recorder
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The recorder is a woodwind instrument, a wood
flute played by blowing air into the mouth piece while using fingers on both
hands to cover holes, which produces different notes. It was particularly
popular in medieval times through the baroque era, when it was used to suggest
pastoral and amourous scenes.
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prime example
the story
Though the
world will always remember Jagger & Richards as the duo behind the success
of the Rolling Stones, founding member Brian Jones also contributed much to
their early sound. Being something of a musical prodigy, Jones could play
almost any instrument he was handed. It was he who played the recorder on the
beautiful Ruby Tuesday.
Marianne Faithfull, who was already seeing Mick Jagger when the Stones recorded the song at the end of 1966, wrote in her autobiography: “Brian played a folkish, nursery rhyme melody on the recorder. It was nothing more than a wispy tune, but it caught Keith’s attention. He had heard a riff and went at it like a dog with a bone. It was really Brian and Keith’s song. It had taken on an almost desperate significance for Brian. This collaboration between Keith and him was to be the last, and perhaps he could sense that. He knew it was one of the best things he’d ever done.”
Marianne Faithfull, who was already seeing Mick Jagger when the Stones recorded the song at the end of 1966, wrote in her autobiography: “Brian played a folkish, nursery rhyme melody on the recorder. It was nothing more than a wispy tune, but it caught Keith’s attention. He had heard a riff and went at it like a dog with a bone. It was really Brian and Keith’s song. It had taken on an almost desperate significance for Brian. This collaboration between Keith and him was to be the last, and perhaps he could sense that. He knew it was one of the best things he’d ever done.”
other examples
Mick
Ronson, well known as one of glam rock’s most prolific guitar players, was trained
classically as a child to play piano, recorder and violin. He wanted to be a
cellist but instead chose the guitar when he discovered Duane Eddy’s sound.
Ronson arranged and played the high soaring recorder during the second verse of
David Bowie’s Life On Mars? and the baroque sounding recorder for the middle
part of Lou Reed’s Satellite Of Love (with backing vocals by Bowie, who
produced Reed’s Transformer album).
Even rock’s most aired song, the monumental eight minute Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin, used recorders. Bass and keyboard player John Paul Jones later said about hearing the demo, recorded on the Welsh countryside, for the first time: “Page and Plant had come back from the Welsh mountains with the guitar intro and verse. I literally heard it for the first time in front of a roaring fire in a country manor house! I picked up a bass recorder and played a run-down riff which gave us an intro.” On stage, Jones swapped the recorder for a much cooler Mellotron and, later, a Yamaha CP70B electric piano and a Yamaha GX1 synthesizer.
Even rock’s most aired song, the monumental eight minute Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin, used recorders. Bass and keyboard player John Paul Jones later said about hearing the demo, recorded on the Welsh countryside, for the first time: “Page and Plant had come back from the Welsh mountains with the guitar intro and verse. I literally heard it for the first time in front of a roaring fire in a country manor house! I picked up a bass recorder and played a run-down riff which gave us an intro.” On stage, Jones swapped the recorder for a much cooler Mellotron and, later, a Yamaha CP70B electric piano and a Yamaha GX1 synthesizer.
