obvious difference is in the playing position or orientation of the instrument: The recorder is held vertically, straight and with both hands in front of the upper body, while the transverse flute is held in an asymmetrical position from the mouth to the right shoulder.

Most modern recorders have three sections, called joints, that fit together: the head, body, and foot.

The first notes that you will learn to play using your left hand are B (which you just played), A and G. The next two notes that you will play with your left hand are C' and D'. The apostrophe at the top right hand corner of these notes indicates that they are high notes.

In music, a descant is a countermelody either composed or improvised above a familiar melody. The word can also refer to an instrument of higher-than-normal pitch, such as a descant recorder.

Literary types use descant as a verb to mean "talk on and on in a dull way." In medieval times, a descant was an improvised tune that singers or musicians added to a fixed melody.

Recorder

• Head joint. The top part of the recorder is called the head joint.
• Mouthpiece. The recorder player blows directly into the windway at the top of the mouthpiece.
• Body. The middle part of the recorder is called the body.
• Foot joint. The bottom part of the recorder is called the foot joint.
• Fingerhole.

A recorder is a wooden or plastic musical instrument in the shape of a pipe. You play the recorder by blowing into the top of it and covering and uncovering the holes with your fingers.

Descant recorders, also referred to as soprano recorders, are the most common type of recorder used in schools to teach music to children.