Ken,
You bring up good points regarding dropping a recorder! My poor hands have less grip ability due to arthritis, and I often drop things. I’m having flashbacks to when I dropped a very expensive double Native American style flute and had to send it back for repair.
A tether to the recorder is a good idea. I do find the o-rings help with the slipperiness, but I had not thought about them breaking. Maybe inspecting and replacing them at frequent intervals would help (they are really cheap).
I’m glad you found RecorderForge to be helpful. I see you ordered the fixed thumb rest. What are your thoughts about the adjustable one – for newbies like me that are trying to nail their thumb placement?
I like the idea of trying different types of temporary thumb rests to try to figure out finger placement. The o-rings are giving me ideas, so I can try the plastic clip on and maybe the cork ideas next.
I ordered a soprano recorder from Early Music Shop in London because Sarah Jeffreys refers to them alot, and they had what I wanted in stock. I didn’t know at that time that there are businesses in the US that sell and offer recorders on approval, so I will be working with them in future.
I worked through the first Sweet Pipes for alto within a couple weeks, and have since gotten through all three. Partway through I ordered Aldo Bova’s ebook “The Alto Recorder: A Comprehensive New Method” from Lulu and really like it. I keep coming back to it. It’s in the style of Sweet Pipes, but I think more comprehensive, with more practice pieces and a great variety of classic song pieces as well as songs he wrote. Some of the pieces have turned me on to pursuing composers that I didn’t know much about, like Van Eyck (which I REALLY like!). His ebook: 50 Famous Pieces is also a good adjunct to the method books.
I learned alto initially, as I had hoped to play this size instrument. But the issues with my right hand are making me grab the soprano more and more. I’m playing alto fingerings on soprano. At some point, I may learn the soprano fingerings (or transpose pieces), after I let the alto fingerings gel a bit more. I don’t feel a big need to do this yet; I don’t play with other instruments!