So there you go Thormann. You got a comprehensive review FOR FREE.! All you have to do now is make the corrects and have them tested again by Sarah and you will be loved for listening and reacting to feedback........feedback you got from a professional...for FREE!
Thank you very much for this video. Fair in-depth review. Now I know that the Garklein isn't bad at all. And every piece of information like always presented in your very funny way. Great!!
The black Thomann alto recorder is really good. The tenor is alright, and personally I have no issues with the soprano, but I noticed that the even cheaper white (ivory) Thomann recorder is even better (plays pretty much like the similar looking Yamaha). It's also heavier than the black soprano and feels like higher quality. There is also a fairly cheap white (ivory) Thomann alto recorder with German fingering (in case somebody needs that) which is not bad for school level things or for playing Christmas chants and children's songs at home.
Amelie, I would say you are doing everything right if you can afford over $150,000 worth of flutes :D I recently bought my first flute, Yamaha YFL-272, and that hurt already :))
I had a Thomann tenor for a while. I liked the ”fluffiness” but I didn’t like how poorly it was in the higher register. So I switched it for an Aulos keyless tenor.
I have that Aulos 211A tenor too. You can get it for about £40, it has no cheap key that might break, and I find its relatively slim beak is very comfortable. I think it is the cheapest tenor from any really well-regarded company.
@@madamepestis I purchase an aulos too, just after a Thomann. And I'm fully agree with you. The difference of quality is huge with the same "fluffiness"
@@ogechter The Aulos is the only tenor I've played, except my sister's one when I was a kid, which had a really chonky mouthpiece. It's also the only one other than Thomann's that I've seen for less than £50. Some might not like its plain looks, but I quite like its honesty. My biggest problem is that the windway gets blocked with condensation quite easily. There is a massive hike in price between alto and tenor, for recorders of the same quality. I suspect it reflects volume of sales more than cost of materials. Even more so for bass. There is also far less choice, for the same reason. That's why the Thomann set is so tempting - you can get plastic sopraninos, sopranos and altos of a pretty high quality from Yamaha or Aulos etc, for very little outlay, but once you get beyond those, it gets relatively pricey for a cash-strapped amateur.
Hope Thomann does attend to this, as more people are taking up recorders and while today they may be untrained and not able to appreciate the subtle differences, they will be happier and go further if the company really take their economy line of recorders seriously.
I've been playing the Thomann bass for several years in an ensemble. It does the job quite well. The span is nice and even, from low F to high Eb anyway. The tuning, while not perfect, can be adjusted by the breath. Excellent value for money!
My daughter is in second grade. Next year, her school introduces them to Instruments, specifically, recorders. They sometimes get a mix of Baroque and German fingering in the class, even. She has a pink, clear plastic Yamaha soprano -- we have matching ones, so she sees daddy play the same thing, and when she's frustrated with her stretch, I show her how I play on the tenor, so again we're doing the same thing. Music is too important to be a "filler" class. STEM should be STEAM, and seeing these different reviews and cost-options for instruments is quite lovely, thank you!!!
As a born Scientist but wannabe artist I totally agree. As a born scientist I always gravitated towards the more mathematical arts like sewing and music but they provide something that science and math never could. I think its a big problem with societies almost the world over, in a similar in a way to the way medicine is only interested in the physical body and anybody with metal illness is not take seriously and despite being a leading cause of disability world wide isn't well funded in almost any country. I think if a greater focus was put on the arts we would have a better world and some of the pandemic of mental illness would improve too.
@@serenitygoodwyn “some of the pandemic of mental illness” is due to abuse of psychiatry. For example, mental illness is one end of the autism spectrum. I do not doubt that the mind-blindness characteristic to autism can be a symptom of mental illness, however placing mental illness on the autism spectrum deceives people with symptoms of autism into believing they could be mentally ill just for having them and willing themselves into treatment in “their own” interests and the interests of society.
@@alsatusmd1A13 I don't disagree that psychiatry is problematic, but I don't think it accounts for everything we are seeing. I also agree that Autisim should not be considered a mental illness (together with a number of other things that are currently) . However, I think the loss of community, loss of extended family, loss of ritual, loss of valuing art, focus on acquirement of things and status together with the modern diet causes a lot of mental and emotional distress in the population, when that distress gets to the point it affect a persons ability to function its considered an illness. I'm diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The symptoms I experience are very consistent with that diagnosis and used to be extremely detrimental to my functioning at times. I learned to manage it without medication (according to the psychiatrist impossible) using a ketogenic diet counselling for past trauma and a focus on meeting those less tangible needs such as music and mindful movement (connecting my mind and body, which medicine tries to separate). The ketogenic diet has really been the key thought. There is limited science on it's effectiveness for mental illness, however it has been used for over a hundred years for epilepsy and is still used as standard of care when medications don't work because it's more effective than the medications. Many of the mood stabilizers are anti-epileptic drugs. It's also a very anti inflammatory diet and most mental illness has been linked to chronic inflammation in the brain. So while the direct science showing it's benefit isn't there, indirectly it's not surprising its showing benefit. A lot of people with Autism are also finding that the ketogenic diet improves some of the unwanted affects of Autism without hampering the benefits.
Thanks Sarah. A brilliant video on many levels. Honest, informative and entertaining. I particularly liked the way the subtitles struggled to find the right words!! On a serious note, I am new to the world of recorders and loving it. Your videos are a great help to avoiding some of the pitfalls. The comments they generate are also sometimes very useful. A real community.
It would be VERY NICE to hear them playing IN CONSORT. I think if they are passable, schools may benefit from getting a consort for that price (using perhaps another soprano).
The tenor needs some play-in time. I can go to higher C without much effort after 1-2 months getting used to it. The lowest C requires strong pinky to really press it. The alto is not good: when you play it for a long time, the condensation will make the lower note unplayable unless you blow very softly. If you have the patience and money, Aulos's Robin recorders are much nicer instruments with just 10-ish euros more expensive.
