Question

Does anyone know how to play an instrument...if so what do you play and are you any good?

Answer 1

I started with saxophone when I was in fifth grade because my sister played it.  I learned it on my own but only played at it for a few months before moving on to drums.  

I played drums for two years until the band director asked me to switch to trombone in 8th grade (they needed trombones, and my trimming ability had peaked (never could get the proper rebound in the left hand stick).

I played trombone through college.  I played in marching band, pep band, jazz band, dance band, and in the Wheeling (West Virginia) symphony training orchestra.  

In college, I started as a trombonist in the Wheaton College Symphony orchestra and was doing very well, but I decided I preferred singing in the Men's Glee Club (we went on tour in Europe and the group had a very good reputation internationally.)  I continued with trombone, however, in  my ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) assignment in the military band.  In the summers, I played trombone in a dance band "back home" where we performed at wedding receptions, etc.

In high school, I taught myself how to play guitar.  I had a classical guitar (nylon strings instead of steel strings, 12 frets in the neck instead of 14, but I played mostly folk music (It was the 60s, after all.)  I learned from other guitarists how to do what is called "finger-picking," and I got proficient enough to perform at local coffee houses.  At one performance, I met a young woman who had performed "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation" (by Tom Paxton) on the Ed Sullivan Show.  She was impressed with my rendition of the song "The First Time (Ever I Saw Your Face)"--long before Roberta Flack recorded it for a hit, and we traded lyrics and chords for the two songs.  I still have the paper on which she wrote the lyrics and chords for me, but for the life of me, I can't remember her name.

As a teacher, I took my guitar in every year for the first 20 years of my career when I taught the unit on Ballads for my senior college Prep English classes.  I did it to copy what my own senior English teacher had done when *I* was in high school, and it was well-received by my students. By the 20th year, though, my playing deteriorated, and I made the correct decision to create a Power Point "Ballads" program that incorporated various ballads from a variety of artists, including a ballad or two from recordings of my time with the Wheaton College Glee Club.  These lessons were a great success, and I should have started them after 15 years instead of waiting til 20.

The only other musical instrument I play is ... the radio.  :-)

Comments

Love! 

Answer 2

I picked up the guitar after 40 years of not playing. Back then I just learned the basic chords and learned the notes. I stopped after two years. Now at 67 I have been playing for 7 years. I don't play for other people I play for myself. Other people are way too critical and the pressure to be perfect is enormous. I don't want the pressure so I just entertain myself. lol                                                            

Answer 3

Yes! But I'm not alone! In fact, my entire family has a natural talent for music, we all play instruments and sing, except for my mother who just sings, she often incorporates the tambourine in some of the songs. 

I first started out as a young child having fun with my brothers acoustic guitar, from there it essculated. I love playing guitar; all types. As a young girl I played the clarinet in grammar school, but then I switched to saxophone (Jazz Band) in high school. I took some lessons, but had a natural knack for the piano where I would often participated in duets too. I, also, sing, but I prefer to harmonize when singing, especially the chorus in favorite songs. We all can read music or play by ear. Reading music is the best, and most accurate way, of course.

Our talents consists of strings, percussion, keyboard, woodwind and only one brass. There was a time where my immediate family would practice and play rehearsed songs together, but now at family gatherings we often just jam for fun. We often would be asked to play as quests in bands and participate in open mic ...fun stuff!

: )

Comments

One of my biggest regrets was that I never learned how to play the piano. Mrs Media is an accomplished pianist and was the accompanist for our high school choir and has been the keyboard player in two different worship teams at different churches.  

I've often said that had I known how to play the piano when I entered college, I would have been a music major, but I didn't want to spend four years in a practice room learning and practicing piano; I was convinced there was more for me outside the practice rooms during my college years.

Your family sounds musically delicious!

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Thank you, Media.

Also, I understand not wanting to devote so much time into it. I had a naturally ability attributed to genetic factors that made learning easy, lol.  I loved music/playing, and still do. I, too, wanted to pursue other interests. With that, there was absolutely no extra time while I was working towards my equestrian law career.

Answer 4

I can blow my own horn when I need to

Comments

LOL!

Answer 5

No.  It isn't that I didn't try.  As a kid, my mother invested in piano lesson and a piano to play one.  I was terrible.  The right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing.  It probably runs in the family as my brother didn't learn to play it and neither did my mother.  Fortunately, my mother ran a rooming/bording house where high school students lived in the winter and some of them were very good players, so the piano got a lot of use.

Years later, my older brother bought a guitar which he could not play but used to attract women, and I tried to play it for a while, same motive as my brother.  But I failed in both pursuits.  After this I got into stereo.  I had a really nice tape recorded, big thing at the time, and could make party tapes which got me invited to parties.  Now this would be "playlists".  

I currently have a wood native american flute which I cannot play, but hope springs eternal.  It only has 4 notes.  Should be doable.

Answer 6

I play piano with both hands,Lol! Nothing note worthy. My entire family was musical. They read shaped notes “back in the day” and also played proficienctly by ear. They played piano, mandolin and guitar.