Recorder out of tune by a half tone up

When playing my Recorder I found out that each note was half tone (sharp) up. I was wondering if this is a problem with the flute, or with my technique of blowing. I have also noticed that when playing it really gently the tone is correct, the thing is that this way, I lose some of the dynamics and color of the instrument. Is the problem my playing or the recorder? is there a way to "down tune" the recorder a half tone down (to make it flat all the way) ?

Conclusion

I have pulled out the mouth-piece a bit, it wasn't 100% on the money so I used a bit autotuning, the end piece can be found here.

The problem is with your embouchure (or with you overblowing). Try dropping your jaw a little bit while preserving the same airflow. I have the same problem in some parts of the upper register on the tenor saxophone, and I have to practise with the tuner to get rid of them.

@Pyromonk As opposed to the sax (and almost all other wind instruments) afaik there is no embouchure with the recorder.

@guidot If the instrument was built according to historic tuning, it would be flat rather than sharp. The standard for 'historic' tuning is A=415 Hz

@piet.t there most certainly is embouchure. Just because there's no reed to control doesn't mean that lip pressure and mouth shape don't matter.

3 Answers 3

As you've observed, the intonation of a recorder is highly sensitive to the pressure it's played at, i.e. to the dynamics. It should not be understood as a “keyed” instrument where the fingers just select from a discrete number of pitches and the mouth is only responsible for dynamics and phrasing, but rather as a “fretless” instrument where the fingers select from a continuum of pitches.

Concretely: normally when playing p, the pitches are a bit too flat; this can easily be compensated by “leaking a bit air” from the lowest finger, e.g. when playing a d note (on soprano; it would be g on alto) you'd put the ring finger a bit off-center of the hole, not closing it perfectly, so the pitch goes up as desired. With enough practise, this kind of adjustment should eventually become second-nature and you don't need to think about it anymore. It actually feels kind of natural: when you reduce the breath pressure, you also reduce the finger pressure.

Now, in your situation the problem appears to be in the other direction: it's only in tune when playing quiet, and goes sharp at high pressure. This could in principle also be compensated with the fingers (basically you always finger one note lower, but make the last finger cover only small part of the hole), but it's not very practical; especially for a beginner way too confusing. So what you should do instead is bias all pitches lower. This can be done by pulling out the mouthpiece join a little (thus making the instrument longer). Alternatively, you can just shift your reference: when playing alone it doesn't really matter what the absolute pitch is, only that the notes a relative in tune. When playing with a guitar or electronic keyboard as accompaniment, this could easily tune up a quarter-step.

Both of that isn't ideal. Probably, at some point it would make sense to get a better instrument. But don't take that as an excuse not to practise until you have a better recorder!