I ve a toner from Thomann and it is completly out of tune on the low notes, with a shorter range than any other plastic recorder I tested and a bad sound. A pipe with some holes more or less
I bought the alto, garklein and a soprano (a different one in all white that was about 4€) from them the other day and I can't believe how well they perform considering their price. Perfect for situations where you don't want to bring an expensive wooden recorder. I mean you could play these in a steaming bathtub if you wanted to.
Thomann recorders are not meant to be good quality. They are meant to be cheap ones. What I have heard from the other people, Thomann instruments have great variety in quality. So, if you are lucky, you can get a decent instrument. If you are unlucky, you will get a cheap instrument which is out of tune or which breaks in no time. But you can send them back anyway and Thomann sends you a new one and maybe, just maybe, you will have better luck with another try. It might not be an issue because a professional wouldn't buy Thomann instruments anyway. They use instruments with way more higher prices. And beginners just don't mind if the sound is a bit worse than in an instrument which costs 200% - 2000% more. The only problem with cheap low quality instruments is that a beginner might quit playing if s/he can't get a decent sound from the instrument.
I realize that cost is a big factor for schools, but please, please follow her advice and not put off any kids with music ability (and their parents... ) because of a poor soprano recorder choice. Wait for a few school terms, save a few more pounds in the school budget and go with something like a Yamaha.
Great review! Now we'd like to see a review of both Yamaha and Aulos complete plastic instrument consorts, since these are probably universally seen as the best value-for-money choices.
Maybe Sarah could rent them instead of ending up with cupboards full of instruments. However she could also give them away to needy schools or raffle them off.
Oh...my, that soprano tuning. Fine if you’re ordering from a random eBay seller, but really not acceptable coming from a respected music retailer. I hope they will take your constructive criticism to heart. I spent way more than 9 euros on my Aulos garklein, though. Seems like a bargain!
I have got a Tenor from Thomann... (only for practice), but playing some contemporary music is sooooo terible on this. It´s great for medieval pieces, or Folk tunes. (4/10)... I usually prefer the Aulos 211A Robin Tenor (plastic)
Hello Sarah, thank you for reviewing all of them. I think it was important as there are so many people who need an affordable option. About this consort I can say one thing: If nearly tone-deaf me can hear tuning problems, it means they are SEVERE. And I could.
Had been considering their bass, but, after seeing your vid on it, I added a Yamaha tenor instead. I already have a Yamaha alto, though the basic model with the straight windway, and the tenor is my first with an arched windway, so now I'm wondering if I need to blow a certain way to consistently hit the low C? It sounds great half the time, but if I play a Db it suddenly overblows when I return to C and I even stop and double check my fingers yet it still does it. Since I'm primarily a tuba player, I would think it's likely that I'm overblowing, but it seem too inconsistent and I play low whistles just fine. Now, I'm really questioning if I want to add a bass recorder yet also pondering adding an Aulos tenor as I have seen people state that they prefer them over the Yamaha and one person even mentions the low notes requiring a very specific play style on the Yamaha while Aulos is more flexible, so, being fond of Yamaha instruments (playing a Yamaha tuba and alto sax) I'm more inclined to think I'm playing it wrong, but now I just don't know...
Felicidades, me gustan todos tus vídeos y aprendo bastantes cosas. Mi experiencia con Thomann ha sido muy mala. Mi profesor de flauta me dijo que comprara Yamaha, el sonido es mucho mejor. Compré dos flautas en la web de Thomann hace más de 1 mes y las devolví, todavía no me han devuelto el dinero.
@@george5120 I've an ancient Aulos 311-E tenor. When I got it, I played everything I would normally play at the time on nothing but the tenor for a couple of months. Eventually, your hands give in, the pain barrier is breached, and you can play it no bother. I still have and play that original tenor. No pain now, though the stretch is horrendous even now for my small hands. That was many years ago.
I learned german fingering when I was young. Recently i realized that i better work with the Barock way, so i ordered the Tenor for my restart. I cant use it in any way.. My Fingers are naturly a little bit less mobile than normal so i cant get the holes for the right hand Fingers 4,and 5 covered correctly. It hurt so much that I had to stop this quickly. At the end i ordered a Mollenhauer Canta with c/cis Keys and it works nice and clear... Now i have the recorder laying around that I cant use.
Maybe you can sell it, or give away as a present. I can't play a tenor either. My arms are too short. So I stick to alto and soprano. Like you I started with learning German fingering as a kid but it was not difficult to change that.
I wonder if playing them all together in an emssemble would sound good. I mean, if all the instruments are a little off-tune, would they sound good in their off-tuneness ???
Beginner here! I just ordered the alto and tenor from thomann today. Thanks for the review! I actually bought a second hand alto by Aulos a few days ago also, but managed to crack the connecting part in the bottom while re-adjusting the bottom joint (sorry if my terminology isnt on point lol) and now the lowest note sounds weird on it and the bottom joint almost falls off on its own ughhh xD...
Hi Sarah, I got the same set of recorders by Woodi for the same price. Have you reviewed any of the Woodi recorders? I've noticed a difficulty hitting the high notes but I'm also a beginner so I'm unsure if it's the instrument or if I'm doing something wrong. Would love your input on this. And thank you for all of your videos, they've been very, very helpful.
I'm still waiting for the two wooden sopranos I ordered from Ukraine (both traditional, a sopilka and a telenka) but shit... I was buying strings for my classical guitar and somehow an alto recorder from Thomann landed in my order. Cheaper than any of the string sets. :/
regarding the Thomann TRA-31B Alto Recorder model that appears in the video, when I look for it on the Thomann website two models appear... one is the Thomann TRA-31B Alto Recorder and the other is the Thomann TRA-31B matt Alto Recorder... which one you show in the video?
Question: If Sarah bought a second and third set from Thomann, would she find the same defects in the same instruments? Quality control is expensive. So the manufacturer of cheap instruments can save money by not doing it!
The Sopranino is a ripoff of the cheap Yamaha sopranino- which is a playable instrument... but it has an actual range of about c'' to g''' the low register is unusable because it does not support staccato tonguing and is way too soft. The thomann instruments inherits the same problem.
