T: Recorder versus Whistle
C: John Chambers

Some years back I read a comment from a teacher in the UK saying why they have so many more musical kids than over in the US.  They explained that American teachers tend to think that the recorder looks simpler than the instruments with all those keys (flute, clarinet, etc.), so they give one to kids that would like to learn to play them. Pretty quickly, the kids learn that they just can't manage to play anything on it, so they give it up, and never try again.

But the lack of keys is why the recorder has such an insane fingering system, which was developed to give it a fully chromatic scale. Other wind instruments have keys that simplify the fingerings for more keys. In the UK, teachers usually give kids pennywhistles, which only play in a few keys, and if a kid starts at the bottom, lifting one finger at a time gives a major scale. After only a few minutes, the kid has figured out several simple tunes, so their response is "This is easy" and they're on their way to being musicians. When they ask about playing in other keys, the teacher can say that a flute or clarinet has all those side keys that make it easier to play in other keys, but it'd be more complex than the whistle. They show a few examples, loan the kid an instrument, so they can start learning the scales needed in other keys.  

The recorder really does have the most complex fingering system of any woodwind.  I actually started on a clarinet, then went on to a (keyed) flute.  But I liked the sound of a recorder, so after a few years, I tackled that, knowing that it'd be difficult at first. Now my fiddle (and accordion;-) cases each contain a few recorders and whistles, which I use a lot, but here in the US, that's not very common. Others that do this will joke about the "infestation" of whistles in their instruments' cases.