List of recorder players
A recorder player is a musician who plays the recorder, a flute-like woodwind musical instrument. The recorder is often used in teaching the rudiments of music, as it is cheap to buy and relatively easy to play at a certain level of accomplishment (although its mastery is as demanding as that of any other instrument). Because of this widespread use of the recorder, the list of people who can play it is enormous. Therefore, this article lists three categories of people: firstly, those who are notable recorder players and are widely recognised as performers on the instrument; secondly, those who are not famous as recorder players but who have used the instrument as a notable feature of their work; and, thirdly, people who are famous for some other reason but are known to be recreational recorder players.
List of notable recorder players
- Aldo Abreu
- Piers Adams
- Giovanni Antonini
- Rachel Beckett
- Rachel Begley
- David Bellugi
- Annecke Boeke
- Frans Brüggen
- Saskia Coolen
- Michael Copley
- Carl Dolmetsch
- Clea Galhano
- Richard Harvey
- Florian Heyerick
- Hans Maria Kneihs
- Bernard Krainis
- Genevieve Lacey
- Czidra László
- Dan Laurin
- Hans-Martin Linde
- Sarah Martin (Belle & Sebastian)
- Matthias Maute
- David Munrow
- Vicente Parrilla
- Clas Pehrsson
- Patrick Peire
- Michala Petri
- Philip Pickett
- Welvin Potter
- Barnaby Ralph
- Pete Rose
- Jean-François Rousson
- Bart Spanhove
- Maurice Steger
- Pamela Thorby
- Philip Thorby
- Han Tol
- Linda Turbett
- Joris Van Goethem
- Walter van Hauwe
- Paul Van Loey
- Marion Verbruggen
- David Ings
Other musicians who have made notable use of the recorder
- Jimi Hendrix played soprano recorder in some of his studio recordings
- Bob Homme (The Friendly Giant) used the recorder as part of his TV show
- Keith Jarrett played recorder on his album The Survivor's Suite
- Brian Jones (Rolling Stones) notably played the recorder in the song Ruby Tuesday
- John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) played several recorders in the studio recording of Stairway to Heaven
- Paul McCartney (The Beatles) occasionally uses the recorder in his music (eg The Fool on the Hill)
- Bon Scott played recorder during his pre-AC/DC career in the band Fraternity
- Bruce Springsteen plays recorder on some of his tracks
- Dido studied recorder at the London Guildhall school of music and most famously plays it on the track Thank You from her debut album No Angel
- Mick Ronson, glam-rock guitarist, producer and arranger played multi-tracked recorders on David Bowie's "Life on Mars?" and on Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love"
- Jason Overton - Over 15 years experience on the descant recorder. High profile performances include 'Teddy Bear's picnic' at Staffordshire junior recorder festival 1993
Notable people who also play the recorder
- James Dean apparently learnt to play Bach on the recorder
- Patrick Troughton, who often played while in character as the Second Doctor in Doctor Who
- Umberto Eco
- Edmund X. Kapp (cartoonist)
- George Bernard Shaw
- Richard Stallman
- Sarah Vowell
- Rainn Wilson who also plays the recorder while in character as Dwight Schrute in The Office