I bought some of these - living in the UK there is or was a carriage charge for orders under about 149 Euros, so it was actually cheaper to add in a few of the cheaper instruments than to pay for the additional delivery charges. I had to check the order I actually put in to see which ones I got. I missed out on the treble, which was one you quite liked. I probably won't order it because it will be uneconomic with the delivery charge, and in any case the Yamaha Ecodear treble which I also had in the delivery is really nice. The tenor had major problems for me. I was unable to get the joints apart once I'd put it together. I tried various things to overcome this, but none of them worked. Thomann agreed to take it back and offered a refund. Initially that was quite hard as I tried to package it up, but then I had one last go with it and managed to get the pieces apart at last. I had to use hot water to loosen up the joints, plus a fair bit of brute force. I have an Aulos keyless tenor which I quite like - though it's a bit of a stretch. One can get used to it - or at least I can. Maybe some would find it quite hard. I actually quite liked the sound of the Thomann tenor - though it was a bit breathy. I would have accepted a replacement, but I asked the Thomann experts if they thought the very tight joint issue would still be a problem. On receiving their response I decided not to have a replacement - though if you didn't have that problem I might be prepared to give that another try later on. I kept the bass plus the soprano, sopranino and garklein. I was interested that you liked the garklein - maybe I need to get mine out again! As I wrote, it was cheaper at the time to buy the smaller instruments in order to get the free carriage. The main reason for buying these was to have a bass, which I could play with a group of other players. Tonally I find the bass rather poor, but for me part of the reason for having it was to see if I could cope with the fingering etc., plus also reading the bass clef on a wind instrument. With practice it does get easier. I agree about the clattery keys, and I have found it almost impossible to play with others. However I don't normally have to play bass anyway. Two of the other players have good bass instruments - a Moeck and a Kung - which sound really good - and there isn't really any comparison. However at a typical price of over £1000 or significantly more for an instrument like that, few people are going to want to jump in and buy a wooden bass on the off chance that they might like it. Even the cheaper plastic instruments by other manufacturers - such as Yamaha are considerably more expensive. Would I even consider another plastic instrument? Not sure. I did try one other - think it was a Yamaha, and I didn't like it that much, though the tone was better. I'm not sure that even the best of the reasonably priced plastic instruments would blend in with the other wooden bass instruments. I suspect that they wouldn't do very well, though would be better than the Thomann. I wonder about your comments re tuning on all of these instruments. I'm not saying you're wrong - clearly in some of your videos the tuning on the ones you had (e.g. the soprano) was way out. There might be manufacturing variations - though that seems unlikely to me. However, since you didn't comment on the very tight joints of the tenor, it's possible that there might be significant differences in individual instruments due to the manufacturing tolerances.
I have a 20€ soprano and it plays very very well. I recommend anyone to spend 20€ in a soprano because it really sounds good and isn't a lot. for the price of two shitty school recorders you get one good sounding one.
I got a set of recorders off of Amazon from Woodi, and I'm focusing primarily on the bass recorder. It does seem to have an issue with the B natural in the bottom of the range sounding a little odd, but in the octave range it actually sounds great. I'm not quite sure how that happens as you'd think the intervals would either be equally bad or good. Otherwise I'm enjoying the bass recorder very much. It's fun to play and sounds quite pretty!
is it possible it's actually the same recorder as the Thomann but rebranded? I bought a set of Amazon under the brand Cantatbile Bellisima, I'm 99.99% certain they are the Thomann recorders, having had a good look at them online and in a shop.
I have a Thomann Bass, very good to play, though its slowness comes with the territory. Are you familiar with Voice of the Crocodile by Benjamin Thorn?
A clarinetist....stares at my Backun and Buffet Crampon Clarinets 25+k$ worth of instruments.....maybe I should have taken recorder in school, would have saved myself boatloads apparently.
Aulos also do a nice little soprano recorder for less than £7, white, has a curved wind way, a sweet tone, and gets all the high and low notes and is in tune
@@SueHom1 as for the aulos, I think it would be better to wait a little bit more and invest in an aulos haka recorder, they're probably the best plastic recorder you can get on the market, I have the alto and I absolutely love it! And for the price, it's more than worth it
I own a Thomann Tenor recorder, just to complete my consort in a cheap way ;) No, I really planned to do something against my tenorophobia 🤣 Too big, too heavy, too... To make it short: it didnt work. My fingers are too short to play the Thomann comfotable. And if I play it longer than ten minutes, everything gets soak and wet. Instead I like the Küng Superior Tenor, but its too expensive for my short escapes from my beloved Alto and Soprano 🤔
I bought the Thomann Tenor and a second-hand old model Yamaha (with single key - no c#). I used the Yamaha head with the Thomann bottom parts, and the sound is gorgeous. The join is loose, but with a bit of tape, it fits perfectly. I find the high and low notes much easier to play (they speak well up to 3rd D). This hybrid gives a lovely Yamaha sound, which is dampened slightly and sounds closer to a wooden recorder. Has anyone else combined parts from different recorders to make the perfect sound?
I wonder how some flaws like bad tuning are even possible on a plastic recorder. Shape and dimensions are likely result of computer calculations. Then they make a million recorders by molding and they are all identical. There is no human variance. Unlike wood the material is always the same, it doesn't change over time and there are no humidity problems. What can go wrong? In theory even cheap plastic recorders should be unbeatable in precision (just like a cheap 10€ quartz wristwatch will always beat a mechanical 50.000€ luxury watch in terms of accuracy).
