Lesson 11: F-sharp and Cross-Fingerings

Play F#5 and F#4 with the correct cross-fingerings.
Play B (in both octaves on your alto staff) with the correct cross-fingerings. These are the same fingerings soprano calls F#.
Play a G major scale and a melody in G.
Play a C major scale (alto's home key) and a melody in C on your alto staff.

Lesson 10 — absolute-beginner review.

Cross-fingering for F#.
G major scale.
Sharps and the keysig idea.

The cross-fingerings are not flaws of the recorder. They are why the recorder sounds like the recorder.

F-sharp is the first note that does not lie in a simple stack. You play it by lifting one finger and adding another below — the “forked” or “cross” fingering that gives every Baroque-fingered recorder its slightly unequal scale. The acoustical trick: the partly-open hole shortens the bore as if you had stopped halfway, raising the pitch by a half-step.

The cross-fingering is the first finger pattern that does not lie in a simple stack. You play it by lifting one finger and adding another below — the “forked” or “cross” fingering that gives every Baroque-fingered recorder its slightly unequal scale. On your alto staff this fingering produces B — a natural that fits the alto's home key without needing an accidental, even though the soprano version is written as F#. The fingering work is identical; only the notational naming differs.

F#5

B (upper)

The upper-octave F# is the more common of the two. Thumb on, left index UP, left middle and ring DOWN; right index and middle DOWN. Effectively: an F natural fingering with the top finger removed.

The upper-octave B is the more common of the two. Thumb on, left index UP, left middle and ring DOWN; right index and middle DOWN. Effectively: a Bb fingering with the top finger removed.

F#4

B (lower)

The low F# is rarer in the early repertoire but you should know it: thumb on, left fingers as for G, right hand as for F natural but with the ring finger raised. Cross-fingered.

The low B is rarer in the early repertoire but you should know it: thumb on, left fingers as for C (on your alto staff), right hand as for Bb but with the ring finger raised. Cross-fingered.

Long tones first — let the cross-fingering settle before connecting it to anything. Then F#–G–F# slurred, listening for matched colour across the cross-fingering and its stack neighbour.

Long tones first on the upper B — let the cross-fingering settle before connecting it to anything. Then B–C–B slurred on your alto staff, listening for matched colour across the cross-fingering and its stack neighbour.

The first major scale with an accidental. Notice the F# replacing F.

On your alto staff this drill is C major (alto's home key) — no accidentals appear, because the soprano F# transposes to a natural B in the alto's reading. The cross-fingering work is the same regardless.

Play: London Bridge

A traditional English nursery tune in G major. F# appears as a passing note — soft, not emphasised.

A traditional English nursery tune. On your alto staff it sits in C major; the cross-fingered B appears as a passing note — soft, not emphasised.

Now play these

London Bridge (full): The complete melody with the second strain.
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush: G major. Step motion with F# as a leading tone.
Yankee Doodle: D major (which also needs F#). Bright, march-like.; D major on the page becomes G major on your alto staff (one sharp, F#). Bright, march-like.

When the G major scale plays evenly at quarter = 80 and you cannot pick out F# as duller or quieter than its neighbours on a phone recording, move on to Lesson 12.

When the C major scale on your alto staff plays evenly at quarter = 80 and the cross-fingered B (the alto reading of soprano F#) does not stand out as duller or quieter than its neighbours on a phone recording, move on to Lesson 12.

F# muffled or unequal? See troubleshooting.