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!
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.
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!
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).
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :))
@@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 have been playing with the idea of adding an alto recorder to my instrument collection for several years now, but I could never bring myself to spent a few hundret bucks on an instrument I wasn’t sure, I'd actually play. After seeing this video last week I gave myself a few day consideration time before I ordered the alto and the tenor. They arrived yesterday and I am absolutly in love with the tenor. It's tone reminds me a bit of those kid's crafts/ diy pvc pipe didgeridoos, which I personally really like. Thank you so much for this review. It was immensly helpful.
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.
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 play on the Thomann alto because I wanted to try it out...now I am hooked!! I will probably buy a wooden recorder in a month or so. Thanks for your video's!
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 used Thomann Trebles with students because they were from financially challenged families( don't myself) but they did all find the high notes very difficult as did I, and an adult student used a Thomann Bass. I had to get the younger students ( teenage) to pull out the bottom joint to make the lowest note get in tune with the first bunch I ordered. The second bunch, the kids ( a different bunch) managed to play them in tune ..... I have a Thomann Bass and a Yamaha bass and prefer the Yamaha. I bought the Thomann bass when I lost the foot joint of the Yamaha after finding that the cost of replacing that foot joint was more than the cost of a new Thomann Bass. Then the foot joint turned up in another room at the music school where I work!! So now I have two basses. Yay!!
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
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...
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.
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 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.
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!!
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.
Thanks for the video! Really helpful to hear your thoughts on these recorders. I think I’ll try a Yamaha tenor 🙂. Thomann is wonderfully fast shipping to the US so they’ll still get plenty of my business.
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'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)
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...
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'm not the best recorder player in the world (that's for dure hihi!) but I have the tenor one and the alto one and those two are very nice. With a low budget I would also recomand it!
...but what a great idea for inner-city youth and strained school budgets. With the success of programs like the Land Fillharmonic (did I spell that right? the youth orchestra in Venezuela where the director made all of the real, functioning, quality symphonic instruments out of basically trash). To have the full range of instruments at such affordable prices and they actually work is such great thing. A school system in a district where the kids can't afford instruments could supply an entire recorder orchestra for very little money and have a great music program for their kids. I think it's great. On another "note" ☺☺, I have not seen this particular brand before, but in the US, we have a similar brand called Woodnote. I think it's basically the same deal.
I totally agree!! To have the entire set for... €156? is amazing. Especially the tenor and basset, which are pretty fine and so much more affordable than the next alternative. In an ideal world I'd just love for those tuning issues to be ironed out in the design, as that would make ensemble playing a step easier... I have maybe read somewhere that maybe Woodnote and Thomann come from the same manufacturer? I can't think where now though!
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 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.
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.
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!
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 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 ???
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 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)
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?
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?
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?
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
Sarah: "Headphone users, this is your warning.
Me: *laughs in piccolo player"
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!
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
You are wearing a tshirt with the portuguese phrase "I play the recorder" 😍
Regards from Brazil, Sarah!
You are great! Love your channel ❤️😍😍
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.
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 like your t-shirt in portuguese....I love it. What about Aulos Symphony Consort, is that the best plastic recorder consort?
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 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.
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 🥰
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.
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.
"Do you hear how it's cracking slightly?"
*laughs and cries in French Horn*
Thank you for the headphone warning - saved my ears.
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🥺💜
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
I love how honest you are! Thank you for making this video! ❤
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 :))
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.
A Very Useful Review, thank you Sarah. Think you've sold me on the garklein ... always wanted one of those for the top pocket. :-)
I have been playing with the idea of adding an alto recorder to my instrument collection for several years now, but I could never bring myself to spent a few hundret bucks on an instrument I wasn’t sure, I'd actually play. After seeing this video last week I gave myself a few day consideration time before I ordered the alto and the tenor. They arrived yesterday and I am absolutly in love with the tenor. It's tone reminds me a bit of those kid's crafts/ diy pvc pipe didgeridoos, which I personally really like.
Thank you so much for this review. It was immensly helpful.
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.
your previous review of the thomann bass recorder made me get the yamaha one instead ;)
I fancy that bass! For that money, wow! As for soprano. More like 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
*a tenor (sorry)
Thanks Vickster. I'm going to check out Aulos.