Manufacturing isn't perfect, and each copy has minute differences. The first few instruments off the production line probably sounded pretty good, but as time goes on, heat and pressure start changing the molds very slightly, instrument by instrument, so the ten-thousandth one from those same molds doesn't necessarily sound the same as those first few. As a comparison, my band got some LP records pressed, and we were told that the plates had a lifetime of about 10,000 units, after which their grooves would be so degraded the resulting LPs would sound terrible. That said, these are obviously targeted at a very low price point, so those computer calculations may not have been all that great in the first place. It's more likely that these are meant for young schoolkids, whose sense of "in tune" is not likely to be very discerning. For that market, the goals are probably: (1) low price, (2) durable, and (3) "eh, close enough". :)
Just got the Garklein 3 weeks ago just for fun! It says "baroque fingering" on the webshop and has the baroque fingering chart with it. So I was surprised that lots of notes were completely out of tune. After some testing I found out alternatives and then did some research: There are special Garklein fingering charts from Mollenhauer and others on the internet. So it wasn't a fault in the instrument... I had even been considering the Tenor for a test, but decided to wait and buy an other one when it's really time to get into playing after mastering the soprano.
I have the Garklein; I literally added it to my cart when buying another instrument because hey €9 recorder. Because of the size, there is no way to make it playable for most people with normal baroque fingerings; I used the Mollenhauer and Aulos fingering charts and it's not perfect but it's pretty darn good for the price. I just don't use one often enough to justify paying over €100 for one.
I'm agree with your point of view. I buy the thomann set (but there were no basset when I did 5 years ago) and I was really disappointed with the soprano and the sopranino. The sound was like a very cheap plastic toy. But the alto give me a lot of satisfaction. Thanks to that I try others model (plus cher quoi, yamaha, mollenoher, etc) to found my recorder crushes. If I can said so XD The tenor is great to begin but the key is a problem. And it's really sad that I have to struggle to have my high notes. It quit impossible after the A... And for the assemble experiences, I totally given up the tenor. Can't have the first C easily with the key. #problem I think I'll try the yamaha tenor to see what I can do ;) and Someday try the Bassett Most of all: thank a lot for your review because I very glad to see that the problems sound that I had was not due to my lack of methods but was due to the factory. And that's really helpful and encouraging to me. Thanks Dude!! 👍 (Sorry if my english is not perfect 🙏 #french)
Hello, I really love your quirky reviews. I love you. Your husband is a lucky man. I recently got a Zoom 24 track and I can't wait to layer some lavish woodwind arrangements, so this is a very relevant video for me after just recently seeing their massive website and drooling at all the possilities. I'm just wondering if they are all in 442hz? I am mainly a guitar player but have an Aulos alto and soprano that I really love, so the bigger ones here look very appealing to complete the range of notes. Shame about the sopranino, but I can just get another Aulos.
I just bought the Thomann tenor and I find that it gets stuck from condensation quite easily and that hinders all those high notes unless I suck all the condensation out of the windway😂
I don't have a lot of need for a bass, so this kind of thing would be great just so I can ~have~ one on the off chance I would need one. Would perhaps gluing small pads of felt/cork under the clicky keys get it a bit quieter? Or is it clicky on them closing over the tone holes?
Can anyone recommend a good, low cost case for a set of recorders from Garklein to Bass (as is being explored in this video) I am a flautist and woodwind doubler and could really do to have a compact way of bringing recorders along when needed.
So there you go Thormann. You got a comprehensive review FOR FREE.! All you have to do now is make the corrects and have them tested again by Sarah and you will be loved for listening and reacting to feedback........feedback you got from a professional...for FREE!
*closes book* as if that's ever gonna happen
I don't think we have emphasized enough that this review was FREE
Thank you very much for this video.
Fair in-depth review. Now I know that the Garklein isn't bad at all.
And every piece of information like always presented in your very funny way. Great!!
The black Thomann alto recorder is really good. The tenor is alright, and personally I have no issues with the soprano, but I noticed that the even cheaper white (ivory) Thomann recorder is even better (plays pretty much like the similar looking Yamaha). It's also heavier than the black soprano and feels like higher quality. There is also a fairly cheap white (ivory) Thomann alto recorder with German fingering (in case somebody needs that) which is not bad for school level things or for playing Christmas chants and children's songs at home.
Finally!
Blockflöte ohne Block? Without block.
Sarah: "Headphone users, this is your warning.
Me: *laughs in piccolo player"
"Do you hear how it's cracking slightly?"
*laughs and cries in French Horn*
Whole Flute Family (Piccolo, C Flute, Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Contrabass, Double contrabass SubContraBass) = Over $150,000+!!
Maybe im doing something wrong?
I don't think so. 😊
You did nothing wrong. You are just rich😂😂
You should ask Thomann to create a set of flutes 😄😂
@@Jan2011D I don't own the whole family, still saving up. ha!
Amelie, I would say you are doing everything right if you can afford over $150,000 worth of flutes :D I recently bought my first flute, Yamaha YFL-272, and that hurt already :))
You are wearing a tshirt with the portuguese phrase "I play the recorder" 😍
Regards from Brazil, Sarah!
You are great! Love your channel ❤️😍😍
"their job is to be small and squeaky"
Same here, it often seems.
The advantage of an instrument with less than ideal tone is that you can blame you bad playing on the instrument instead of your own ineptitude.
I like your t-shirt in portuguese....I love it. What about Aulos Symphony Consort, is that the best plastic recorder consort?
I had a Thomann tenor for a while. I liked the ”fluffiness” but I didn’t like how poorly it was in the higher register. So I switched it for an Aulos keyless tenor.
I have that Aulos 211A tenor too. You can get it for about £40, it has no cheap key that might break, and I find its relatively slim beak is very comfortable.
I think it is the cheapest tenor from any really well-regarded company.
@@madamepestis I purchase an aulos too, just after a Thomann. And I'm fully agree with you. The difference of quality is huge with the same "fluffiness"
@@ogechter The Aulos is the only tenor I've played, except my sister's one when I was a kid, which had a really chonky mouthpiece. It's also the only one other than Thomann's that I've seen for less than £50. Some might not like its plain looks, but I quite like its honesty. My biggest problem is that the windway gets blocked with condensation quite easily.
There is a massive hike in price between alto and tenor, for recorders of the same quality. I suspect it reflects volume of sales more than cost of materials. Even more so for bass. There is also far less choice, for the same reason.
That's why the Thomann set is so tempting - you can get plastic sopraninos, sopranos and altos of a pretty high quality from Yamaha or Aulos etc, for very little outlay, but once you get beyond those, it gets relatively pricey for a cash-strapped amateur.
