What instrument sounds do you like? Which don't you like?31 responses total.
Despite the eternal jokes about the accordion and bagpipes I find both of those instruments quite listenable compared to my musical nemesis -- the saxophone <shiver>. I just can't stand the sound of a saxophone -- for some reason it really bugs me the way many people claim to be bugged by bagpipes. I guess I don't much care for the clarinet, either (a response in item 1 from a clarinet player reminded me that I've been meaning to enter this item.) I can understand, I guess, what it is that people don't like about, say, bagpipes, because I find in general that I don't usually like the sounds made by reeded instruments. I tend to like the sound of stringed instruments (especially the cello, bass, acoustic guitar, and piano in that order.) I also like the lower-pitched members of the flute and recorder families though I could do without the piccolo and the tin whistle.
Is it your politics that make you not like the saxophone? 8^} If there is an instrument whose sound I "can't stand", it would be fingernails on a chalkboard. B=P You must have a problem with higher harmonics, which reed instruments are rich in and stringed instruments are poorer in. That should tell us something about your nervous system - I bet *you* don't like fingernails on chalkboards.
I definitely don't like chalk on a blackboard, but then who does? I don't know, do other people also strongly dislike the sound of particularl instruments (not necessarily the same ones..) or am I unusual in that respect?
I think any instrument works in some context. For instance, I find the flute to be irritating in bebop-type jazz, but in classical or calypso it works just fine. Meanwhile, the soprano sax works great in bebop and badly in calypso.
Heh. The flute always puts me to sleep. Which isn't very good as that is one of the instruments I play ;) About that "higher harmonics" thing: that could well be true. The airline induustry did a study a while back to determine what it was about jet engines that people didn't like the sound of, and their psychologists determined it was the high freq harmonics that made people envision nails screeching down chalkboards... I am not to fond of the Sax either (at least most of the time I'm not), but I thing this is because of the connotations that the sax has in my mind now (ie. its always used as the instrument of choice in cheesy movies/ads/shows) and not because of the instrument itself...
I love the golden tone of a well played trumpet, flugelhorn, and cornet, I also love the reeds, especially the clarinet, the oboe and the english horn. Bagpipes, when playing something melodious, are wonderful, however they can easily annoy, and make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I also love a well played electric guitar in the hands of a person like Jimi Hendrix or better yet, Stevie Ray Vaughan
<robh wonders what mcnally would make of Kenny G playing a single note on his sax for 45 minutes straight >8) >
At some point while he was concentrating on his "circular breathing" he'd realize that he was in the process of swallowing a tenor sax..
Me, I love the pipes. They are the BEST. Second best are fiddles. Third best , probably guitar/piano/accordion. The bombarde (a Breton instrument that makes a very distinctive droning sound) is another personal favorite. I also tend not to like saxophone, trumpet, or that brass side of the band. Most stringed instruments are cool, and I really adore organs and hammered dulcimer, but I would have to say that this is probably why I like folk music so much -- they normally use the instruments that resonate best with my liking for certain sounds.
Are we excluding the human voice here? If so, I'd have to say that a well played fiddle is one of my favorites, that and steel drums...
Well, I actually like to listen to the sound of a single sustained note. Try it sometime with a well-tuned piano - hold the sustain pedal down, hit a single note, and listen to the vibrations die away. It's fascinating how much detail there is in a single note that nobody hears.
piccolos get a bit too shrill for my comfort sometimes, but other than that i can't really think of an instrument whose sound i dislike.
I like the flute in a jazz context. I find no use, whatsoever, for the soprano sax. Even good players can't make me like it, and I have tried to like it. Wooden flutes in jazz, ala Roland Kirk, are even better. I love the electric guitar. Period.
Edwin E. Gordon, a string bassist, developed a timbre test to determine students' affinity for particular instruments. The concept is simple. Students will listen to a series of timbres and frequencies and choose which combination they like best. Their selections will often match them to the instrument they prefer. I used to be more enchanted with the sound of the piano than I am now. I, too, began to develop a taste for instrumental applications-- piano often sounded best with Romantic and Impressionist compositions with big, rich chords. There is a Romantic style that is very, very simple, but I can't remember the name of the composer who invented it. If somehow I could sing it, someone would recognize the style. Right now, I love my classical guitar. I love the sound of classical and flamenco styles for guitar. I love it because guitar has such a great potential to sound lovely even with simple compositions, often much more so than the piano. (Perhaps it is the charm of learning a new instrument; the guitar is my fifth.) I love most all instruments, but I especially love synthesizers because the sounds are newer, more flexible in their parameters, and more varied. Percussion applications were never the same once electronic music began to grow and develop. It is not so much individual instruments that bother me; it is how they are used. There is a big percentage of orchestral music that would put me to sleep after a while (I'm conditioned to splashier music and I can only take dominance of violins in the melody for so long). I hate cheesy MIDI soundtracks for cartoons-- in general, anyways. In short, I'm a demanding listener, performer, and educator. I don't like to listen to, play, or teach music that is overwhelmingly ordinary. And yes, I could say I have my preferences to where and how an instrument or voice is used.
One of the sounds I dislike is guitar neck noise. Such as the slide for making bar chords zipping across the steel string. Doesn't work for me too often. I would just wish that the guitar was not miked to pick up that sound, or the performer would have more pride inthe sound made from the box instead of the neck & fret board.
