Aulos 205A Descant Recorder – THE School Recorder for Beginners, Made in Japan – 3-Piece Soprano with Case & Cleaning Rod – Strong, Clear Sound – Trusted by Teachers.

This is the brown and cream version of the Aulos 511B E Symphony Recorder, and I think it does look nicer than the black and white version that I borrowed to try before buying. I bought this at a sale price which was a lucky bargain, as I'd already decided on this model. This is as good as plastic/resin tenor recorders ever get. It even out performs many wooden tenor recorders, and you would have to pay many times the price to get a wooden one that matched its performance. It has a very balanced, solid and quality feel to it and produces a beautiful tone right through the range. The recorder is a 3 piece model and comes in a nice leatherette case with a cleaning rod, joint grease, clip on thumb rest and fingering chart/care instruction sheet. The centre section also has end caps for storage. The foot section has easy reachable levers for the low C and C#, which still produce a strong sound unlike many tenor recorders, and the tone is pleasant and easy to play right through into the high range. The precision build quality is apparent as soon as you start to assemble the recorder, with the joints fitting together perfectly. Only need very lightly greasing. If only all recorders were built to such exact tolerances! The finger spacing is typical of most modern tenors and as this is not my first tenor recorder, I found the spacing very comfortable. The tuning is spot on right through the range too, unlike my old tenor which was a cheaper brand and had serious uncorrectable tuning flaws. That has now gone to the charity shop! Aulos are not the cheapest of the plastic/resin recorders but this model is the best I've played. I'm usually a Yamaha fan, but after borrowing a Yamaha tenor and one of this model, I think the Aulos just has the edge on performance and sound. This makes it worth the extra few pounds to get the best. I can't find a single negative to say against it. 5***** for Aulos!

Really good quality recorder. Comes with a case and cleaning item which is very useful. Lovely sound too.

I bought this to try to start relearning after a 36-year gap. At the time I bought it, it was just £4.65. My childhood recorders (descant and treble) were also from Aulos, and they played well and were pretty much indestructible. At under a fiver, this seemed like a fantastic bargain that would be more than good enough and, in case I didn’t enjoy it and gave it up after a week, I certainly wouldn't have wasted much money! It’s generally in tune, plays all the notes (chromatically) from middle C to D’’ (that’s the highest note, just over two octaves above middle C) with only a bit of a squeak on D’’ (I won’t blame that squeak on the Aulos; pretty sure that’s 100% my lack of recent experience). It doesn’t, of course, have the rich, mellow tone of a £2000 handmade, hardwood recorder, but it can make a pleasant, clear, consistent sound, across the registers. The only caveat is that it is easy to overblow the lowest notes and have them “crack”. If you try to correct this by blowing more gently, you can end up with the lowest notes sounding a little flat. Aulos has a reputation for excellent build quality and this model is no exception. Over the years, Aulos recorders will have regularly been sat on, used as a drumstick, chucked into school backpacks and had heavy books piled on top, then possibly used to whack irritating siblings, and mostly they have survived intact. I’m not seven any more, so I haven’t tried any of that, but it seems tough enough to survive it. It comes with a dark blue cloth drawstring bag, a thumb rest, a cleaning rod and a fingering chart. Like the recorder, its bag seems extremely well-made. It's made of a heavy-duty twill - even long-term, it should be hard wearing (and, importantly, washable). My main criticism is that it clogs fairly quickly - after about 10 minutes of playing, it starts to sound a bit “cotton-woolly” and I have to stop and dry it out. However, it’ll last an extra few minutes if you properly warm the head joint to body temperature before you start. TL;DR: Pros: Intonation - excellent - completely in tune. 👍👍👍 Response - excellent - easy to play the full range of notes. 👍👍👍 Tone - good - mostly pleasant, clear, consistent sound. Minor issues around the lowest notes. 👍 Quality - excellent - very robust. 👍👍👍 Appearance - Classic looks and I really like the ivory colour. 👍👍👍 Accessories - excellent - high quality and very useful. 👍👍👍 Cons: Clogging - happens fairly quickly; just keep it warm and swab out regularly. 👎 This recorder is obviously aimed at the primary school market, and it seems like a great choice for children of about 6-10. However, from experience, I can say that it is also suitable for adult beginners. I like the ivory colour - though, of course, that’s a matter of taste (it also comes in dark brown). I’d suggest that for a complete beginner of any age, you’ll want your first recorder to be a plastic one, and this is a good choice, though there are others you could consider. Yamaha, like Aulos, are a very reputable, long-established brand, and, for a child, they do some brightly-coloured, see-through descants (though I personally wouldn’t recommend them; who wants to see the spit clogging the thing up, as you play?!) Any of their recorder series starting YRS-3 are well worth a look, though. Aulos themselves do some well-regarded, more expensive descants, very suitable for the adult learner. The Symphony and 'Haka' models, especially, have great reputations, though, apparently, there isn't a bad Aulos recorder. However, if you are looking for an inexpensive recorder (it’s still only £6.49, as I type) that will get you, or your child, through the first year, or so, of learning, then there are far worse options than this.

This is a very good quality plastic sopranino recorder from a respected manufacturer. It is well made and has a good tone. It comes with a cleaning stick and a fingeting chart, all in a sturdy soft plastic case. English fingering.

I use a plastic recorder to practice on to save my expensive wooden instruments. This Aulos 303B plays remarkably nicely, it's not squeaky like some plastic instruments and the intonation is PERFECT. The ivory colour is different to most brown and white recorders and it has a nice polished finish. All the usual Aulos quality features are there, it's in three pieces, comes with a decent cloth slip case and it has the double skinned head joint to maintain proper tuning when pulling the head out to tune the instrument. Overall it's extremely good value, it's almost too cheap so you imagine it's not going to be as good as it is.

Excellent quality control from Aulos means even their cheap, basic, plastic, instruments are excellent.

Aulos Garklein, an octave above the descant (soprano). Apart from how small it is, it makes a very clean and bright sound. It is pitched in C And if you have fast fingers like me, takes a little getting used to.

Bought for my 7 yo daughter for school recorder lessons. Great recorder and nice quality but disappointed that it didn’t come in the corduroy bag - which would make it feel even more like the one I once used many moons ago.

Il flauto è quello della descrizione.È arrivato la confezione è intatta con tutti i pezzi da montare e l'astuccio per riporlo.

Very well presented. Very nice tone. Sounds very pleasant and in tune. It is indeed easier to play compared to other plastic tenors like the Aulos Symphony or the Yamaha. I have small hands and I can tell the difference quite clearly, it is a dream for me.

Muito bom! Melhor que isso, só uma flauta de madeira profissional.

Geht so finde ich schwer zu spielen der Klang - weis auch nicht. Aber für das Geld kann man nicht viel erwarten. Design und Material sehen gut aus. Schnelle Lieferung

J'avais eu la même en entrant en classe de sixième... Et je l'ai toujours ! Celle-ci, je l'ai achetée pour ma fille de 4 ans qui voulais apprendre la flute, avec la même que maman c'est plus simple ! Et ça reste sans doute la meilleure flute "plastique" du marché. Plus tard nous passerons peut-être au bois, à moins qu'elle ne s'aventure, comme moi, vers du cuivre.