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Some say you can tell a lot about a person by the books they read or the music they listen to. As I peruse my own audio and text libraries I find myself wondering if their presents reflects my personality or otherwise says something about me, besides the obvious.
I also began to wonder if my preferences in musical instruments somehow reflect some personal aspect, or if the choices are simply due to personal limitations in music craft, or some other reason.
I can list many reasons why I prefer the instruments I do, and I have some perfectly adequate reasons why I reject others. Most of my current choices have something to do with their portability and the mellow or angelic tones which emanate from them. IMO
I still have instruments on my want-to-try list that I may never have time for if I plan to become reasonably proficient with the instruments with which I currently practice making music.
Please list, if you dare, or care:
1. Those instruments you currently play.
2. Those that you are unwilling to spend time to learn.
3. Those to which you plan to give some serious attention in the future.
My choices:
1, Violin, recorder, fife, concert flute,
2. Piano, bass, drums, guitar, horn or most any large or loud instrument, harp
3. perhaps harmonica, banjo, dulcimer, concertina or button melodeon.
Go ahead and give it some thought, then submit your likes and dislikes.
thanks
99 % of the people I meet are self absorbed human waste sphincters.
1 % play fiddle
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Me?
I was just given a viola and am very interested in it.
As for the future, a Uke is a possibility.
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of 
..... What was I saying???? 
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1. Those instruments you currently play.
- violin (learning, of course)
- guitar
- recorder
- fife (Was in a fife & drum corps when I was a kid. Don't play it much anymore.)
- flute (Was in the marching band in high school, but also don't play this much anymore, either.)
2. Those that you are unwilling to spend time to learn.
- piano (not coordinated enough...it's like playing two instruments at once),
- bass (seems boring, especially playing by yourself)
- anything brass (too harsh and, again, pointless unless you're in a band)
3. Those to which you plan to give some serious attention in the future.
Maybe some day:
- banjo
- mountain dulcimer
- hammer dulcimer
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
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I seem tbeo be having problems adding a reply, same for the last couple of days.
anyone else having a poblem or is it just me?
I'm quoting Diane here, Its the only way I can get to write something, though I had to delete the original response, sorry Di.
1) I used to play bugle, fan-fare trumpet, B flat trumpet, snare drum and french horn for my local Scouts marching band and at school.
I currently learn the violin.
For the future I would love to play the balalyka just like Alexei Arkhipovsky.
(If you haven't seen him yet, check him out on youtube. His playing on only 3 strings is magical!!)
http://youtu.be/2QggZKw26w0
I'm so jealous of Naska who may get the chance to see him live! well, more chance than me anyway!!
I would love to play either the Timpani, or the equivalent Japanese drums () real "balsy" instruments.
And for some wierd reason I'm developing an interest in playing the cello. though how I'll get it to fit under my chin is anyones guess!
I am amazed at how old people of my age are.....
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@ Kindascratchy
Your choices are on par with my own....that's interesting. Perhaps sometime we will have the opportunity to talk over our interests in the banjo.
@ TerryT
The Balalyka looks interesting, and the percussion shows can be kind of thrilling the first time around. It might be fun to get in with them for a few minutes.
@ Ferret
You lucked out with the viola,,,,,well done. On the other hand, I own a nice ukulele and have given it some effort. For some reason it just doesn't seem to have enough, well, let me call it SPIRIT. I keep it around for the kids, but I don't think I'm gonna give much more attention. My good friend plays one very well, however, every time I pick mine up I think of Tiny Tim...lol...God save me! Good luck to you.
I am having no trouble at all with the web site. I easily make these posts and replies with or without quotes, and I'm in Asia with the worst internet service you could imagine. Well, I'm sure you could imagine. 
99 % of the people I meet are self absorbed human waste sphincters.
1 % play fiddle
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I love topics like this! It great insight to the lives of other musicians! .....and new ideas for us all!
Let's see, my lists:
1. What I can play (and own): Violin, Trumpet/Bb Cornet, Bass Guitar, Guitar, Piano, Alto Sax, Accordion, Uke (learning), Baritone (no longer own one), Jaw Harp.....yup, that's right, I own and play a jaw harp! LOL
2. Unwilling to learn: ....well, I honestly am willing to try any instrument! I just love playing! ....but I do have a problem with drums for some reason. I'm not sure why! Plus now, in my physical condition (spine damage), I don't think I am able to.
3. Serious Consideration: I would have to say Uke, mandolin and concertina. I think those would be really fun! We have a uke, but it's one of my wife's Christmas presents, so Shhh! LOL
Violin has become one of my primary instruments now along with Trumpet, Bass Guitar and piano. I play my trumpet and bass at least 3 times a week and Piano & violin at least 5 times a day! Put is this way, between my wife and myself, you can go through our apartment without tripping over a different instrument! 
