Any instruments you play?

I began taking private piano lessons eleven years ago when I was nine. I took these lessons until the summer before leaving for college. I was going to have to quit no matter what because I live at school, but I had to quit the lessons a little ahead of schedule due to an unfortunate incident involving one broken finger, and then another broken finger three days after the splint came off the first one. that sure was a memorable summer...

starting in middle school I joined concert band and jazz band, and I played piano for both. not much to say here. middle school is a rough time in everyone's life and I don't like to think about twelve-year old me

when I made it to high school I joined even more bands yay!! I was still in concert band (though I now was in the percussion section) and jazz (where I still played piano). however I played in a percussion ensemble one year. then I began playing oboe for concert band instead of percussion and played that in wind ensemble as well.

the absolute best though was marching band. gosh do I love marching band. I was in the cymbal line for parades and memorial services and things, which was fun enough. but the best part of marching band is on the field, of course!!! I played keyboard in the front ensemble at football games and competitions and I honestly consider those days some of the best of my life so far. the feeling of winning first place along with my lifelong friends.... I miss it.

ps: never be ashamed of being a band nerd, especially when it comes to marching band. it takes lots of hard work and dedication, whether you're marching backwards double-time while hauling around and playing a sousaphone or you're in pain because you're playing a keyboard with hands that have long since gone numb because it's snowing at championships.

Thanks for another great get-to-know-you idea, bluesatinsashes! I've really enjoyed reading these threads and learning about all the amazing things everyone here is up to! (And I'm slowly going to contribute, I swear!) 

To start, the only music I do now is warbling off-key to amuse my little one (and occasionally tickle the ivories). But back in the day, I was very similar to you, bluesatinsashes! I played piano (grade 10 RCM, but stopped officially at the Gr 9 exam - I did it during the huge rolling blackout we had in Southern Ontario in 2003, in the middle of the dark, and I think it traumatized me a little...), flute in band and marching band, and sort of sang. I LOVE and appreciate music, but making and playing it was always a bit of a struggle, since I'm pretty convinced I'm actually quite tone deaf. For the last 10 years (more seriously for the last three with my husband), I ballroom dance - which is not technically an instrument - but my sense of rhythm is much better than my non-existent perfect pitch! 

oh, it's not an instrument but I forgot to mention - and I'm not even sure who here would even be interested in this kind of thing - but in my spare time I like to cover songs using a program called famitracker. it basically emulates both the sounds and the technical constraints of the nintendo entertainment system and it's a great challenge trying to make it sound like the original with all the limitations.

mostly I cover video game music, since it's emulating a video game console, but I occasionally try my hand at other things, like the ländler unfortunately that project went unfinished but you can hear what progress I did make here at about 1:52 (the third big chunk of sound). who knows, maybe I'll pick that one back up someday and finish it.

Sadly I don't play an instrument but my 9 year old son is learning to play the clarinet. Usually he sounds pretty good but he's just started to learn notes on the higher scale I think and sometimes it does resemble the sound of a strangled cat! 

I do do have an ambition however, I would love to learn how to play the Uillean pipes. It will probably never happen but maybe it will!

Violin since age 3! I LOVE it. I do mainly solo stuff but I am also in a piano quartet (with my brother who is AMAZING at the piano and two of our friends who play the viola and cello). I am in the local youth symphony here too which is so much fun.

Started solfege lessons as well last year. The only reason I knew somewhat what it was before I started was because of TSOM, haha.

I've always wanted to learn how to play the harp, but I'm afraid money and time is not on my side with that one!

Lol, I promise you, it will pass as he gets better. Lots of squeaking to start with. The upper notes require more air to be pushed through the instrument so itl can take awhile longer to get comfortable with them as opposed to the lower register, but that is awesome.

Oh wow! I had no idea that this thread was going to take off like that. I was so close in not posting this thread because I thought to myself, "Why would anyone be interested in my musical background?"

sagaofjenny Marching band...that was one thing that (most) Canadian school music programs did not have! Too bad I missed out on that experience. Canadian school music programs had concert bands/wind ensembles and jazz bands for the most part. And maybe a string ensemble if the population is big enough and if enrollment is high.
Ah the joys of being a band nerd. There are so many jokes that only band nerds will understand. I saved this list of "You know you're a band nerd if.." from several years ago:

You Might be a Band Geek if…

…you keep instrument parts in your purse/backpack

…you have a poster of John Phillip Sousa in your locker

…you can spell appoggiatura

…you can define appoggiatura

…you know what railroad tracks really are

…you don’t think of “mouthpiece” as a dirty word

…you’ve tried to put a bow on your G-string

…you’re not grossed out by the spit valve

…double-tonguing isn’t something that you expect to see in the halls

…you’ve found that the school bell is a very sharp concert C pitch

…you use the music office phone as a pager

…you can spell any instrument, but are failing English

…you have “Flight of the Bumblebee” memorized in 3 different keys, and 4 different instruments

…you’ve labeled your briefcase with a “Kentridge Wind Ensemble” tag

…the only time that you speed is when you’re late to school, and music is your first class

…you have three hours of music classes in a row

…you have taken, or are taking, A.P. Music Theory

…you’ve ever referred to your music director as “Daddy”

…you spend more time with the band than your family

…you’ve spelled words using musical notation

…you match the pitch of various objects around you… then harmonize it

…you can identify your fellow musicians’ unmarked cases

…you have the director’s phone number on speed dial

…when checking out chicks/dudes, the second thing you look for is “What instrument do you play?”

