C6 Recorder Fingering
How to play C6 on the soprano recorder: Thumb covered · holes 2 covered.
Filled holes in the diagram are the ones you cover; a half-filled hole is half-covered. The thumb hole is on the back of the recorder, so it is drawn to the left. Holes 6 and 7 (the bottom two) are double holes — two small holes under one finger — and a half-filled double hole means covering only its lower small hole.
Hear C6 and try the fingering
Pick an instrument and a note and the diagram updates instantly — filled keys are the ones you press. The same finder sits on every note page, pre-set to that note.
The C6 fingering, step by step
- Cover the thumb hole completely with your left thumb — press the pad of the thumb flat over the hole on the back of the recorder so no air leaks.
- Cover hole 2 with your left middle finger
- Blow gently and steadily — the recorder needs far less air than most beginners give it, and overblowing is what makes low notes jump the octave and high notes shriek.
In short: thumb covered · holes 2 covered.
About C6 on the recorder
The second octave is the same instrument played on its next harmonic, and the thumb is the switch. Three notes at its foot (C♯6, D6, E♭6) take the thumb off entirely; C6 keeps it sealed; and from E6 upward the thumb half-holes — the famous pinch. The finger patterns mostly echo the first octave (E6 copies E5, G6 copies G5), so your fingers already know this register better than you think; it is the thumb and a slightly firmer, faster air stream that are new.
C6 is the gentlest door into the second octave: the thumb stays fully covered and a single finger plays the note. If any second-octave note will speak for a beginner, it is this one.
C6 is note 13 of the 25 in the full recorder fingering chart, sitting between B5 below it and C♯6 above it. Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against the Woodwind Fingering Guide and the NoteAtlas recorder chart before publishing.
Practising C6
Set the thumb first, then the fingers, then blow. If this note drops back to its first-octave partner, the thumb vent is too small; if it squawks, the vent is too big or the air too hard. Tiny thumb movements, calm air.
Questions about C6
What is the fingering for C6 on recorder?
Thumb covered · holes 2 covered. C6 is a second-octave note on the soprano recorder in Baroque (English) fingering. The full step-by-step is on this page, and you can hear the note with the Fingering Finder.
Does C6 sound as written on the recorder?
On this site, yes: the soprano recorder notes are named at the pitch students learn them by, so written C6 sounds as concert C6. (In traditional notation the soprano's part is printed an octave lower than the sound — one honest complication this site deliberately keeps off a beginner's page.)
Is there an alternate fingering for C6?
For C6, the fingering above is the one to learn. It is the basic fingering both reference charts give for this note, and the one teachers expect to see.
Think this fingering is wrong? Report it — every report is checked against the source charts.