What Instruments Do We Play?

[Fagotterdämmerung]

  We seem to have a few musicians ( pro and amateur ) lurking around here, so I thought I'd check to see who plays what.

  Amateur hornist here, getting my embouchure back in the game after a long departure.  0:)

[Karl Henning]

Clarinet, sing, compose, conduct ("Something else not covered here...")

(It was tempting to cast a joke vote: "I sing!" plus "I don't do anything musical" ....)

[Karl Henning]

  We seem to have a few musicians ( pro and amateur ) lurking around here, so I thought I'd check to see who plays what.

  Amateur hornist here, getting my embouchure back in the game after a long departure.  0:)

I have some duets for clarinet and horn . . . .

[EigenUser]

-Violin/viola -- studied for a long time (I also used to play cello)
-Piano -- self-taught
-Composition -- self-taught

I've also played clarinet, oboe, and bassoon (which I really wish I took up more seriously).

[Fagotterdämmerung]

  In terms of previous instruments, I've played viola ( semi-professionally, until my bowing arm went kablooey ) and been taught composition ( I can fugue like a mofo, but honestly, the song isn't in me ), and dabbled in almost every instrument in terms of playing with it for a few hours. My music school used to have a day where you could go and try to play any of the orchestral instruments and I always took advantage of it, though some instruments I found I hated the playing position despite loving the sound ( the bassoon is one I tried for a few weeks, but was just so awkward for me I realized my heart wasn't in it: it's a flagpole with a bazillion thumb keys ). Trombone seems to have the most innately comfortable embouchure of all the brass, but no to that slide thingy. The tuba is extremely fun but requires so much air it's like inflating the Hindenburg. Trumpet embouchure was too pinch-y. The horn was the baby bear option for me, and conveniently does not require an as-dexterous right arm.

[Sergeant Rock]

Tenor saxophone and clarinet...but haven't played in years...decades, actually.

Me, senior year, 1967:



Sarge

[Mirror Image]

I play guitar, bass, mandolin, piano, and I used to play percussion in school band.

[Sammy]

Clarinet and piano here.  I was once pretty good at both; now I play poorly.

[North Star]

Guitar, but haven't really played in years.

[mc ukrneal]

Tenor saxophone and clarinet...but haven't played in years...decades, actually.

Me, senior year, 1967:



Sarge

But did you give in your uniform by Wednesday?!?! That's what we really want to know.

[PaulR]

the only instrument I can play well is the Double Bass, but I can also play (with varying level of competency): Violin/Viola, Cello, Clarinet, Trombone, Piano, and percusssion

[Fagotterdämmerung]

  I'd be curious how well double bass technique translates on a cello. I know with violin/viola it's largely a matter of a slight difference in bowing and of course larger spacing on the viola, but otherwise pretty much the same, but bass players seem to be constantly shifting...

[jochanaan]

Oboe & English horn; flute & piccolo; recorder; clarinet, percussion, piano, voice.  Every once in a while I get a chance to conduct, and I've written a few minor pieces (nothing like our esteemed Henningsmusick).

[Gurn Blanston]

Like some others I've seen here, I can start with 'In my school days...' I played the trumpet first, then switched to the Bb Baritone Horn for 4 years. Really liked that one, not much career future though, unless I was in the Marine Band or something!

After that I played guitar for the next 20 years, along with mandolin, tenor banjo and a little ukelele for fun. I was quite proficient on the guitar, but time and circumstances forced it into the corner, not sure I can play a mean C chord today!

I wish the question asked further 'and which one would you like to play?'. If I was 8 years old now, I would wish to play the cello. I might suck at it, but I would sure love to give it a try.

[ibanezmonster]

Guitar, bass guitar, compose, and pretend to know how to play mandolin and piano.

[jochanaan]

...then switched to the Bb Baritone Horn for 4 years. Really liked that one, not much career future though, unless I was in the Marine Band or something! ...

Well, you could have played all those "tenor tuba" parts in R. Strauss, Holst's The Planets, and Stravinsky's Rite, plus the "Tenor horn" part in Mahler 7.

[PaulR]

  I'd be curious how well double bass technique translates on a cello. I know with violin/viola it's largely a matter of a slight difference in bowing and of course larger spacing on the viola, but otherwise pretty much the same, but bass players seem to be constantly shifting...

It doesn't, really. The bass is a completely different animal than the other string instruments, being tuned in 4ths (standard tuning at least), some using the German bow.

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, you could have played all those "tenor tuba" parts in R. Strauss, Holst's The Planets, and Stravinsky's Rite, plus the "Tenor horn" part in Mahler 7.

Oh great, NOW you tell me, and I just sold that horn, too (45 years ago!).

[Fagotterdämmerung]

I wish the question asked further 'and which one would you like to play?'. If I was 8 years old now, I would wish to play the cello. I might suck at it, but I would sure love to give it a try.

I can understand that. I played viola all through my teens and then picked up horn around age twenty and found myself wishing I'd started off with the horn! It was just so much more natural to make the sound with me rather than with two objects I was holding.

I think my choice in viola was in a large part due to the charming and charismatic viola teacher I had, who often kept me motivated despite starting late-ish for a string player ( and thus being a bit slower than the army of Suzuki children ).

So much of life is due to our surroundings.

[Gurn Blanston]

So much of life is due to our surroundings.

Indeed; I can't imagine a circumstance in my young life (it would have to have been in the late 1950's) which would have led to me playing cello. I was in a brass band sort of situation from Day 1...