h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In Germany, you can find two main systems, each requring slightly different instruments - "Deutsch" and "Barock", with "Deutsch" being the one usually taught in schools and so on. (I prefer "Barock" for playing medieval music, though.)

(Similarly, there are two competing systems for clarinet, "Deutsch" and "Böhm". I believe "Böhm" is what most of the world uses, but I was taught German fingering myself.)

Does the rest of the world not make that distinction?

In recorders, there are German and Baroque, but German is only used in Germany and is not as good anyway, so everybody is told to keep away from it. The only reason we need to be aware of it is to check the recorder is not German fingering before buying.

In the clarinet, there are "Simple or Albert", Boehm and Oehler. The Boehm is the standard, but some older players still play "Simple or Albert". Woody Allen is famous for playing an Albert, and having the money to commission a maker to build him a new one. No clarinet company makes Albert any more. Oehler is an extension of Albert, with basically the same fingering but lots of extra keys to make all the semitones available and all the unusual trills. They're supposed to be slightly easier to play than Boehm, but weigh a lot more because of the extra metalwork.

There's also a difference in the width of the bore between Oehler and Boehm which affects the tone, but lately, manufactures have been making Boehm clarinets with "German bore" to get that German sound.

I definitely don't like the German fingering for recorders, but people claim it's "simpler" - which, I suppose, is why it's taught to children and the recorder gets the reputation of being a toy

Oehler must be the "German" fingering I'm using for clarinet, then I started on Böhm and later switched. Don't regret it

The German recorder fingering is simpler if you're playing a C major scale, but slightly more complicated and less in tune if you go into other keys.

Recorders are not taught in schools in Ireland, but they are taught to kids in the US, I believe. I taught myself, then went to classes on playing in consort as an adult.

My main reason for using the baroque system is that this way, I don't have to think about other fingerings when switching to different instruments, like the Chalumeau - it stays the same

I managed to avoid learning it at school (though I did have clarinet lessons), but I come from a Folky family where learning instruments as you go along is inevitable. Unfortunately, I don't get the chance to play with others very often, outside one medieval group.

Nice to see an Entry treating the recorder as a real instrument for a change.