There are times that a slide sound is appropriate. But as I understand it, all of that is just sloppy playing. I haven't been playing long at all, but I do know that good technique involves picking up the fingers slightly from chord to chord. Slide technique is pretty common in rhythm guitar, and I'm not sure what those guitarists do to keep the strings from squeaking too much. I do know blues guitarists use a metal finger guard. I agree-- simply sliding over the neck and frets isn't very toneful. But there must be a creative way to work it into amp distortion and the like-- it would probably be better if it wasn't abused so much..
I find my perception of instruments is shaded more by what musicians do with the instrument than the actual sounds. For instance, I like reed organ better than saxophone, since I'm sick of Kenny G and all his slick-sounding contemporaries, but I *love* stuff I've heard Tom Waits play on old reed pump organs.
There are times when string sounds aren't really appropriate, especially in a very 'rich', heavily produced song where they just sound wrong. But in a sparser, acoustic setting I actually like them a lot.
Much to think about. Reminds me of the time I was studying MIDI and happened to stumble on the trance form. I used a "clock" sound and whatever sounded good with it in a quick arrangement of DM's "Strangelove" (just a segment). I used a digital reverb/flanging machine-- chose the looping flange. It was cool-- kinda sounded like it was underwater.. I was unhappy I didn't figure out how to put bubble and submarine sounds to it. My teacher asked me what was going through my head. I wasn't on good terms with him in my theory class and I mistrusted him, so I wouldn't tell him ;>
Hmm...do you have a tape of that still or something? It sounds interesting...
Dammit, I don't! That fucking teacher lost it.. I was foolish enough not to ask for it immediately after the project was done. I asked a little bit later, and he'd misplaced it. It had a couple of my other MIDI projects, including an audio project called "Dragon Vader." (I was fooling around with a friend-- we were doing overdubs to DM tunes. We came to "I Want You Now" from _Music For The Masses_ and he started breathing heavy into the microphone. He said, "You are my son, Luke," and I yelled in the background, "No, Father-- never!" Since his breathing sounded like dragonfire, I dubbed it again, editing it so that there was a 'blast' immediately after my outburst-- seeming as though I'd been roasted :> )
<grin>
Yes, I definitely need to get into MIDI again sometime in the future.
Well, in keeping with the topic, I must say that the sound depends on the context. For example, I have heard otherwise drecky and cheezy MIDI tones sound just great in the right combinations (I am a clasically trained musician with perfect pitch. I am *extremely* picky about music) but admitedly they are very hard to find. I guess if I am watching an old cheezy horror flick, I can kind of guiltily enjoy it. People have noted that in the accordions conference I have bashed the sound of the accordion. Correction, I bash the sound of an ill played accordion. I heard the most hauntingly beautiful sounds ever as an accordion in a big field. (this was the same day that some one else, also a master, played bagpipes in the field. this was a tie for the most haunting sounds ever) There was even mist and woods so it was as if little faries were playing. (font has an overgrown imagination) As for the worst sounds ever, I would have to say that my most unfavorite instrumnent ever is the BGees and ABBA. ;-) I like the English horn and the Viola de Amore. (in the the same family as it's more well known cousin , the Viola de Gamba) It has 2 sets of strings, so you hear the overtones as well as the vibrating ones above. I also like the Bassoon and Electric Guitar, Mandolin and Cello.
Well said, font. Ummm... the Bee Gees and ABBA are musical groups, not instruments, however. Yes, I'd say context is a huge part of music-- one that I've found a LOT of college and university professors miss or don't emphasize-- at least, the ones I've had. Explain a little more what the Viola de Amore is? If it has two sets of strings compared to the Viola de Gamba, is it analogous to the 12-string guitar, compared to the common 6-string guitar? In other words, are the extra set of strings on the Amore an octave below their counterparts?
I think the idea is that there are sympathetic strings running under the fingerboard, similar to the ones on a sitar. Each sympathetic string is paired with one of the normal string, and when the normal string above it is played the sympathetic string vibrates. I didn't know anyone was still making them, though. (Would that be _electric_ mandolin and _electric_ cello, font?)
Okay-- that makes sense, I think. No, I would doubt that they are still made. The best string players have very old instruments anyway-- Stradavariuses (sp?) from the 18th century and such. The wood gets better-sounding the more it ages :)
The idea of matching people up with instruments based on their preference for a range of tones sounds like an excellent one. Is there additional attention payed to physical attributes, like finger size and length, or is that not as big a concern?
I don't always mind incidental instrument sounds associated with the production of music. For instance, Prince has a beautiful song called "Sometimes it Snows in April", which consists only of voice, minor piano accompaniment, and acoustic guitar. The movement across the fingerboard causes a distinct stretching sound which completely contributes to the sadness of the song.
I think I probably liked stringed instrumets, the most. In particular, the guitar, the lute, the violin, the cello, the mandolin, the ehr-hu, the oud, the sitar, the piano, the harpsichord, the dulcimer, the banjo, and the kora. I like aerophones a great deal as well, primarily oboes, bassoons, clarinets, accordions, bagpipes, saxophones, trumpets, and french horns. I probably lean towards reed aerophones. I like idiophones a lot, too -- usually earthier sounding ones like the types of xylophones found in Indonesian gamelan, deeper gongs, and mbiras. Of the membranophones, again, I lean towards earthier ones like the djembe, among others. I'm not sure that there's an instrument I don't like, but I suppose I'm not particularly fond of extremely sharp, high-pitched ones, like certain flutes.
Ummm, I don't think it's necessarily as big of a concern, no. For example, some people, especially Andres Segovia, have hands very, very suited to play the classical guitar, and yet you have many people learning to play it anyway. It helps, yes, to fit the instrument to a person physically, but really, some sort of compromise of what they want to play and what the ensemble needs to have will be first priorities.
You have several choices: