Yamaha YRA-302B Alto Recorder, smooth brown finish, key of F

I've had this recorder for over a month now. I had played a soprano recorder as a child and kept it until it cracked sometime in my 20s. It had been quite a while since I'd played an instrument and this alto recorder turned out to be a great choice for me. It's bigger than the soprano, so it took a few days to get used to stretching my hands a bit for the wider spread, but I've been practicing every day and now it's second nature. I really like the slightly lower voice and I think it has pretty good sound for a plastic recorder, particularly in the lower range.The one downside for me: As others have noted, it can get clogged pretty easily unless/until it's warmer. I took a free class and the instructor swears it's just condensation so the easiest way to unclog it is to suck it up (literally). It's a little annoying, but I sometimes practice for over an hour and clogging lessens once it's warm.Bottom line: Good sound and value for the price!

Was not disappointed in this recorder. Solid packaging and plays beautifully.

[I am writing this review as someone who owns several plastic Yamahas and also a nice wooden Moeck instrument, focused mostly on comparison.]I bought this recorder to replace an aging, cracking and worn plastic recorder of the same brand and model, but in the rosewood finish. The newer recorder I bought was shiny dark brown to match the three other sizes I have. I was quite surprised to see the difference! It may be that the finished recorders are slightly different, or a matter of individual variation (plastics are known to vary), but I suspect it is most likely Yamaha subtly updated their line. My older Yamaha had a more penetrating and interesting tone (and the wooden instrument of course in a different league entirely), but I really like the new instrument for its very mild upper register. Even hitting the highest G is quite effortless (that's overblowing into the *fourth* register in terms of physics!) and the volume is only somewhat greater than the center of the range. The breath required is quite small. All of the notes seem to be tuned identically between the two instruments and the notes and typical trill fingerings seem to be well in tune.This makes a good introduction to the instrument for those of you that do not play recorder, and for those of you with fine wooden instruments, this is a good practice instrument to give your best one a break to dry out between sessions. I really like the mild upper range in particular. I hope they are all uniformly like this!Compared to the other sizes only the Yamaha tenor has a better tone quality. That instrument certainly is delicious, particularly in the lower register. The upper register sounds strained. The tenor is very fine overall, but like all instrument families the lower an instrument is built, the less responsive it gets. The tenor is a more difficult instrument in general. And I can't stand the fact that the standard trill fingering between high d and e is very out of tune.

I now own the Yamaha 302 series in Alto, Tenor, and Bass. My favorite is the Tenor, because it is a good compromise between shrillness and breath control.The Alto has a nice woody sound and is quite playable. My only other Alto is a wooden Gill, the difference between them is mostly that the Yamaha wets up more quickly and can be de - wetted more quickly. The wooden Gill plays longer but once it is done, it is done for a while.The Tenor is really my favorite of the Yamaha 302's, you can play it a bit longer before it wets up than the Alto or Bass. I have another Tenor, a wooden one of unknown origin, that is a little trickier to play - and once again, the wooden one lasts a little longer before it becomes to wet to play, but once that happens, you can't just clean it with a swab and blow out the Labium to make it instantly playable again like you can with the Yamaha.The Bass, to play it well, it is more about breath control than fingering. It takes a lot of air at exactly the right pressure, to make the notes sound. The fingerings for the bass are sometimes a little different than the other two. The low G can be hard to sound without harmonics creeping in, and the notes over high C - well I just checked the fingering chart and found I've been trying to finger them wrong, so never mind... I have no wooden Bass to compare this with.I like to just sit and improvise with these instruments. They sound pretty good for plastic. I would give them all five stars, considering the price and the playability. I never even tried to play a high D on my wooden Tenor, on this one it is possible.

Just received my Yamaha YRA-302B III today . This is another beautiful instrument from Yamaha . I really love the sound . But me , being a total beginner , I can't seem to play the low F and sometimes the low E . Not sure if it's my fingering or blowing or both . I'm sure I'll get it with practice .I now own 2 YRS-24B's , a YRT-304B II , and now a YRA-302B III . I love'em all . I'll love'em even more when I learn how to play proficiently . If you're looking for a good quality , low priced plastic alto , look no more . This is the one !