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Topic: Why do you play more than one instrument ?  (Read 1983 times)

Offline m1469

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Why do you play more than one instrument ?
on: August 07, 2006, 04:29:07 AM
Sometimes I feel like the only reason I do is because I can't actually quit either one.  But, maybe secretly it's because I love both... just in different ways.



m1469
"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving"  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Offline quantum

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #1 on: August 07, 2006, 04:46:22 AM
I need some variety.  Mosty my secondary instrument consists of clarinet, but I have dabbed in to several others.  I like the variety, and also the fact that learning a second instrument can teach you different aspects of music that may not be quite as pertinent as in piano playing.  For example, breathing is a quite important for vocalists and wind players, but not as much so for pianists.  However such breathing techniques can be brought over to piano technique to enhance one's physical involvement within the music. 
Made a Liszt. Need new Handel's for Soler panel & Alkan foil. Will Faure Stein on the way to pick up Mendels' sohn. Josquin get Wolfgangs Schu with Clara. Gone Chopin, I'll be Bach

Offline desordre

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #2 on: August 07, 2006, 05:32:56 AM
 I begun playing both guitar and piano when I was 12. When I was about 15, both teachers said that I should choose one in order to continue, because the required study of both technique and intermediate repertory would be quite impossible simultaneously. Since I could not buy a piano at the time, I picked up the guitar, and completed the conservatoire and graduation. I've been working as a teacher as well.
However, I must say that my real passion was always the piano. Nothing against the classical guitar or its repertory, which I actually like to play, but my personal path is not plucked. Hence, I did resume my piano studies, had to stop again, due to my work issues; and finally, in the last year I resumed again, and this time it's working very well.
 In my country, many people do something else (law, medicine) to earn their living, and then do the graduation in music. I like to say that I did guitar to pay my bills, and now I play the piano for lots of fun!   8)
 Best wishes!
Player of what?

Offline leucippus

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #3 on: August 07, 2006, 07:58:02 AM
both teachers said that I should choose one in order to continue, because the required study of both technique and intermediate repertory would be quite impossible simultaneously.

I will never understand that mentality.  I personally believe that people who think that way are quite limited in what they can handle.

It's quite clear than many famous composers played several instruments.  Bach for one played violin, piano, and organ.  In fact, as famous as he was for piano and violin I've heard some historians say that his actual specialty was the organ!  It is also believed that he may have played the cello to some degree as well.  There are other composers of that period who also obviously played several instruments.  So I think it's absurd when music teachers recommend just sticking to only one instrument, especially if the student is game for learning more than one.  Why let someone else limited imagination and abilities affect your life when you believe that you can do better?

I play classical guitar, violin and piano.   And I make no apologies to anyone.   ;D

Any questions please refer to Johann Sebastian Bach and others like him.  Not only did they play multiple instruments but they composed for multiple instruments as well.  It certainly wasn't impossible for them.

Offline m1469

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #4 on: August 07, 2006, 08:25:48 AM
Well, I secretly would like to take cello lessons.  Actually, one of my piano students also wants to take cello lessons and I initially told she and her mom that I would take the lessons and then teach my piano student.  I am very possessive of her  8)... well, I am possessive of all my students probably  :P.

I actually even have a secret violin student  :-[

I am going to secretly teach myself how to play the guitar...

I want to learn how to play the harp.  I have a celtic harp that we recieved as a wedding gift that a woman had made for her years ago on their travels, but it won't stay in tune.  It is also warped.

I also took organ for a few terms in Uni. 

I want to play the french horn  >:(
"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving"  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Offline desordre

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #5 on: August 07, 2006, 05:35:15 PM
 Dear Leucippus:
 I do agree with you: if someone have the time and wants it very much, why not study 2 instruments at once? However, that specific combination (guitar and piano) has an issue: the nails!
 Best wishes!
Player of what?

Offline blu217

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #6 on: August 07, 2006, 05:44:47 PM
I am a huge fan of two divergent muslcal genres: classical and hard rock.

Classical piano is intense, difficult, precise, exacting and can become very elitist. It's often to me like a high-pressure job--there's a right and a wrong way and little gray area. I love it, tho there are also times at which I loathe it.

Playing rock covers on guitar (both with bands, duos and solo) and singing for patrons in smokey clubs, many of whom are drinking or drunk and almost all of whom just aren't that picky, is a release and a relief and a joy. I can arrange a tune considered "classic" in scads of different ways and be called brilliant, not blasphemous. It's freedom. Rock music doesn't have all the rules, it doesn't have to be perfect and its fans aren't that picky. If you can play and know how to pick an entertaining and diverse set list for your audience, you're golden.

Offline thalbergmad

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #7 on: August 07, 2006, 05:47:05 PM
Sometimes i get a block and i can't touch my piano.

Thats when an alternative instrument comes in handy.

My trusty banjo is always there when i need it.

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline leucippus

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #8 on: August 07, 2006, 06:13:01 PM
Well, I secretly would like to take cello lessons. 
{snip}
I want to play the french horn  >:(
I'd like to try a cello myself, but if I do it will definintely be a secondary instrument as far as practice time is concerned.

I also would like to try a wind instrument too.  I was thinking either flute, clarinet, or possible trumpet.  I used to play trumpet years ago in the highschool band.  Not sure if I want numb lips again though.  I'm actually looking at the flute as the most likely winner of the wind instruments.  But my tummy muscles are praying that I don't buy one. ;D

However, that specific combination (guitar and piano) has an issue: the nails!

