The original information submitted by Jeffrey Leonard indicates both “soprano” and “descant” recorders, which I have combined here since they are the same instrument. Can anyone clarify?
We thought the same. The part says Sop. and can be covered by a descant/soprano recorder. So only one recorder required for both pieces it is used in for the show.
Having just looked at these books for a production next week, I believe by descant recorder they DO mean Sopranino Here is my reasoning: it never goes below a G, but does go up to a high C (High D in the included alternate). I’ve played recorder for ages and getting a high C out on a soprano is not a simple task, and the D above that is out of the question. Sopranino is in F, and recorder music is traditionally not transposed for F instruments, instead you finger a C and call that F. What I will be doing is transposing these few bars to F so I don’t need to bother with the alternate set of fingerings.
The parts marked soprano recorder, also don’t go low enough to be out of the range of a Sopranino, so I will likely do it all on sopranino.
Whether you do this all on soprano or sopranino, the resulting pitches will still be in the same octave — on sopranino it will just involve the bottom octave and a half of the instrument, whereas on soprano it will involve the top octave and a half (and you will likely struggle with anything above an A above the staff.)
What I kindof suspect is that when originally written, the orchestrator meant it could be played on either soprano or sopranino, depending on the players preference – and somewhere along the line the terminology and instruction got messed up.
Would like to clarify as someone who has recorder as a primary instrument.
The the UK, the term “descant” and “treble” are used in place of “soprano” and “alto” respectively.
Baroque style recorders typically have a range of around 2.5 octaves (so soprano can cover Concert C5 to G7, for instance) with the first two octaves being the “basic” range (C5 to D7).
Everything written for soprano and sopranino will sound an octave higher than written. However in show music there are sometimes transposition and range errors because folks don’t always understand how recorders work, so keep an eye out and don’t assume every orchestrator or copyist knew what they were doing.
Recorders are louder in their higher range, and much quieter in the bottom.
As many parts for recorder may fall within the range of multiple recorder sizes, you can use any of them freely. It is often best to use the largest recorder that can play a given part (in this case soprano preferable over sopranino) because a lower recorder playing in its strong high range will have more carrying power than a smaller recorder playing in its weak low range. UNLESS the unique character of the smaller instrument is the preferred effect. Try out multiple options and choose the one that gives you the most thumbs up.
Updated per information received from Debbie Clapp
Information moved here based on a comment by David Benedict.
The original information submitted by Jeffrey Leonard indicates both “soprano” and “descant” recorders, which I have combined here since they are the same instrument. Can anyone clarify?
Here in the UK at least soprano recorder and descant are the same thing. Would it be a sopranino?
We thought the same. The part says Sop. and can be covered by a descant/soprano recorder. So only one recorder required for both pieces it is used in for the show.
Having just looked at these books for a production next week, I believe by descant recorder they DO mean Sopranino Here is my reasoning: it never goes below a G, but does go up to a high C (High D in the included alternate). I’ve played recorder for ages and getting a high C out on a soprano is not a simple task, and the D above that is out of the question. Sopranino is in F, and recorder music is traditionally not transposed for F instruments, instead you finger a C and call that F. What I will be doing is transposing these few bars to F so I don’t need to bother with the alternate set of fingerings.
The parts marked soprano recorder, also don’t go low enough to be out of the range of a Sopranino, so I will likely do it all on sopranino.
Whether you do this all on soprano or sopranino, the resulting pitches will still be in the same octave — on sopranino it will just involve the bottom octave and a half of the instrument, whereas on soprano it will involve the top octave and a half (and you will likely struggle with anything above an A above the staff.)
What I kindof suspect is that when originally written, the orchestrator meant it could be played on either soprano or sopranino, depending on the players preference – and somewhere along the line the terminology and instruction got messed up.
Would like to clarify as someone who has recorder as a primary instrument.
The the UK, the term “descant” and “treble” are used in place of “soprano” and “alto” respectively.
Baroque style recorders typically have a range of around 2.5 octaves (so soprano can cover Concert C5 to G7, for instance) with the first two octaves being the “basic” range (C5 to D7).
Everything written for soprano and sopranino will sound an octave higher than written. However in show music there are sometimes transposition and range errors because folks don’t always understand how recorders work, so keep an eye out and don’t assume every orchestrator or copyist knew what they were doing.
Recorders are louder in their higher range, and much quieter in the bottom.
As many parts for recorder may fall within the range of multiple recorder sizes, you can use any of them freely. It is often best to use the largest recorder that can play a given part (in this case soprano preferable over sopranino) because a lower recorder playing in its strong high range will have more carrying power than a smaller recorder playing in its weak low range. UNLESS the unique character of the smaller instrument is the preferred effect. Try out multiple options and choose the one that gives you the most thumbs up.
I cannot find any tenor recorder in the reed 3 alternate version. Anyone care to comment?
It is in the arrangement 15-piece orchestration in #7 Boy For Sale and #34 Who Will Buy? (part 1)