Grind your axe?

Aug 19 16:14 UTC 2001

        What instrument do you play?  For your own pleasure?  To 
entertain a few freinds?  As part of a band?  
        Let us know what you play.  Maybe why.

response 2 of 19:

Aug 19 16:45 UTC 2001

I played fair-to-good classical piano for years, now fading towards
fair-to-poor for lack of practice.  The one band I ever had a go at starting,
I played keyboards.  At one point, we had a song we could make it most of the
way through.

These days, I make half-assed attempts at playing mandolin and harmonica, and
at playing folk tunes on the piano.  I got sick of playing non-portable
instruments when I started travelling more and going to folk dances.

response 4 of 19:

Aug 19 22:44 UTC 2001

I played sousaphone in high school.  Obligatory piano lessons when I was a
kid.  I can still play the melody line with my right hand.  I'll probably 
get a piano some time in the next year, so maybe I'll try again to learn to
play it.

response 6 of 19:

Aug 22 04:13 UTC 2001

OK, I'll "play".  :-)

I play clarinet in the Plymouth Community Band.  Clarinet was my first
instrument, other than various kinds of "chord" organs and such.  In high
school I switched over to French horn, which is what my first band teacher
wanted me to play to begin with.  I taught myself to play piano along the way,
and I like to play ragtime.  At a certain point I picked up cornet.  Last year
I got a bit of comfort playing my son's trombone.  My "specialty" instrument
has been the penny whistle, which I started playing 20 some years ago when
I took up an interest in Irish traditional music.  I have dabbled with flute
and fife, but haven't ever nailed the emboushure.  I have been composing and
arranging music for orchestra and band since high school, so I [must] know
the range and characteristics of all the instruments.  My training and playing
experience have therefore been predominantly classical.

response 8 of 19:

Apr 21 19:53 UTC 2002

My primary instrument is the French horn, which I started playing my first
year of high school because I was tired of the trumpet.  It gradually and
stealthily became a bigger and bigger part of my life and now I'm finishing
up my first year of horn performance studies at the University of Michigan
(got my first jury tomorrow!), which is interesting to think about because
just a few years ago I had absolutely no intention of attending music
school.  I love ensemble playing and the people I get to meet as a horn
player, so I'm really happy that I picked it up.

I also play piano, which up until last year was my primary instrument.  I
don't remember when I started playing, apparently when I was 3 years old or
so when I'd sit down at the piano after my older sister was done practicing
and copy by ear what she was working on.  Cool as that may sound, I'm
certainly nothing spectacular as a pianist and decided that going to music
school on piano was not really an option.  I love the instrument, though, and
continue to take lessons as frequently as I can fit them into my schedule,
and I still play regularly.

I've dabbled in many other instruments, as well: viola and oboe most
seriously.  I couldn't keep all of them up and still be in school, so I
narrowed it down to just horn and piano.  I'm glad I've had the firsthand
exposure to those other instruments, though, because it's really helped me
with writing music.  I'd still like to pick up some other instruments someday,
too, maybe harp, cello (I love string quartets!), or organ, but I don't have
time right now.

response 10 of 19:

Apr 23 05:37 UTC 2002

You misunderstand me-- the mallet instruments (vibraphone, xylophone, 
marimba, bells) are percussive instruments, too.  These are distinctly 
put in the percussive department and many tunes written for them are 
quiet and contemplative.

As for the guitar, I am distinctly biased to the classical guitar, and 
I'll admit I forgot about the flamenco and electric versions.  As you 
know, flamenco styles are very rhythmic, providing an accompaniment 
for the dancer.  The rhythm is obsessively emphasized; it is said one 
must master it before attempting solo riffs.  Much of the percussive 
styles have roots in the flamenco tradition.

The electric guitar is different, of course; distortion is considered 
a part of the modern sound and can be modified.  It's a whole 'nother 
ball of wax..

response 12 of 19:

Apr 25 07:19 UTC 2002

I'll have to dig up some Chopin and some Prokofiev sometime.  Of 
course, the piano is somewhat of a hybrid instrument, and therefore, 
it doesn't have to sound like its other percussive cousins.   There 
are no surviving instruments like the piano that are percussive, too.  
There was the clavichord, which hammered metal bars, but it is not 
used today except in period music.

Well, no, and that's because the harpischord *plucks* the strings.  
It's a very different sound.  The harpischord also uses justified 
intonation rather than tempered, I believe; at least to the extent 
that it must be tuned specifically to the key you are playing in.  
You've got to know how to tune a harpischord before you play one 
extensively-- or such is my understanding.

I wish I could remember what instrument bridged the gap soundwise 
between the archlute and the harpischord.  I saw it on a site 
somewhere, and I can't remember where I found it.

The celesta has also died with the times (it's a glassblown instrument 
that spins on a horizontal wheel, and you play it with moistened 
fingers), but I wonder-- what instrument classification does it fall 
under?

response 14 of 19:

Apr 25 15:38 UTC 2002

The harpsichord has been played in tempered intonation since (and before) 
Bach's "Well Tempered Clavier".  (A clavier is any keyboard instrument.) 

I don't know what "hammered metal bars" are, but the clavichord is a
stringed instrument, except the strings are struck from the side by metal
bars (tangents) raised by the keys.