least favorite instrument

[communist]

sorry about the random order

[mad_max2024]

The Kazoo

[allthumbs]

Why are bagpipes not on your list?

[arensky]

I think all of those instruments have redeeming qualities 

[kelly_kelly]

I agree with arensky that all instruments have redeeming qualities. But if I had to choose a least favorite instrument, it would be the piccolo. It may be useful in ensemble, but the sound is downright annoying (at least to me).

[richard black]

I voted for banjo to wind up Thal. Hi Thal!

[mrba1979]

This is instrument bigotry!  What about the alto saxophone?  In any case I chose the alto saxophone, and don't get me started on the people who play them.  (Don't get all up in arms its only a joke, well accept quite literally I do not like the sound of the alto sax.  To winy for my taste. To each their own I guess).       

[csharp_minor]

What the?! Who voted for the piano!

any of those obscure percussion instruments you find in the school music room such as the cowbell, woodblock, and that weird thing that makes a rattling sound. It looks like tongs or something, I don't know its name.

also the bagpipe      

[allthumbs]

I nominate the sitar as well.

[Petter]

The Stalin Organ 

[furtwaengler]

Oh man...I love all these intruments. I really do. So why do I post here? To love, not to hate! 

This is instrument bigotry!  What about the alto saxophone?  In any case I chose the alto saxophone, and don't get me started on the people who play them.  (Don't get all up in arms its only a joke, well accept quite literally I do not like the sound of the alto sax.  To winy for my taste. To each their own I guess).      

I think I know the reason here; it must be because you've either not heard the Vaughan Williams 9th Symphony (check Sir Adrian Boult's recording with London Philharmonic on the Everest label, recorded only hours after the RVW's death...IT WILL FLOOR YOU!), or you've not heard the alto sax in its proper context, playing behind a great trumpet:

 

(Or it could actually be because it's to winy)

But isn't music great?

[mrba1979]

Tenor sax does not bother me as much as alto, but hey we were asked to pick three.  Can you guess what the third one would be then? Two trumpets would still have been better.  LOL!

[Petter]

maybe you would prefer this

[general disarray]

Left-handed Sewer Pipe as used in PDG Bach's "Iphigenia in Brooklyn."

[G.W.K]

You should add "Other" to the poll. I hate the Tenor Horn.

G.W.K

[G.W.K]

maybe you would prefer this

That is the funniest clip I've ever watched of someone playing an instrument like that. It basically sounds like someone farting down a microphone. And the weird guy at the end was just...scary.

G.W.K

[mrba1979]

Could ya say overcompensation?  Most use a fancy car. LOL!

[quantum]

maybe you would prefer this

That thing is awesome.  Sure it sounds weird on its own, but in an ensemble or orchestral context thing thing can give the bass end some serious rumble.

[communist]

whats the name of that instrument?

[richard black]

It looks like a contrabass saxophone.

[Petter]

maybe it´s just the guy who´s really small...

[gerryjay]

this saxophone is something 

about the subject itself, i don't have anything against any instrument prior to someone start playing it.

best!

[concerto_love]

F.L.U.T.E !!!!!

[thalbergmad]

I have only just seen this thread.

I cannot believe 14 people voted banjo.

They must be mental.

Thal

[gerryjay]

I have only just seen this thread.

I cannot believe 14 people voted banjo.

They must be mental.

Thal

i was wondering when you would come...

[Petter]

Here´s another surreal instrument

Imagine that thing on the roof of your house. So much fun.

[thierry13]

Worst instrument is jazz.

[Bob]

(Bob imagines people with shotguns waiting upriver for the boat to come by again.)

Notice how big that audience is.  Did they all jump overboard?  Is the ship about to run aground because the captain shot himself to get away?


Amusing instrument but one that might get old quickly.  

(Bob imagines that boat steaming through the ghetto river section of a large city.  How amused the local people would be then to see that boat.)

[thalbergmad]

Everyone who voted banjo should check Sean Moyses, the master of the 4 string plectrum banjo.

https://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SSsJiFCQ1uw

Thal

[momopi]

How come triangle is not on the list? 

[healdie]

pretty annoying

[dkainoa]

very surprised to see 10 votes against harpsichord!

[thalbergmad]

aghhhhhhhhhhh, now 17 banjo.

This is madness.