Hope Thomann does attend to this, as more people are taking up recorders and while today they may be untrained and not able to appreciate the subtle differences, they will be happier and go further if the company really take their economy line of recorders seriously.
I've been playing the Thomann bass for several years in an ensemble. It does the job quite well. The span is nice and even, from low F to high Eb anyway. The tuning, while not perfect, can be adjusted by the breath. Excellent value for money!
Should still go Yamaha plastic instead though.
@@kishascape big price jump tho
Eu toco flauta doce
Ha, me too, Sarah. Me too :D
Ela está muito fofa com essa camiseta, né!! ^^
You are very cute with this t-shirt, Sarah.
Hugs from Brazil!!
Me encanta que soy capaz de leerlo aunque no es castellano jaja
Foi de um evento que ela foi em São Paulo
@@Felipekimst que legal!!! :D Não sabia que ela já tinha vindo pro Brasil.
Muito fofa kkkkk
My daughter is in second grade. Next year, her school introduces them to Instruments, specifically, recorders. They sometimes get a mix of Baroque and German fingering in the class, even. She has a pink, clear plastic Yamaha soprano -- we have matching ones, so she sees daddy play the same thing, and when she's frustrated with her stretch, I show her how I play on the tenor, so again we're doing the same thing. Music is too important to be a "filler" class. STEM should be STEAM, and seeing these different reviews and cost-options for instruments is quite lovely, thank you!!!
Visual art builds basic draftsmanship skills for engineering and it is also a “filler” class.
As a born Scientist but wannabe artist I totally agree. As a born scientist I always gravitated towards the more mathematical arts like sewing and music but they provide something that science and math never could. I think its a big problem with societies almost the world over, in a similar in a way to the way medicine is only interested in the physical body and anybody with metal illness is not take seriously and despite being a leading cause of disability world wide isn't well funded in almost any country. I think if a greater focus was put on the arts we would have a better world and some of the pandemic of mental illness would improve too.
@@serenitygoodwyn “some of the pandemic of mental illness” is due to abuse of psychiatry. For example, mental illness is one end of the autism spectrum. I do not doubt that the mind-blindness characteristic to autism can be a symptom of mental illness, however placing mental illness on the autism spectrum deceives people with symptoms of autism into believing they could be mentally ill just for having them and willing themselves into treatment in “their own” interests and the interests of society.
@@alsatusmd1A13 I don't disagree that psychiatry is problematic, but I don't think it accounts for everything we are seeing. I also agree that Autisim should not be considered a mental illness (together with a number of other things that are currently) . However, I think the loss of community, loss of extended family, loss of ritual, loss of valuing art, focus on acquirement of things and status together with the modern diet causes a lot of mental and emotional distress in the population, when that distress gets to the point it affect a persons ability to function its considered an illness.
I'm diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The symptoms I experience are very consistent with that diagnosis and used to be extremely detrimental to my functioning at times. I learned to manage it without medication (according to the psychiatrist impossible) using a ketogenic diet counselling for past trauma and a focus on meeting those less tangible needs such as music and mindful movement (connecting my mind and body, which medicine tries to separate).
The ketogenic diet has really been the key thought. There is limited science on it's effectiveness for mental illness, however it has been used for over a hundred years for epilepsy and is still used as standard of care when medications don't work because it's more effective than the medications. Many of the mood stabilizers are anti-epileptic drugs. It's also a very anti inflammatory diet and most mental illness has been linked to chronic inflammation in the brain. So while the direct science showing it's benefit isn't there, indirectly it's not surprising its showing benefit. A lot of people with Autism are also finding that the ketogenic diet improves some of the unwanted affects of Autism without hampering the benefits.
Yes to STEAM!
Linda a frase na blusa😍🇧🇷
Thanks Sarah. A brilliant video on many levels. Honest, informative and entertaining. I particularly liked the way the subtitles struggled to find the right words!! On a serious note, I am new to the world of recorders and loving it. Your videos are a great help to avoiding some of the pitfalls. The comments they generate are also sometimes very useful. A real community.
Ohh I corrected the subtitles - choose ‘English’ rather than ‘automatic’ from the menu! And thank you 🥰
It would be VERY NICE to hear them playing IN CONSORT. I think if they are passable, schools may benefit from getting a consort for that price (using perhaps another soprano).
Yes! This. I said the same.
The tenor needs some play-in time. I can go to higher C without much effort after 1-2 months getting used to it. The lowest C requires strong pinky to really press it. The alto is not good: when you play it for a long time, the condensation will make the lower note unplayable unless you blow very softly. If you have the patience and money, Aulos's Robin recorders are much nicer instruments with just 10-ish euros more expensive.
I ve a toner from Thomann and it is completly out of tune on the low notes, with a shorter range than any other plastic recorder I tested and a bad sound. A pipe with some holes more or less
*a tenor (sorry)
Thanks Vickster. I'm going to check out Aulos.
I bought the alto, garklein and a soprano (a different one in all white that was about 4€) from them the other day and I can't believe how well they perform considering their price. Perfect for situations where you don't want to bring an expensive wooden recorder. I mean you could play these in a steaming bathtub if you wanted to.
I fancy that bass! For that money, wow! As for soprano. More like SopraNo!
Thomann recorders are not meant to be good quality. They are meant to be cheap ones. What I have heard from the other people, Thomann instruments have great variety in quality. So, if you are lucky, you can get a decent instrument. If you are unlucky, you will get a cheap instrument which is out of tune or which breaks in no time. But you can send them back anyway and Thomann sends you a new one and maybe, just maybe, you will have better luck with another try. It might not be an issue because a professional wouldn't buy Thomann instruments anyway. They use instruments with way more higher prices. And beginners just don't mind if the sound is a bit worse than in an instrument which costs 200% - 2000% more. The only problem with cheap low quality instruments is that a beginner might quit playing if s/he can't get a decent sound from the instrument.
Thank you for the headphone warning - saved my ears.