"Eu toco flauta doce"
-Me too! Greetings from Brazil
Adorei a camiseta "EU TOCO FLAUTA DOCE" 'EU TENHO UM SUPER PODER" Aeeeeeeee! Centro Suzuki de São Paulo BRAZIL, Obrigado Sarah
I play on the Thomann alto because I wanted to try it out...now I am hooked!! I will probably buy a wooden recorder in a month or so. Thanks for your video's!
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.
I have used Thomann Trebles with students because they were from financially challenged families( don't myself) but they did all find the high notes very difficult as did I, and an adult student used a Thomann Bass. I had to get the younger students ( teenage) to pull out the bottom joint to make the lowest note get in tune with the first bunch I ordered. The second bunch, the kids ( a different bunch) managed to play them in tune ..... I have a Thomann Bass and a Yamaha bass and prefer the Yamaha. I bought the Thomann bass when I lost the foot joint of the Yamaha after finding that the cost of replacing that foot joint was more than the cost of a new Thomann Bass. Then the foot joint turned up in another room at the music school where I work!! So now I have two basses. Yay!!
Thank you for the videos. My 12 year old son loves recorder and he enjoys the variety and information in all your videos.
I loved you t-shirt!
😉😉😉💕
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
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...
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
At 2.20 around = so funny...reminds me the flute at school 😂😂😂😂
Loved the t-shirt in portuguese! Loved the video to
I simply love your channel
I loved your shirt! Hugs from Brazil.
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.
I love your honest reviews. ❤
Thanks for the video! Really helpful to hear your thoughts on these recorders. I think I’ll try a Yamaha tenor 🙂. Thomann is wonderfully fast shipping to the US so they’ll still get plenty of my business.
Nice review, thanks Sarah. I really like your job.
i'm Brazilian and I loved the t-shirt :)
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..
"their job is to be small and squeaky"
Same here, it often seems.
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! ❤️
Nice T-shirt
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?
Thank you it helps a lot to hear to your advice
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)
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...
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😂
Você toca flauta doce e toca maravilhosamente bem. Gostei da camiseta
I'm not the best recorder player in the world (that's for dure hihi!) but I have the tenor one and the alto one and those two are very nice. With a low budget I would also recomand it!
I love my Yamaha tenor recorder.
Thank you so much for the review!!!
...but what a great idea for inner-city youth and strained school budgets. With the success of programs like the Land Fillharmonic (did I spell that right? the youth orchestra in Venezuela where the director made all of the real, functioning, quality symphonic instruments out of basically trash). To have the full range of instruments at such affordable prices and they actually work is such great thing. A school system in a district where the kids can't afford instruments could supply an entire recorder orchestra for very little money and have a great music program for their kids. I think it's great.
On another "note" ☺☺, I have not seen this particular brand before, but in the US, we have a similar brand called Woodnote. I think it's basically the same deal.
I totally agree!! To have the entire set for... €156? is amazing. Especially the tenor and basset, which are pretty fine and so much more affordable than the next alternative. In an ideal world I'd just love for those tuning issues to be ironed out in the design, as that would make ensemble playing a step easier... I have maybe read somewhere that maybe Woodnote and Thomann come from the same manufacturer? I can't think where now though!
I have two young children. I've bought the Thomann tenor alto and soprano to blow & throw.
They still blow & throw after months.
Groetjes.
Thanks for your review 👍
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 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
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.
Thanks for the review! Eu toco flauta doce! :)
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!
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 just bought an Aulos Alto. I hope it sounds nice.
Aa a general rule entry level instruments are usually for trying out and not for serious play.
Nice t-shirt! Eu também toco flauta doce
Adorei a camiseta em português 😄
I ordered that garklein thanks to you XD hahahahah
Any chance you will do some quick tutorial on how to practice scales on that one?
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.
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. 👍 😉 ♫
i love that shirt sarah
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.
I'm the 1000th ! Like your vidoes so much!
Aww nice! Hi!
Perfect video
Nice T-Shirt.
I like the piccolo
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
Thank You! Now it's clear, that I have so save for a better flute.
Could you please review the Aulos Symphony Consort next?
Which plastic sopranino would you recommend for someone with larger hands?
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)
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?
Wish somebody could get this for me.
From Zambia.
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?
EU TOCO FLAUTA DOCE é uma frase em português! (Portuguese language)
Could you do smartwoodi im finding mixed reviews and id like to see what you think
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
Nothing wrong with a good fluff fluff sound...