Thal

[ahinton]

The contrabass saxophone in the right hands can sound great, although it is by definition somewhat limited in scope when it comes to the kind of florid passagework to which we have become accustomed from smaller members of the sax family. There are very few of them around and they are about as unwieldy as they look. Even in the big band music from half a century and more ago, it hardly ever featured - even the bass sax only rarely put in an appearance in such ensembles. I have written a part for one in my Concerto for 22 Instruments (an all-wind group that includes four saxes - soprano, alto, baritone and contrabass) although I have, I think wisely, suggested that this part may be played instead on the tubax, which is a kind of saxophone, albeit rather more practically designed as large bass wind instruments go - at a distance, it looks not that dissimilar to a metal contrabassoon and has the distinct advantage of a standard baritone sax mouthpiece, so both fingering and blowing are rather easier than with the contrabass sax. The sound is not quite so rich, in my view, largely because the bore of the tubax is a little smaller than that of the contrabass sax. The final chord in the second movement of my concerto has the euphonium and bass tuba, baritone and contrabass sax and bassoon and contrabassoon each playing their lowest notes, making a six-note chord that some (possibly including that most refined gentleman whom we know and love as Thal) might describe as the best way to fart in B flat minor...

I haven't voted but I have to confess that the sound of the banjo is not one of my most favourite things - sorry, Thal...

And that's more than enough of that here, I imagine...

Best,

Alistair

[mrba1979]

aghhhhhhhhhhh, now 17 banjo.

This is madness.

Thal

I haven't voted but I have to confess that the sound of the banjo is not one of my most favourite things - sorry, Thal...

That would make 18 since I voted again for him.  If it makes you feel better it is still the saxophone for me and I can't vote for that.

[m19834]

There is one particular instrument that I can have a difficult time hearing, but I don't dare say in a public setting what that is !  I have heard it played nicely though, and that is probably related to my main opinion on the subject in general.

I do not have a least favorite instrument, but rather I can't stand the wrong settings and/or contexts for otherwise tolerable and hopefully even enjoyable sounds.  Also, instruments badly played can give the wrong impression of the instrument's sound itself, when in reality, it's the performer or even the composer who is at fault, not the instrument !

[goldentone]

There is one particular instrument that I can have a difficult time hearing, but I don't dare say in a public setting what that is !  I have heard it played nicely though, and that is probably related to my main opinion on the subject in general.

I know!  It's the Kazoo!!!

[peterdacey]

I can't believe the double bass got more votes than the oboe!

[dss62467]

My actual vote isn't on the list.  The music teacher at my 8 year old daughter's school has her learning the recorder!  I'm paying $15 a week for her to take piano lessons and she's got to use available practice time on a plastic whistle.   I just keep reminding myself it's helping her learn to read music...

Don't like this music teacher anyway...she told my daughter in kindergarten that Indians say "ugh".  Teaching my little darling negative stereotypes. 

[point of grace]

violin

[healdie]

is that suppost to be Guitar at the top of the list? if so how did that get 8 votes being primarily a guitarist I am shocked

[communist]

is that suppost to be Guitar at the top of the list? if so how did that get 8 votes being primarily a guitarist I am shocked

I find the noise of the guitar in a way "ignorant" and "conceded"

[ahinton]

I find the noise of the guitar in a way "ignorant" and "conceded"

Irrespective of who is playing what music on it? Amazing! Chopin (during his Mallorcan sojourn) is, I believe, credited with having observed that there is but one sound finer than that of the guitar and that is two guitars; presumably your perceptions of "ignorance" and "concession" would have been lost on Chopin...

Best,

Alistair

[pianochick93]

 

Who said flute???

Flutes are awesome...I play one.

Personally though, I detest the sound of the harpischord.

[organed]

very surprised to see 10 votes against harpsichord!

Me too! I enjoy performing on the harpsichord - and really, Boroque music sounds better on a harpsichord as Bach, Handel, Pachelbel, Buxtehude didn't compose for piano as it really wasn't available yet. For keyboard, they composed for organ and harpsichord. Now, piano is more expressive than a harpsichord, but it is a great instrument perfect for small Boroque ensembles. I am primarily an organist, but as with most organists I also studied harpsichord as my secondary instrument. Of course, the piano was the first instrument I learned as any reputable organ teacher will not allow a student to study organ until they have had a couple of years and have become fairly proficient on the piano.

I like all three of the major keyboard instruments.

[hey_jude98]

I can't believe banjo was the most voted. I love banjos! I choose trombone because it's to hard to play.

[hey_jude98]

I can't believe two people voted for piano

[hey_jude98]

very surprised to see 10 votes against harpsichord!

Me three! I love Harpsichords! They sound so cool

[kayordee]

pretty annoying

You know there's a game called Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles that uses this instrument as backing in some of the games music. It actually sounds really nice as a backing instrument - the game is based around a medieval period, they incorporate alot of old instruments into the soundtrac; it's nice.

[point of grace]

one more vote against the harpsichord here