I realize that cost is a big factor for schools, but please, please follow her advice and not put off any kids with music ability (and their parents... ) because of a poor soprano recorder
choice. Wait for a few school terms, save a few more pounds in the school budget and go with something like a Yamaha.
How beautiful the language of music I do not understand what you say but I do understand your playing it is the language of the soul🥺💜
Great review!
Now we'd like to see a review of both Yamaha and Aulos complete plastic instrument consorts, since these are probably universally seen as the best value-for-money choices.
They'll be in tune at least.
Maybe Sarah could rent them instead of ending up with cupboards full of instruments. However she could also give them away to needy schools or raffle them off.
I love how honest you are! Thank you for making this video! ❤
your previous review of the thomann bass recorder made me get the yamaha one instead ;)
Oh...my, that soprano tuning. Fine if you’re ordering from a random eBay seller, but really not acceptable coming from a respected music retailer. I hope they will take your constructive criticism to heart. I spent way more than 9 euros on my Aulos garklein, though. Seems like a bargain!
"Eu toco flauta doce"
-Me too! Greetings from Brazil
I have got a Tenor from Thomann... (only for practice), but playing some contemporary music is sooooo terible on this. It´s great for medieval pieces, or Folk tunes. (4/10)... I usually prefer the Aulos 211A Robin Tenor (plastic)
Hello Sarah, thank you for reviewing all of them. I think it was important as there are so many people who need an affordable option.
About this consort I can say one thing:
If nearly tone-deaf me can hear tuning problems, it means they are SEVERE. And I could.
Had been considering their bass, but, after seeing your vid on it, I added a Yamaha tenor instead. I already have a Yamaha alto, though the basic model with the straight windway, and the tenor is my first with an arched windway, so now I'm wondering if I need to blow a certain way to consistently hit the low C? It sounds great half the time, but if I play a Db it suddenly overblows when I return to C and I even stop and double check my fingers yet it still does it.
Since I'm primarily a tuba player, I would think it's likely that I'm overblowing, but it seem too inconsistent and I play low whistles just fine. Now, I'm really questioning if I want to add a bass recorder yet also pondering adding an Aulos tenor as I have seen people state that they prefer them over the Yamaha and one person even mentions the low notes requiring a very specific play style on the Yamaha while Aulos is more flexible, so, being fond of Yamaha instruments (playing a Yamaha tuba and alto sax) I'm more inclined to think I'm playing it wrong, but now I just don't know...
A Very Useful Review, thank you Sarah. Think you've sold me on the garklein ... always wanted one of those for the top pocket. :-)
Wish somebody could get this for me.
From Zambia.
Felicidades, me gustan todos tus vídeos y aprendo bastantes cosas. Mi experiencia con Thomann ha sido muy mala. Mi profesor de flauta me dijo que comprara Yamaha, el sonido es mucho mejor. Compré dos flautas en la web de Thomann hace más de 1 mes y las devolví, todavía no me han devuelto el dinero.
Nothing wrong with a good fluff fluff sound...
Perfect timing, just ordered the Tenor 😅
I returned my Yamaha tenor for a refund because its holes are spaced too far apart. It hurt my fingers and my wrists.
@@george5120 I've an ancient Aulos 311-E tenor. When I got it, I played everything I would normally play at the time on nothing but the tenor for a couple of months. Eventually, your hands give in, the pain barrier is breached, and you can play it no bother. I still have and play that original tenor. No pain now, though the stretch is horrendous even now for my small hands. That was many years ago.
I learned german fingering when I was young. Recently i realized that i better work with the Barock way, so i ordered the Tenor for my restart. I cant use it in any way.. My Fingers are naturly a little bit less mobile than normal so i cant get the holes for the right hand Fingers 4,and 5 covered correctly. It hurt so much that I had to stop this quickly. At the end i ordered a Mollenhauer Canta with c/cis Keys and it works nice and clear... Now i have the recorder laying around that I cant use.
Maybe you can sell it, or give away as a present. I can't play a tenor either. My arms are too short. So I stick to alto and soprano.
Like you I started with learning German fingering as a kid but it was not difficult to change that.
I wonder if playing them all together in an emssemble would sound good. I mean, if all the instruments are a little off-tune, would they sound good in their off-tuneness ???
Probably not as they don't seem to be off tune in the same way.
It probably won't do when you are playing in octaves.
Beginner here! I just ordered the alto and tenor from thomann today. Thanks for the review!
I actually bought a second hand alto by Aulos a few days ago also, but managed to crack the connecting part in the bottom while re-adjusting the bottom joint (sorry if my terminology isnt on point lol) and now the lowest note sounds weird on it and the bottom joint almost falls off on its own ughhh xD...
Buy cheap, buy twice generally holds true for most things.
Washing machines, yeah. Here though, buy cheap and next time you'll either go for the best you can or do something else entirely.
Excellent and informative video as always, thank you so much. I'd love to know what you think of the Early Music Shop's Triebert range!
Hi Sarah, I got the same set of recorders by Woodi for the same price. Have you reviewed any of the Woodi recorders? I've noticed a difficulty hitting the high notes but I'm also a beginner so I'm unsure if it's the instrument or if I'm doing something wrong. Would love your input on this. And thank you for all of your videos, they've been very, very helpful.
At 2.20 around = so funny...reminds me the flute at school 😂😂😂😂
I'm still waiting for the two wooden sopranos I ordered from Ukraine (both traditional, a sopilka and a telenka) but shit... I was buying strings for my classical guitar and somehow an alto recorder from Thomann landed in my order. Cheaper than any of the string sets. :/
regarding the Thomann TRA-31B Alto Recorder model that appears in the video, when I look for it on the Thomann website two models appear... one is the Thomann TRA-31B Alto Recorder and the other is the Thomann TRA-31B matt Alto Recorder... which one you show in the video?
The bass does sound like a plastic tube with holes drilled in it.
