F5 Recorder Fingering
How to play F5 on the soprano recorder: Thumb covered · holes 1-2-3-4-6-7 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 F5 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 F5 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 1 with your left index finger
- Cover hole 2 with your left middle finger
- Cover hole 3 with your left ring finger
- Cover hole 4 with your right index finger
- Cover hole 6 with your right ring finger — holes 6 and 7 are double holes (two small holes side by side), and both small holes must be covered.
- Cover hole 7 with your right little finger — holes 6 and 7 are double holes (two small holes side by side), and both small holes must be covered.
- 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 1-2-3-4-6-7 covered.
About F5 on the recorder
The first octave is the recorder’s home ground: the thumb seals its hole completely, the fingers work down the body in a near-ladder, and the breath stays gentle. The craft in this octave is sealing — a hole that is 95% covered does not give you 95% of the note, it gives you a squeak or a note a quarter-tone off. Use the flat pads of your fingers, not the tips.
F5 is the famous fork — and the note that tells the two recorder systems apart. On a Baroque recorder (this chart) the right middle finger lifts while holes 6 and 7 close below it. On a German-system recorder, F is played straight: thumb + holes 1, 2, 3 and 4 only, with holes 5, 6 and 7 all open. If your F sounds wrong, you almost certainly have the other system — check the size of hole 4 against hole 5 (smaller fourth hole = Baroque).
German-system players: on a German recorder this note is NOT forked — play thumb + holes 1, 2, 3 and 4 only, leaving holes 5, 6 and 7 open. The fork above is the Baroque fingering, and using it on a German instrument (or the straight fingering on a Baroque one) is the classic cause of an out-of-tune F.
F5 is note 6 of the 25 in the full recorder fingering chart, sitting between E5 below it and F♯5 above it. Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against the Woodwind Fingering Guide and the NoteAtlas recorder chart before publishing.
Practising F5
Play this note as quietly as you can while keeping it steady. Low recorder notes need a slow, warm airstream — think of fogging a mirror, not blowing out a candle. If the note jumps up an octave, you are blowing too hard, not fingering wrong.
Questions about F5
What is the fingering for F5 on recorder?
Thumb covered · holes 1-2-3-4-6-7 covered. F5 is a low-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 F5 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 F5 sounds as concert F5. (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 F5?
For F5, 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.