Practice Recorders

front (left) and back (right) views

closeup on holes

bottom closeup

This is another project from a while back that my grandfather and I did.  This started with a very simple concept and with two Type-A's united, grew into much more than I could have hoped for.

I wanted something to use in my classroom for when kids forget to bring their recorder to school.  Something to hold in their hands and practice putting their fingers in the right places.  It had to be something they wouldn't actually put their mouth on, so that class after class could use them without me having to worry about sanitizing them.  I had been using rulers up until then, but I wanted something cylindrical, and where they could actually feel the holes under their fingers.  The concept was simple, and at first I was just thinking drilling a few holes in a section of dowel.

We ended up pretty much making exact replicas of the middle section of a real recorder.  Right down to the fact that the diameter of the wood is tapered a little from top to bottom, the holes are different sizes, and the holes are offset from left to right as they are on real recorders.

Some of how he did this is beyond me, I wish I could ask him.  I helped drill the holes and put on the finish, but how he tapered the diameter of the wood and left the top and bottom wide was some of his tricks of the trade done with his woodworking tools.