…your main mode of transportation is a tour bus

…your favorite song is one from music class

…your music folder has more miles on it than your car

…you take the phrase “married to your instrument” literally

…you threaten people with musical terms. Example: “I’ll B’way tacit you, you scrawny little rallentando!”

…you chew on beat to background music

…you have more instruments than friends

… you have some form of notation tattooed onto a various body part

… you find yourself conducting music that no one else can hear

…you know how to identify a diminished seven of the fifth of d flat melodic minor

…your main goal in life is to become a band geek

… you have a baton on hand at all times, one in your car, one in your back pocket

And Finally…

If you’ve given up all hope of a sane, prosperous future and become a music director, you know you’re a band geek.

I can totally relate to "you can identify your fellow musicians’ unmarked cases". It's been over 6 years since I was in band and I still can picture my band mate's cases!

laurynvi Oh yeah, I do remember that massive blackout that pretty much wiped out the entire eastern seaboard (Southern and Eastern Ontario as well as Northeastern US). I was a kid then and I chickened out over the fact that I had go to bed in the dark (I was 10/11 at the time and heavily relied on a night light to go to sleep). Wow, I didn't think the examiner would let you go on to do your exam in the dark! lol I wonder if he/she gave you extra points for playing in the dark. Flute, piano, and singing--that is quite the coincidence we have here! That's good that you're doing ballroom dancing. I don't think I have the motor coordination for any kind of dance but I do enjoy watching Dancing with the Stars.

utility_singer Gasp! You played Maria?? That's awesome! Should we make you an honourary member of this forum? I have always dreamed to be in a musical in high school but there were no open auditions...only students enrolled in the musical theatre course were casted. And I was in instrumental music. Bummer!! To this day, not many people know that I sing...

Sorcha Golliwog's Cakewalk! I've never played it before, but I'm a fan of Debussy. Your teacher is trying really hard, it looks like. Première Arabesque is a beautiful piece...sounds like a waterfall flowing.

see, I was always more classically inclined on piano - my favorite composer is bach by a mile. I enjoyed jazz band, but it was more of a challenge for me to play in that style, and even comping was sometimes stressful. I really love solo ragtime and boogie woogie though

bluesatinsashes , that list is incredible, and in fact I relate to almost all of them. band truly is a unique experience. in marching band front ensemble, we once named every instrument we used (which, if you're familiar with percussion sections, is a LOT) and made up a song including all of them. those were the days.

even though I'm out of high school and band, I still love many of the pieces we played, like the classics lincolnshire posy, an original suite, english folk song suite, holst's first and second suites, variations on a korean folk song, scenes from the louvre, etc. we also played lots of frank ticheli, some sam hazo, jack stamp, robert w. smith, and so on. we even played some pretty unorthodox stuff like crystals by thomas c duffy (pretty neat piece with some interesting instrumentation at parts), grand serenade for an awful lot of winds and percussion by "pdq bach" (incredibly humorous - yes, it's supposed to sound like that), and, on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, in memoriam dresden by daniel bukvich (quite sobering and difficult to listen to, and very intense to play).

ehhhh sorry if I go on too long about this kind of thing. I just REALLY love band.
ps: of course, none of the linked videos are my band performing just thought I'd provide some examples in case anyone cared to listen

Bluesatinsashes, those are fantastic!

Wow. I'm just blown away by this thread bluesatinsashes and the rest of you. There must be something about TSOM (the M, I guess) that draws such talented people, definitely not an average group!

I played the piano for many years but I never got that good at it. I have a good ear but my fingers don't cooperate. Also, I never really became a proficient sight reader. The good ear also gives me a decent-enough voice, good enough to sing in a community choir and carry my section, but I have to learn the parts by ear because I can't ....sight read. Also I'm an alto and the inside parts are murder. Like @sagaofjenny I can still enumerate the many songs I've sung over the years in choruses and it brings me great joy to remember them.

I had a brief entanglement with the flute, hoping to follow my friends into band geekdom, but I couldn't march and play at the same time. Did I mention that I'm hopelessly uncoordinated?

Lol, I can't imagine naming my kid F# or a couple of the other ones.

I just shared that on facebook a few days ago!! I called the name oboe player, of course.

there does seem to be a bit of a formula for a lot of common contemporary concert band music, but the pieces we played were some of my favorites. we played ascension from the divine comedy (I played piano instead of oboe here. sucked being the only oboist and almost the only proficient pianist, as we occasionally had to sacrifice the oboe part) and africa: ceremony, song, and ritual.

re: your flutes remark, my band seemed to have more clarinets than anything else. I was of course very familiar with the sound of the piccolo directly in my left ear, though.

as for hazo.... we played ride. I was still in percussion at the time and nearly went deaf from the tam-tam at the end. oh and olympiada as well. AND I ALMOST FORGOT: solas ane, which was the senior song for my class. shame on me

we also played october! it was the senior song my freshman year, but as I was in percussion at the time, I thought it was terribly boring to perform. love listening, though.



single reed players don't know the struggle... the price of an entire box of clarinet reeds can buy you one - yes, one - oboe reed. and sometimes they don't even work. the only other option is to learn to make your own, which I never did.

yeah grainger is definitely up there. I loved lincolnshire posy (especially horkstow grange). I was supposed to play the piano part for shepherd's hey as well, but I ended up breaking a finger two days before the concert so that didn't happen.

as far as ticheli goes, I've played amazing grace, an american elegy, and cajun folk songs (side note: the first movement, which is gorgeous, is called "la belle et le capitaine." it's about something completely unrelated to our collective interest of course, but what a nice coincidence)