The forgotten world of the recorder

Before I met Hidgi Chuan I didn´t know that the term “recorder” is the original term for a flute that is made out of wood. When we hear the word recorder we might think of a device that we can use to record audio files, and, in a certain way, this is, indeed, the origin of this word.

In the past, when the knowledge about music sheets was only reserved to a small number of trained musicians, people used to remember melodies by plaing them on the recorder, the flute made out of wood. This instrument became the very first way to remember, to reproduce and to pass on melodies and pieces of music.

Through meeting Hidgi Chuan I took a new look on this wooden instrument and I would say that in Europe we tend to have two groups of attitudes when it comes to the recorder as an instrument.

• The group of people that is laughing about the recorder as „a hollow stick“ that is more likely to be seen as a toy for kids than a „real instrument“

and

• The group of people that are playing the recorder in a „serious“ way that is defined by playing mostly „serious“ music, wich is also termed as classical music, in a very sophisticated and virtuos way. This approach is usually based on learning the musics of composers who had been writing music sheets for recorders (as Telemann, Bach or Händel for example). In the classical music of today improvisation almost doesen´t exist.

In traditional music on the contrary we find many countries outside of Europe where the flute is recognized and respected as a full instrument of traditional and imprivised music. In many cultures the recorder and the flute are used very frequently and those musics can make you cry, laugh or dance if played by a heartful musician.

As I grew up in Europe I became the victim of this false „european view“ on the recorder. Before meeting Hidgi I considered the recoreder a somewhat less important instrument, something that you would start playing as a child for one or two years before you are old enough to change to a „real“ instrument.

Meeting Hidgi Chuan and his way to play the recorder made me change my mind about this instrument radically. Today I believe that the recoreder, the flute, it is a magical and very strong instrument and nowadays I love it´s intensity.

For me, personally, the recorder combines three aspects:

1. The sensitive aspect that the music of a recoreder/flute can create and that is very often used in traditional music from the Middle East, Africa, India and South America.

2. The dancing-like and exhilerating aspect of a recorder/flute that is used in traditional music all over the world and even was used a lot in baroque music where the recorder was an important part of the line-up of an ensemble to play dancing music for the royal courts.

3. The rough and wild aspect of nature (the flute itself is made out of wood, the whole body is coming only from nature. No steel, no plastic, but pure nature which is mirrored in it´s sound: even though this instrument can create very soft and exhilerating sounds it has another side: a rough, striking intensity when played in a rather compressed way.

This was extremely new and surprising for me. This little wooden flute has the power to really go directly into your inner core and to directly touch your cells and nervous system!

Neither before nor after meeting Hidgi Chuan have I experienced someone who is able to play the recorder as he does. And by this experience I must say that the recorder is, indeed, a fantastic instrument!