I never did buy into the nail issue with the quitar.  I've always cut my nails as far back as possible.  I work with my hands all the time and the less my nails protude the less chance of breaking one or catching it on something.  It works out well with the violin too.  I never really thought about nails and a piano, but I guess if they are too long that could be a problem.  So I don't see any nail conflict between guitar and piano myself.  I do know that a lot of guitarists do press the nail issue though.  Scott Tennant is a big fan of trimming nails just so in his guitar technique book "Pumping Nylon".  But I've read other guitarists who dismiss that idea as totally unecessary (I tend to agree with them).  So perhaps it's just a matter of personal preference.

Offline kriskicksass

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #9 on: August 08, 2006, 01:16:18 AM
I play the double bass because it lets me into orchestras and you never have to work all that hard. I love ensemble work!

Offline leucippus

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #10 on: August 08, 2006, 01:50:32 AM
I play the double bass because it lets me into orchestras and you never have to work all that hard. I love ensemble work!
That's a clever strategy and not a bad idea!  ;)

Offline brewtality

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #11 on: August 08, 2006, 11:12:43 AM
Dear Leucippus:
 I do agree with you: if someone have the time and wants it very much, why not study 2 instruments at once? However, that specific combination (guitar and piano) has an issue: the nails!
 Best wishes!

Yes, quite an obstacle. The classical guitar was my primary instrument right through high school but when I started playing piano again the nails presented a problem. Eventually my interest in piano surpassed that of guitar and I cut the nails, which meant that tremolo went out the window. The tone is achieved through the nails (and filing them correctly) but without them it sounds bad, so I had to make a choice. I've found that I am incapable of sustaining real interest in more than one instrument.

Offline arbisley

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #12 on: August 08, 2006, 11:22:37 AM
It's quite clear than many famous composers played several instruments.  Bach for one played violin, piano, and organ.  In fact, as famous as he was for piano and violin I've heard some historians say that his actual specialty was the organ! 

I believe that Bach used to be known much more for his organ improvisations and playing than his composing when he was alive! I actually didn't think the piano would be his most famous, as he only started at a later stage in life, when they started to tune them with tempereing, but even then the pianos at the time were nothing compared to nowadays! I love Bach's organ works, and for a time used to play almost only Bach on the piano, even improvising humming Bach-ian tunes and singing them, without beginning or end.

Offline arbisley

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #13 on: August 08, 2006, 11:26:52 AM
I actually play the cello as well, take organ lessons and singing lessons. They all form a part of my character, but the piano is my primary  instrument. I try to keep the cello up to a very high standard, and I don't think it's going too badly, particularly playing in orchestras and chamber groups. It's the best way to become a well-rounded musician, and know more about music. Solo pianists often tend to be very isolated and not respond to orchestras particularly well, but some do play several instruments, ex:Rostropovitch. Later on in life, having had a successful career, they turn to conducting with all their knowledge of various areas of music. In that sense I'm extremely fortunate to doing all the things I do, because I can relate to almost any part of music, including opera, church music, orchestral music, solo music etc etc.

Offline quasimodo

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #14 on: August 08, 2006, 11:27:40 AM
Sometimes i get a block and i can't touch my piano.

Thats when an alternative instrument comes in handy.

My trusty banjo is always there when i need it.

Thal

Can't wait Thal posts a recording of a cowboy sound with his banjo in Audition room.
" On ne joue pas du piano avec deux mains : on joue avec dix doigts. Chaque doigt doit être une voix qui chante"

Samson François

Offline thalbergmad

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #15 on: August 08, 2006, 04:54:53 PM
Can't wait Thal posts a recording of a cowboy sound with his banjo in Audition room.

Not up to speed yet.

High speed bluegrass ain't easy.

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh

Thal
Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

Offline m1469

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Re: Why do you play more than one instrument ?
Reply #16 on: August 08, 2006, 11:53:00 PM
Sometimes I feel like [...] maybe secretly it's because I love both... just in different ways.

m1469


hee hee... I am completely and utterly musically high right now  ;D :D  YIPPY  :) (had a GREAT voice lesson and just got through performing just a little bit ago).  Yeah, I do love them both and I can't believe I ever doubt that.  I dont' know what my problem is... sometimes I just get caught up into my own world I guess.  I just stay there, too, when I really need to be out LIVING more of my music.

You know, the right teacher at the right time can also make a huge difference.  I love my teachers, but I have been struggling with direction regarding voice... well, I just saw one of my big time coaches today and she just really knows how to work with me.  She pushes me and I can tell she sees something in me that she wants to bring out in me, and she knows she can, too.  It's like sometimes a person just holds a magical key, where they just have to recognize this person in me and it's... well, magic.

Here is somethig tickly... a girl at this program I am doing this week found out that I am a piano teacher and is asking for my help while she is here.  hee hee... it's so tickly because for now anyway, it's so obvious that when I try to do just one, the other one inevitably pops up in some way.  I had decided that I was only going to be a vocalist this week, I guess that's not going to happen.

Plus I find it funny that just before this program started, I was thinking (once again) that I was going to quit voice.  That's a joke... I think I am realizing more and more.  If I ever say I am going to quit one, there must be something wrong with me.  I don't think I ever will.  Why can't I just accept this and get on with my life about it all ?

Oh yeah, I would like to take acting and dance classes, too.  I am also thinking about joining back in with choir again... hmmmm... time, time, time.

Okay, I won't come down off this musical high for a while I guess... might as well enjoy it while it lasts.



Yippity Cheers,
m1469
"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving"  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
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