Fingering chart tap any note to hear it
Reading the diagrams
- The hole on its own at the top, set to one side, is the thumb hole on the back. Below it, the left hand covers the top three holes and the right hand the bottom four; the bottom two are double holes.
- For the second octave, “pinch” the thumb hole: bend the thumb so the nail opens a small crack at the top of the hole. Most squeaks up there are a pinch too wide or too closed.
- Most recorders today have English (baroque) fingering, marked B on the back near the thumb hole, or not at all. Many school recorders have German fingering, marked G: it makes F easier, at the cost of an out-of-tune F♯ and G♯.
The same shapes work on every size of recorder: only the note names change between recorders in C (descant, tenor) and in F (sopranino, treble).