5 hrs and 15 minutes

[Valka D'Ur]

Pretend I'm flying across your screen in slo-mo, giving two sets of middle fingers to the English language as I do so

Somebody who used to lead the filksinging sessions at the regional science fiction conventions had a set of high-end wooden recorders, in various keys. That's the first time I ever heard them played properly (I can play a few songs without making it squeal, but I'd never consider myself anything more than amateur).

When they're played by a professional musician, they're really nice to listen to. Of course, this is an instrument usually played for folk music or medieval music.

That said, back when we had that thread about polkas, my googling led me to an old video of George Baker Selection performing Una Paloma Blanca. One of the musicians plays a recorder, and it's quite cheerful (in my opinion, of course; my teen years were mostly in the '70s-early '80s, so this happens to be a song I enjoy).

 

[sophie]

Why is a recorder called "a recorder"?

What exactly is it recording? Nothing.

one meaning of "record" in Middle English was "to practice or perform music".

 

[Lohrenswald]

Why is a recorder called "a recorder"?

What exactly is it recording? Nothing.

doesn't it
record
sound

what is this bizarro world I've stepped into

 

[warpus]

doesn't it
record
sound

No you see, it plays sounds, and doesn't even consider recording them at all. It's a jerk

Somebody who used to lead the filksinging sessions at the regional science fiction conventions had a set of high-end wooden recorders, in various keys. That's the first time I ever heard them played properly (I can play a few songs without making it squeal, but I'd never consider myself anything more than amateur).

I have fond memories of me in elementary school, in grade 2 or something like that, playing a flute (Flet in Polish). But you see, I think it was a "recorder", and not what you North Americans call a flute. It looks like a recorder to me. So I used to play a recorder. But I will never call it that seriously, because I think the name is stupid. (Not your fault at all)

My teachers thought I was a flute master. I just memorized all the notes though. Sort of. If the song I had to learn had 77 notes, my mom would draw 77 flutes, and colour in the holes I had to cover for each note. I was good at memorizing stuff, so i just memorized that, and played the piece flawlessly. Nobody knew I actually sucked at playing the flute.. or recorder.. or whatever

 

[Lohrenswald]

No you see, it plays sounds, and doesn't even consider recording them at all. It's a jerk

what is this device I have never before heard of

 

[Valka D'Ur]

what is this device I have never before heard of

This is what a recorder looks like. There are other sizes and they come in various keys. As I mentioned, they were traditionally made of wood (and the professional-grade ones still are), but the ones that are given to kids are often made of plastic nowadays.

 

[CavLancer]

Someone needs to attach a recorder for appearances, symmetry, and a sense of order in the universe. No recorder involved in a recorder is chaos. Next we'll be calling purses, space ships, and marbles will be air conditioners. Could result in the fall of civilization.

 

[Lohrenswald]

This is what a recorder looks like. There are other sizes and they come in various keys. As I mentioned, they were traditionally made of wood (and the professional-grade ones still are), but the ones that are given to kids are often made of plastic nowadays.

View attachment 465463

that's a flute where I'm from

 

[warpus]

This is what a recorder looks like. There are other sizes and they come in various keys. As I mentioned, they were traditionally made of wood (and the professional-grade ones still are), but the ones that are given to kids are often made of plastic nowadays.

View attachment 465463

Yep that's definitely what we call a "Flet" in Polish. I have been looking up translations and we don't seem to have different words for what you call a "recorder" and what you call a "flute". In fact, English definitions of both are very very similar:

a wind instrument made from a tube with holes along it that are stopped by the fingers or keys, held vertically or horizontally so that the player's breath strikes a narrow edge

a simple wind instrument with finger holes and no keys, held vertically and played by blowing air through a shaped mouthpiece against a sharp edge.

Is it just me or are both of these definitions basically exactly the same?

And what does it say on that sheet of paper underneath the flute/recorder? It says flute! Not recorder. I think we're onto something here

 

[timtofly]

And what does it say on that sheet of paper underneath the flute/recorder? It says flute! Not recorder. I think we're onto something here

That is false advertising unless the recorder can "clone" instead of record.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Orchestral flutes are played while holding the instrument sideways to one's mouth. Recorders and penny-whistles are held forward . Native American flutes are held like recorders, but are physically structured differently in how the air moves.

 

[warpus]

Orchestral flutes are played while holding the instrument sideways to one's mouth. Recorders and penny-whistles are held forward . Native American flutes are held like recorders, but are physically structured differently in how the air moves.

According to the internet a flute can be held horizontally or vertically, depending on the type of flute. To me this seems to imply that a recorder is simply a type of flute.

 

[CavLancer]

If I go to the store and buy a recorder I'm not coming home with a flute, and that's all I have to say.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

*sigh* There are numerous varieties of instruments within the same general category, with various names. When you talk about drums, do you just use the word "drum"? Or do you specify snare drums, bongos, djembe, bodhran, timpani, bass drum, taiko, or a few hundred other types? If you're talking about percussion instruments, add in the piano and harpsichord, triangle, etc.

 

[CavLancer]

I'd say "The big drum that goes booom, booom, booooom, not the little one that goes tap.

 

[W|M]

that's a flute where I'm from

This is a non-recorder flute:

Spoiler :

Recorder in Portuguese is Flauta Doce, which also means ''Sweet Flute''.

 

[Zkribbler]

Downloading Civ V and needing entertainment for a while. Entertain me or I'll make your lives a living inconvenience in the global cooling thread, or not, I dunno. I might just grow sullen and go for a swim in the pool. Seems long, no? Yet that's what it says, 5 hrs and 15 minutes. So you see that's my plan for better than half the day, Busily downloading a game, nose to the grindstone. What's yours? Regale me with news of your world.

Just finished downloading Endless Legend: a turn-based high-fantasy, 4X game. I got it at a 70% discount from Steam. Now, I'm waiting for Steam to upgrade 1/2 dozen games.

 

[CavLancer]

Just finished downloading Endless Legend: a turn-based high-fantasy, 4X game. I got it at a 70% discount from Steam. Now, I'm waiting for Steam to upgrade 1/2 dozen games.

I actually felt younger when I started the download than when I finished it.

 

[warpus]

*sigh* There are numerous varieties of instruments within the same general category, with various names. When you talk about drums, do you just use the word "drum"? Or do you specify snare drums, bongos, djembe, bodhran, timpani, bass drum, taiko, or a few hundred other types? If you're talking about percussion instruments, add in the piano and harpsichord, triangle, etc.

Honestly I just think recorder is a stupid name for something that you can't record anything with. I know that it's called a recorder because in musical parlance "recording" can mean something other than recording, and it doesn't really bother me either way, people can call it what they want, but whether I like it or not I don't like the name and I think it's silly.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I'd say "The big drum that goes booom, booom, booooom, not the little one that goes tap.

There are several different kinds that go "booom, booom, booooom". They look nothing alike, nor do they sound alike, other than they make a very deep booming sound.