Recorders are made in a variety of sizes.
The length of the air column (and the pitch of the note produced) is modified by finger holes in the front and thumb hole at the back of the instrument. Exiting from the windway, the breath is directed against a hard edge (C), called the "labium" or "ramp", which causes the column of air within the resonator tube to oscillate at the desired frequency, determined by the bore length or open tone hole used. The player's breath is compressed into a linear airstream by a channel cut into the wooden "block" or fipple (A), in the mouthpiece of the instrument, so as to travel along this channeled duct (B) called the "windway". The recorder is held outwards from the player's lips (rather than to the side, like the "transverse" flute). Naming in Dutch follows the same convention as in German, with blokfluit naming the recorder and dwarsfluit the flute.
From the "block", in German the instrument is known as Blockflöte, while the modern flute is called Querflöte (literally from flauto traverso) or simply Flöte.
In French the word flûte is similarly ambiguous (the French translation is "flute à bec", literally "beaked flute"). In those two languages, the name flauta is ambiguous, as it can mean any kind of transverse flutes, a recorder, or different other types of wind blown instruments, like the pan flute and some instruments used by the descendants of native peoples of the Central and South Americas (with varied degrees of influence of European instruments). Today, the recorder is known as flauto dolce in Italian (sweet flute), with equivalents in other languages, such as flauta doce in Portuguese and flauta dulce in Spanish. This has led to some pieces of music occasionally being mistakenly performed on the flauto traverso (transverse flute) rather than on the recorder. Up to the 18th century, the instrument was called flauto (flute) in Italian, the language used in writing music, whereas the instrument we today call the flute was called flauto traverso. The name originates from the use of the word record, one meaning of which is "to practise a piece of music". Grove's Dictionary reports the earliest use of the word 'recorder' was in the household of the Earl of Derby (later to become King Henry IV) in 1388: fistula nomine Recordour. The instrument has been known by its modern name at least since the 14th century.
Today, it is often thought of as a child's instrument, but there are many professional players who demonstrate the instrument's full solo range. The recorder was revived in the 20th century, partly in the pursuit of historically informed performance of early music, but also because of its suitability as a simple instrument for teaching music and its appeal to amateur players. Purcell, Bach, Telemann and Vivaldi used the recorder to suggest shepherds and imitate birds in their music, a theme that continued in 20th century music. Images of recorders can be found in literature and artwork associated with all of these. During its heyday, the recorder was traditionally associated with pastoral scenes, miraculous events, funerals, marriages and amorous scenes. The recorder was popular in medieval times through the baroque era, but declined in the 18th century in favour of orchestral woodwind instruments, such as the flute, oboe, and clarinet. The bore of the recorder is tapered slightly, being widest at the mouthpiece end and narrowest towards the foot on Baroque recorders, or flared almost like a trumpet at the bottom on Renaissance instruments. It is distinguished from other members of the family by having holes for seven fingers (the lower one or two often doubled to facilitate the production of semitones) and one for the thumb of the uppermost hand. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple. The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes-whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. Various recorders (second from the bottom disassembled into its three parts) Musical instruments