Haha I thought the same! Looks like plastic water pipe, and if you are a total beginner probably sounds the same 😂😂😂
Never heard of the garklein. Translates to "actually small" in german 😁
EU TOCO FLAUTA DOCE é uma frase em português! (Portuguese language)
I still say, and I’m sure others will agree, you missed your calling in the halls of academe. But for now, you’ll be our titular professor. 👍 😉 ♫
Adorei a camiseta "EU TOCO FLAUTA DOCE" 'EU TENHO UM SUPER PODER" Aeeeeeeee! Centro Suzuki de São Paulo BRAZIL, Obrigado Sarah
Question: If Sarah bought a second and third set from Thomann, would she find the same defects in the same instruments?
Quality control is expensive. So the manufacturer of cheap instruments can save money by not doing it!
What if we step everything up towards Yamaha plastics?
"Eu toco flauta doce."
The Sopranino is a ripoff of the cheap Yamaha sopranino- which is a playable instrument... but it has an actual range of about c'' to g''' the low register is unusable because it does not support staccato tonguing and is way too soft. The thomann instruments inherits the same problem.
I bought some of these - living in the UK there is or was a carriage charge for orders under about 149 Euros, so it was actually cheaper to add in a few of the cheaper instruments than to pay for the additional delivery charges. I had to check the order I actually put in to see which ones I got. I missed out on the treble, which was one you quite liked. I probably won't order it because it will be uneconomic with the delivery charge, and in any case the Yamaha Ecodear treble which I also had in the delivery is really nice.
The tenor had major problems for me. I was unable to get the joints apart once I'd put it together. I tried various things to overcome this, but none of them worked. Thomann agreed to take it back and offered a refund. Initially that was quite hard as I tried to package it up, but then I had one last go with it and managed to get the pieces apart at last. I had to use hot water to loosen up the joints, plus a fair bit of brute force. I have an Aulos keyless tenor which I quite like - though it's a bit of a stretch. One can get used to it - or at least I can. Maybe some would find it quite hard. I actually quite liked the sound of the Thomann tenor - though it was a bit breathy. I would have accepted a replacement, but I asked the Thomann experts if they thought the very tight joint issue would still be a problem. On receiving their response I decided not to have a replacement - though if you didn't have that problem I might be prepared to give that another try later on.
I kept the bass plus the soprano, sopranino and garklein. I was interested that you liked the garklein - maybe I need to get mine out again! As I wrote, it was cheaper at the time to buy the smaller instruments in order to get the free carriage.
The main reason for buying these was to have a bass, which I could play with a group of other players.
Tonally I find the bass rather poor, but for me part of the reason for having it was to see if I could cope with the fingering etc., plus also reading the bass clef on a wind instrument. With practice it does get easier. I agree about the clattery keys, and I have found it almost impossible to play with others. However I don't normally have to play bass anyway. Two of the other players have good bass instruments - a Moeck and a Kung - which sound really good - and there isn't really any comparison. However at a typical price of over £1000 or significantly more for an instrument like that, few people are going to want to jump in and buy a wooden bass on the off chance that they might like it. Even the cheaper plastic instruments by other manufacturers - such as Yamaha are considerably more expensive. Would I even consider another plastic instrument? Not sure. I did try one other - think it was a Yamaha, and I didn't like it that much, though the tone was better. I'm not sure that even the best of the reasonably priced plastic instruments would blend in with the other wooden bass instruments. I suspect that they wouldn't do very well, though would be better than the Thomann.
I wonder about your comments re tuning on all of these instruments. I'm not saying you're wrong - clearly in some of your videos the tuning on the ones you had (e.g. the soprano) was way out. There might be manufacturing variations - though that seems unlikely to me. However, since you didn't comment on the very tight joints of the tenor, it's possible that there might be significant differences in individual instruments due to the manufacturing tolerances.
Which plastic sopranino would you recommend for someone with larger hands?
What soprano recorder would you recommend for ~20€? Yamaha 402B?
There is a new line of Thomann recorders out since March 2022. Any experiences yet?
Could you do smartwoodi im finding mixed reviews and id like to see what you think
I have a 20€ soprano and it plays very very well. I recommend anyone to spend 20€ in a soprano because it really sounds good and isn't a lot.
for the price of two shitty school recorders you get one good sounding one.
Which one do you have?
@@featherlessbiped6586 i don't know if it's called stanesby or Zen on, in the papers says both. I bought it on my local music store
@@malahamavet Thank you, I will look it up
I loved you t-shirt!
😉😉😉💕
Where do you get it though? This brand is not on Amazon.
I got a set of recorders off of Amazon from Woodi, and I'm focusing primarily on the bass recorder. It does seem to have an issue with the B natural in the bottom of the range sounding a little odd, but in the octave range it actually sounds great. I'm not quite sure how that happens as you'd think the intervals would either be equally bad or good. Otherwise I'm enjoying the bass recorder very much. It's fun to play and sounds quite pretty!
is it possible it's actually the same recorder as the Thomann but rebranded? I bought a set of Amazon under the brand Cantatbile Bellisima, I'm 99.99% certain they are the Thomann recorders, having had a good look at them online and in a shop.
I just searched for them - if they aren't Thomann recorders in different cases, I'll eat my hat.
Are these the same as the Smartwoodi recorders?
Hi, youre Tshirt in portuguese is wonderfull, a big hug from Brazil
It was a gift when I visited the wonderful recorder community in São Paulo! ❤️
A camisa dela está em português! Como assim? hahahahaha
Thanks for the review! Eu toco flauta doce! :)
Loved the t-shirt in portuguese! Loved the video to
I have a Thomann Bass, very good to play, though its slowness comes with the territory. Are you familiar with Voice of the Crocodile by Benjamin Thorn?
Thanks :-) I've been looking for that one for ages, saw the title page once about 30 years ago
I love my Yamaha tenor recorder.
Nice T-shirt
I simply love your channel
A clarinetist....stares at my Backun and Buffet Crampon Clarinets 25+k$ worth of instruments.....maybe I should have taken recorder in school, would have saved myself boatloads apparently.
What does the text on your shirt mean??
"I play the recorder"
I'm the 1000th ! Like your vidoes so much!
Aww nice! Hi!
