Aulos C-tenor recorder, Dark Brown, Synthetic Resin, Baroque Fingering, ABS Plastic, Ideal for Beginner to Intermediate Players

It has a nice sound and good response. However, uneducated buyer beware. This is an entirely different animal from our elementary school recorders of old. It's the big brother of the instrument that those cheap things were imitating. The size difference makes it cumbersome with uncomfortable hand stretches. But that's just the nature of the instrument, which the player needs to accept. If you haven't picked up a recorder for decades and simply want to freshen up on Hot Cross Buns and other simple songs, just buy a $20 plastic soprano model from the Aulos or Yamaha. That's definitely what I should've done to begin with.

I am very impressed with this tenor recorder. With this being listed as a "smaller reach" I was a little hesitant about just what that means. However I gave in and ordered one and boy am I glad I did! This recorder is no harder to play than any keyed tenor I own and I have 4. It is very comfortable to play, has a great tone and is well balanced. Intonation is great, i can hit low C right away with no hesitation and receive a clear tone and no problems sliding up and down the scale. I am very pleased with this recorder. Finally a tenor I can toss into my gym bag and take anywhere without worrying about that delicate low C key getting damaged. I was so impressed that I ordered the Alto and Soprano from this series so now I have a matching set. Those recorders were just as impressive as this tenor. Pricing is very fair for these as well. All 3 recorders came nicely packed in a leatherette zippered bag, tub of cream\lubricant, cleaning rod, tenon caps for storage, fingering chart and a snap on thumb rest. In my opinion it's the accessories that a manufacturer includes that helps indicate what kind of quality is behind an instrument and Aulos does not disappoint here. I highly recommend this recorder and it's siblings in the 200 series.

I am relatively new to the world of recorders (unless you count the Flutophone in Elementary School music class). This one seemed like a good affordable option and I liked that it wouldn't sound quite as shrill and piercing as a soprano while keeping the same key/fingerings.It is relatively loud (not sure how the rest of the family feels about this) and the tone is pretty good through most of the range of the instrument. Most notes are in tune as well though I'm sure the ones that aren't in tune are that way due to a lack of skill. The lowest and highest notes take a lot of care to get to come out cleanly but I'll attribute that to the aforementioned lack of skill as well.The hand position required to to play can be a bit awkward at this size as well. Many tenor recorders seem to get around this by using a key for the lowest hole which might be the better way to go. My hands are not that small and I still have trouble reliably covering all of the bottom holes.

I bought this recorder a month ago and I enjoy it very much! I have played a German-fingered Hohner wooden soprano (the cheap one) for over a year, and of course I like the sound of a wooden recorder better, but I had two problems with it: first, I could never really play C# and D# well enough because it doesn't have double-holes. I know that baroque sopranos do, but the holes may be too small for my fingers to close one hole easily. Anyway, I don't have this problem with Aulos A211A, I could take C# and D# almost from the first day of playing, which means I can play along with almost any melody! Also, remember that other tenor recorders have a C/C# key, which means (as I understand) that you won't be able to play both C and C# in one melody. With this one, you can play anything you like.Secondly, the wooden recorder (I have two-pieced one) falls apart if you don't play for two days because wood gets dryer. I call it 'recorder jealousy', maybe you don't have this with more expensive wooden recorders? If someone could tell me, I would be grateful. Anyway, the Aulos is always ready to play - it's plastic so it doesn't matter if you don't play for weeks.I always wanted to have a lower recorder, and tenor's just good for me. You don't have to learn much new fingering after having played a soprano recorder because it's in C too. After having played piano for a couple of years it wasn't so hard for me to reach the holes with the fingers, the only problem being the G (a bit hard for the fourth finger of the left hand to reach that hole fast).As you all know, the only problem is that it doesn't hold water at all, as all plastic recorders don't. But I'm very glad I bought this recorder at a great price and I really enjoy it! A pretty case it comes in is worth mentioning too, of course.