Musical Instruments I Have Played

I was pondering the different musical instruments that have come and gone throughout my life. When I was a eight, my parents got us an upright piano so I got to take a few lessons on that. And I remember a neighbor letting us try out her organ.

My father had a trumpet he would play once in a while. I was going to play it in the high school band, but my sister decided she was older so she should get to play it, and my mother said neither of us could. Later on my younger sister did play it in a band of some kind.

In high school I took guitar, choir and snare drum. Come to think of it I was in choir in grammar school, Jr. high and high school.

In college I kept on with the guitar. And somewhere along the way I started playing dumbek. I also have a clarinet I toyed with, a fife, numerous recorders, rattles and so on.

And then about 1999 I bought a mandolin on Ebay. Sad to say I'm not really very good at any of them. I could be a one woman band. Oh and I forgot the didgeridoos we made.

Where Does Music Come From

I was talking on line about playing guitar and I realized that if you have the heart of a bard, you can turn even the most mundane of objects into an instrument. In ancient times and even today in primitive cultures, they don't get their instruments at fancy high end music shops. They use what is at hand. Reeds and bamboo to make flutes, gourds to make rattles, drums and banjos, sticks to make percussion instruments, hollowed out logs to make droning instruments and so on. So even if you are broke that is no reason not to get up and make some noise. Remember when you were a kid and you filled an empty plastic container with bottle caps or beans and made a rattle? So no more saying you can't be a musician without a $2,000 instrument. The rhythm is inside you. And me. And everyone.

First Post Learning Music & how it's been a part of my life

I am a challenged musician. To quote Walt Ribeiro 'learning music is like a giant mountain and you have to chip away at it a bit at a time'. I am an inconsistent musician. My practices are few & far between & I get frustrated a lot.

I first took piano lessons when I was eight. I still have that piano today. In first grade I was in my first choir. I was in choirs up through high school, at which point I got mad about a public school singing religious songs in their choir & I dropped out. But by then I was taking guitar lessons in high school too, and then in college.

I was never a music major, deciding to focus on dance instead of music. The two are so interrelated that it seems silly to label them as separate. Oh, and I also took a snare class in high school. So I have had a fair bit of music theory. But even so, I've never felt like an accomplished musician. But lately I've decided to give music another try, and I've started this blog to talk about it.