What does "speak" refer to specifically?
Really good question! Basically: how easily and reliably the notes come out, without cracking or squeaking.
I've been waiting for this!
Aulos also do a nice little soprano recorder for less than £7, white, has a curved wind way, a sweet tone, and gets all the high and low notes and is in tune
@@SueHom1 as for the aulos, I think it would be better to wait a little bit more and invest in an aulos haka recorder, they're probably the best plastic recorder you can get on the market, I have the alto and I absolutely love it! And for the price, it's more than worth it
I own a Thomann Tenor recorder, just to complete my consort in a cheap way ;)
No, I really planned to do something against my tenorophobia 🤣 Too big, too heavy, too... To make it short: it didnt work. My fingers are too short to play the Thomann comfotable. And if I play it longer than ten minutes, everything gets soak and wet.
Instead I like the Küng Superior Tenor, but its too expensive for my short escapes from my beloved Alto and Soprano 🤔
I like bass recorder
Hi my sister good job !!! I Love you & Flute pleas send me orginal Flute ,,,,
I love your honest reviews. ❤
I have two young children. I've bought the Thomann tenor alto and soprano to blow & throw.
They still blow & throw after months.
Groetjes.
I bought the Thomann Tenor and a second-hand old model Yamaha (with single key - no c#). I used the Yamaha head with the Thomann bottom parts, and the sound is gorgeous. The join is loose, but with a bit of tape, it fits perfectly. I find the high and low notes much easier to play (they speak well up to 3rd D). This hybrid gives a lovely Yamaha sound, which is dampened slightly and sounds closer to a wooden recorder. Has anyone else combined parts from different recorders to make the perfect sound?
I wonder how some flaws like bad tuning are even possible on a plastic recorder.
Shape and dimensions are likely result of computer calculations. Then they make a million recorders by molding and they are all identical. There is no human variance. Unlike wood the material is always the same, it doesn't change over time and there are no humidity problems. What can go wrong?
In theory even cheap plastic recorders should be unbeatable in precision (just like a cheap 10€ quartz wristwatch will always beat a mechanical 50.000€ luxury watch in terms of accuracy).
Manufacturing isn't perfect, and each copy has minute differences. The first few instruments off the production line probably sounded pretty good, but as time goes on, heat and pressure start changing the molds very slightly, instrument by instrument, so the ten-thousandth one from those same molds doesn't necessarily sound the same as those first few. As a comparison, my band got some LP records pressed, and we were told that the plates had a lifetime of about 10,000 units, after which their grooves would be so degraded the resulting LPs would sound terrible.
That said, these are obviously targeted at a very low price point, so those computer calculations may not have been all that great in the first place. It's more likely that these are meant for young schoolkids, whose sense of "in tune" is not likely to be very discerning. For that market, the goals are probably: (1) low price, (2) durable, and (3) "eh, close enough". :)
Just got the Garklein 3 weeks ago just for fun! It says "baroque fingering" on the webshop and has the baroque fingering chart with it. So I was surprised that lots of notes were completely out of tune. After some testing I found out alternatives and then did some research: There are special Garklein fingering charts from Mollenhauer and others on the internet. So it wasn't a fault in the instrument...
I had even been considering the Tenor for a test, but decided to wait and buy an other one when it's really time to get into playing after mastering the soprano.
I have the Garklein; I literally added it to my cart when buying another instrument because hey €9 recorder. Because of the size, there is no way to make it playable for most people with normal baroque fingerings; I used the Mollenhauer and Aulos fingering charts and it's not perfect but it's pretty darn good for the price. I just don't use one often enough to justify paying over €100 for one.
@@ThomasDawkins88 My fingers can just find their place, nevertheless it does't work with the regular chart.
Their own brand saxophones are decent - of course, they are also over 1000 Euro.
I'm agree with your point of view. I buy the thomann set (but there were no basset when I did 5 years ago) and I was really disappointed with the soprano and the sopranino. The sound was like a very cheap plastic toy. But the alto give me a lot of satisfaction. Thanks to that I try others model (plus cher quoi, yamaha, mollenoher, etc) to found my recorder crushes. If I can said so XD
The tenor is great to begin but the key is a problem. And it's really sad that I have to struggle to have my high notes. It quit impossible after the A... And for the assemble experiences, I totally given up the tenor. Can't have the first C easily with the key. #problem
I think I'll try the yamaha tenor to see what I can do ;) and Someday try the Bassett
Most of all: thank a lot for your review because I very glad to see that the problems sound that I had was not due to my lack of methods but was due to the factory. And that's really helpful and encouraging to me. Thanks Dude!! 👍
(Sorry if my english is not perfect 🙏 #french)
Hello, I really love your quirky reviews. I love you. Your husband is a lucky man.
I recently got a Zoom 24 track and I can't wait to layer some lavish woodwind arrangements, so this is a very relevant video for me after just recently seeing their massive website and drooling at all the possilities.
I'm just wondering if they are all in 442hz?
I am mainly a guitar player but have an Aulos alto and soprano that I really love, so the bigger ones here look very appealing to complete the range of notes.
Shame about the sopranino, but I can just get another Aulos.
I just bought the Thomann tenor and I find that it gets stuck from condensation quite easily and that hinders all those high notes unless I suck all the condensation out of the windway😂
I don't have a lot of need for a bass, so this kind of thing would be great just so I can ~have~ one on the off chance I would need one. Would perhaps gluing small pads of felt/cork under the clicky keys get it a bit quieter? Or is it clicky on them closing over the tone holes?
Alto recorder
Do you know if there is a store that sells these flutes in the US?
You could try recorderforge.com?
Can anyone recommend a good, low cost case for a set of recorders from Garklein to Bass (as is being explored in this video) I am a flautist and woodwind doubler and could really do to have a compact way of bringing recorders along when needed.
Is there a budget plastic sopranino you’d actually recommend? I’ve decided I must have one
Nice review, thanks Sarah. I really like your job.
I am a fan of the keyless Aulos tenor 211A It is quite reasonable price. The low C is quite difficult if you have small hands..