Do you name your instrument?

[Vivers]

I remember my first lesson with my second violin teacher a few years ago. She walked into the room and asked "does it have a name?" while I was tuning up. I had no idea what she was asking, but she thought that every instrument should have a name. I still haven't named my violin, and I've never named my instruments.... not my pianos, and not all the other 5 violins I had. And definitely not my plastic recorder.

I do, however, have crazy band and orchestra friends... my one friend named her oboe  'Obedia,' and her trombone 'Sir Dingleton,' and my bassoon friend named his 'Brigadeur.' They treat their instruments like people and like to talk to them, make people apologise for treating them like the inanimate objects that they are, etc.

So... have you ever named your instruments?

[cysoto]

Wow!!  That’s one weird group of friends that you got there…  I feel compelled to tell you that, although your band mates may think differently, Puff is not a Magic Dragon.  Tell your colleagues to stay away from him!! 

[quasimodo]

Yes, sometimes I name my Yamaha U1 "Stupid Arrogant B*tch" when I can't manage to sort out some difficult passage  .

[Allegroconfuoco]

LOL 

[Hmoll]

Yes.

I also named my piano.

[Vivers]

Everyone knows that band kids are crazy! Even more crazy though are marching band kids... and band kids who go to band camp at every chance... those would be my friends. It's sad. But then again, I used to be an orchestra kid...

Does naming your instrument make you feel closer to the music you make, does it make you treat your instrument better, or is it a manifestation of craziness (I'm sure the latter is the case in my strange friends... they make a big deal of their Sir Dingleton.)

[squinchy]

I call nearly every inanimate object "Mr. --generic name of object--" if I feel like being anthropomorphic with it. Therefore, my printer is Mr. Evil-constantly-broken-printer, my stuffed duck is Mr. Duck, and the vanilla fudge swirl ice cream I am currently eating would be Mr. Ice Cream if I had the least inclination to talk with it or something. Of course, this never works with instruments. I've never came up with a name for my piano, and my viola hasn't a name yet. It went through a phase of being Lumpy the Viola, but that was last year.

[bizgirl]

No, I cannot say that I have.  I think, if I did, my names would follow a pattern similar to Squinchy's.  Say it like it is with "Mr." in front.

[Bob]

My piano won't speak to me.    At least that's what the voices say.

[The Swede]

Sounds equally silly as people to remane other people and some men naming their...you know...

My Grand is a Pleijel , it had that namne from the factory and I´m certainly not gonna change it.  Too difficult to redo the intarsia

[chozart]

i haven't heard of people naming their pianos... cellos, yes
didn't Jacqueline Du Pré call hers David?
that's what one of my friends calls hers..

anyway, I really don't see a point to calling a piano by a name other than it's brand - pianists seem to have enough fun saying that anyway

[Bacfokievrahms]

I call my piano names like "nancyboy" or "sissy spacek" or "modern day girl" to challenge its masculinity so it feels like it has something to prove.

[rafant]

Sometimes I like to refuse some invitation to an evening event saying "Sorry, I made an appointment with Mr. Kawai".

[allchopin]

Yes.

I also named my piano.

Heh, risqué 

[sirpazhan]

his name is sirpazhan,,, after me! 

[pianonut]

dear all,

this is my second posting.  i feel that whatever piano i am playing on, we are one and the same.  it is my best expression of myself outside of poetry.  my son, being a computer person, would probably name it "see-me-play-me" tho.