"Ahh, Music, a magic beyond all we do here!"

[mothwing]

So, who plays a musical instrument, and which?
I'm curious.

I am curious because I love musicians music and always envy musicians for their proficiency. My own career as a maker of music with any instrument is pretty short and filled with unrequited love.

When I was six, my mother thought it was a good idea to have me learn the recorder. I hated it. I was not alone with the teacher, there are other children there, I liked that, but I hated the lessons. I was bad. The teacher always had me play our homework assignment in front of everyone as a punishment because I couldn't keep up with the others. She was a fiend in human shape, another musician who had never made it and now got by by giving lessons to young children. I stopped going to those lessons fairly soon. I didn't even like the sound of the recorder, and the knowledge that I could go on to nicer instruments once I'd mastered that dreaded thing was not really a great consolation for me, either.

I always wanted to wake up and be able to play the Cello. It's my favourite instrument, but I fear that it's far too difficult to learn for me now. Or the piano. That might even be fun learning. I've always envied people who were able to play it, like angie_21_237 and, of course, Crocky.
I half-heartedly tried learning the tin whistle, with great sheet music with drawings of the whistle under each note so I could directly play according to the little drawings, but that was a very short-lived experiment. I never really managed to get proper notes out of the thing whenever I tried overblowing.

Currently, I'm thinking of learning how to play the trombone. Not easy either, but I really like the sound of that instrument, and it's possible fairly quickly to join a little amateur ensemble and play together with others, that's more fun than practising on my own, which I never keep up for long, I know myself. And I'm still looking for a choir, one that meets at a half-way decent time at a place that's half-way close by. The ones I found are either meeting on Thursday, when I have a seminar, or are just too far away. I somehow don't want to make an hour trip to get to my choir.

Comments

[luckyoldsun.livejournal.com]

I started with piano lessons as a kid and that really served me well when I joined my high school's band & took a theory class.

I'm a brass guy. When I started out in elementary school I didn't really enjoy the trumpet for the month or so that I played it, so my teacher switched me to this beautiful euphonium and I played that for my remaining 8 years (except for one year when I went to a tiny school that had no large brass on hand, so I had to switch back to trumpet for the year). Also, later on, my high school developed a shortage of tubists, so I split time between my beloved euphonium and the tuba, rattling the windows of my parents' house most every evening.

I've always wanted to try the F-horn and trombone, and fully intend to purchase a brass instrument eventually -- when I can actually afford it. Maybe sometime in my 30's.

Glad to hear that you're thinking of taking up one yourself! :o)

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

The tuba!! Tubas are awesome. That must be a fun instrument to play, as well, although it looks hard. Same with the Euphonium, isn't that horribly difficult?

Yeah, all my friends are musical, and I'm not, I've been jealous for a long time. :P I used to be in a choir, but then that particular choir more or less stopped being what it was when the choir master changed and I couldn't find another. I kept regretting that I'm not able to play an instrument, and Crocky's got me interested in brass instruments. It really seems to be a lot of fun, playing in such a little brass ensemble like the one she's conducting - of course I'd need one for beginners, her guys are really amazing for people who only do that kind of thing in their spare time.

I can't purchase anything, either, I was actually thinking about borrowing one of Crocky's instruments to try things out initially. She's got her trombone which she probably won't lend me, understandably (although she did let me play once, which was fun), but she's also got a trumpet at home, not to mention a wee Alto trombone (hah! As though I'd be able to get a single note out of that one...), maybe I can get her to lend me an instrument she doesn't really need at the moment. That'd be practical as I am not sure how long I'll last, and instruments are so darn expensive. So maybe it's not going to be the trombone, but the trumpet, if I'm lucky.

Ah, "when I'm thirty" plans. I was thinking about taking up Cello lessons when I'm thirty, if I have a job that allows it. It's somehow depressing to think that those plans used to be "when I'm grown up" plans back when I was a teenager, ten years ago.

[mariebernadette.livejournal.com]

I tried to play tuba once. That's an instrument that shakes you all the way down to your toes!