When the page was first set up on 27 July 1999, I'd been playing the recorder for about a week.

I suppose I should explain one or two things. I've been a guitarist for about thirteen years, with a particular interest in free jazz and free improvisation. I recently had the opportunity to try my hand at the recorder, and took it. This page is a collection of things I've discovered which I couldn't find on the web, and links to things on the web which I've found helpful.

Please don't imagine this is a tutorial. It's a collection of techniques and ideas which are maybe a bit left of centre and which I've found useful, interesting or whatever. In a year's time I may well have found a better way to do some of them. The essence of developing technique in "experimental" music is experimentation. That said, some of these techniques are doubtless tried and tested; I've just got to them by the long route.

NOTE: All the stuff here is written for what I'm told is a tenor recorder, with a bottom note of F. If yours is a descant or bass recorder, you'll need to transpose everything up a fourth or down a fifth respectively.

What's here:

How I learned circular breathing
Some multiphonics
Quarter tones (coming soon)
Recorder links

If you have any information on recorder playing, or you want to offer me any feedback on what you see here, email me.