Bass Recorder

The bass recorder is very big and costly but be very enjoyable to play once you have mastered the descant, treble and tenor recorders. Because of its size the lowest hole has a key to close it off when required, plus a crook for the mouthpiece.

It is in the key of F, just like the treble recorder, with its lowest note being F below middle C on the piano. Hence most of the music written for the bass recorder is using the bass clef. And like the descant recorder, music is written one octave lower than it sounds.

The Bass Recorder Range

Once you have mastered this instrument you will no doubt be keen to group up with other recorder members of the consort and have fun playing different parts.

Look at some Bass and other Recorder Music Here

Just remember that the bass recorder is not a solo instrument and will need to blend in with other instruments. The bass part in this example is the lowest line with music written in the bass clef ( see an earlier posting on the bass clef )

The bass recorder is very big and costly but be very enjoyable to play once you have mastered the descant, treble and tenor recorders. Because of its size the lowest hole has a key to close it off when required, plus a crook for the mouthpiece.

It is in the key of F, just like the treble recorder, with its lowest note being F below middle C on the piano. Hence most of the music written for the bass recorder is using the bass clef. Music is written one octave lower than it sounds.

Treble Clef Instruments

There are a number of instruments which play music using the treble clef.

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to find out more information on them.

Learning To Play Pieces Using The Bass Clef

When you are learning to play an instrument such as the bassoon,bass recorder, double bass, bass guitar or piano you are learning to read and play notes using the bass clef.

The bass clef is the sign at the beginning of each line of the piece of music.

When you are learning to play play pieces using the bass clef you also learn other musical notation, reading the notes and rests and how to play the notes on the given instrument.

Please refer to the article Learning To Play Pieces Using The Treble Clef for information on basic notation, reading the notes on the page, reading the rests on the page and How to Play the Notes on the Chosen Instrument. This of course is related to the treble clef. I will explain the bass clef sections now.

Reading The Notes On The Page:

Remember that there are:

~ notes written on lines called line notes.

~ notes written between the lines called space notes.

To help remember the notes you can use the following as a guide:

You form a sentence and use the first letter of each word to represent the note name.

Line Notes: The note names from the bottom line upwards are G B D F A

So a Sentence could be Good Boys Deserve Fruit Always

Space Notes: The note names from the lowest space upwards is A C E G

The a Sentence could be All Cows Eat Grass



You can always make up your own.

How To Play The Notes On The Chosen Instrument:

As with the treble clef instruments you will need to follow the guidance of a tutor book yourself, teacher or the internet with an online course eg Piano.

This is just a brief outline of learning to play pieces using the bass clef.