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” ~Benjamin Franklin
When I was a kid in grade school, a recorder was called a "Tonette".
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@Terry: I found that I am able to enjoy that Alexei Arkhipovsky balalyka video, but only if I scroll the page down far enough that the the player is not visible above the shoulders!
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Annon said
@ KindascratchyYour choices are on par with my own....that's interesting. Perhaps sometime we will have the opportunity to talk over our interests in the banjo.
@ TerryT
The Balalyka looks interesting, and the percussion shows can be kind of thrilling the first time around. It might be fun to get in with them for a few minutes.
@ Ferret
You lucked out with the viola,,,,,well done. On the other hand, I own a nice ukulele and have given it some effort. For some reason it just doesn't seem to have enough, well, let me call it SPIRIT. I keep it around for the kids, but I don't think I'm gonna give much more attention. My good friend plays one very well, however, every time I pick mine up I think of Tiny Tim...lol...God save me! Good luck to you.
I am having no trouble at all with the web site. I easily make these posts and replies with or without quotes, and I'm in Asia with the worst internet service you could imagine. Well, I'm sure you could imagine.
All I did to get the viola was to let the family know that I was thinking of buying and the next thing you know I've got one
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of ..... What was I saying????
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Ferret said
All I did to get the viola was to let the family know that I was thinking of buying and the next thing you know I've got one
There seems to be some merit to your methods......I'll have to give it a shot. 
99 % of the people I meet are self absorbed human waste sphincters.
1 % play fiddle
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I've decided to add clarinet to my list of someday-I'll-get-to-it.
99 % of the people I meet are self absorbed human waste sphincters.
1 % play fiddle
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Instruments I currently play:
Guitar (electric and acoustic), electric bass, keyboards, violin, dulcimer, autoharp, oud, harp, and some woodwinds (bamboo flute, fife, piccolo, recorder).
Instruments I am unwilling to learn:
Well, I don't know if unwilling is the right word. But I didn't have much luck with trumpet or drums (other than being able to maybe keep a basic beat on simple hand drums). I don't think I have the lip for it or the hand/foot coordination.
Instruments I plan to give some serious attention in the future:
I don't know as I work that way, it is more a matter of what I can get and get started on than a plan or list. But I do have a clarinet that needs some minor repair that I've wanted to try, and I have a harmonica that I haven't ever done much with where I can probably learn it.
Other than that, though, the world is full of interesting instruments and music. What ones I may end up trying depends on what ones I can get and how long I end up living. Every instrument adds something to one's idea of music, and in the course of learning even the beginner moves on it, you learn some elements of theory and etc in greater depth and get new ideas. Old ideas/songs often will find new life on a new instrument, as well.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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DanielB said
Instruments I am unwilling to learn:Well, I don't know if unwilling is the right word.
The idea of the inquiry is not so much to slither through the quagmire of semantics as it is to ascertain a relative sense of the past, present, and future musical instrument preferences of the respondent.....to which, thankfully, you supplied a generous self description; although you misquoted the second question.
As our time each day is limited and, as you pointed out, our time on earth may be limited, we do not have so much of it as we might like to divide between a selection of instruments which appeal to us; that is to say, while at least trying to gain a pleasant degree of proficiency. Our time with which to practice is effectively cut in half by choosing just two.
So, although many of us might embrace with fondness the notion of having within our control a vast selection of musical instruments with which to adorn our walls and corners, there are practical limits as to which ones will receive the attention. I do not believe that many of us would choose to practice with 50 instruments several times a week only to marginalize our potential as musicians.
However, I find within your post some very profound and enlightening sentences:
"Every instrument adds something to one's idea of music"
"Old ideas/songs often will find new life on a new instrument"
This, I dare say, is wisdom.
99 % of the people I meet are self absorbed human waste sphincters.
1 % play fiddle
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DanielB said
I didn't have much luck with trumpet ... I don't think I have the lip for it
Not to say that you or anybody should pursue trumpet, but it takes some time for the lips to adapt to trumpet playing. So you probably can't make a good tone at first. Something like five or ten minutes a few times a day at first would help you work into it.
But trumpet lacks an easy visual relationship between its manipulations and the pitches produced. With violin we are used to moving toward the bridge or to the right---in a sense linearly---to make a higher note, and to the left or toward the nut to make a lower one. With trumpet, the pitches are encoded into valve combinations and overtones that don't have such obvious relations to pitch.
Another source of confusion is that the trumpet is a transposing instrument, and it plays a whole tone lower than its music is written. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....rument So a million kids were actually playing B flat all the time they were reading C on the staff and thought they were playing C.
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Annon said
I do not believe that many of us would choose to practice with 50 instruments several times a week only to marginalize our potential as musicians.
That is quite different than how I think of it. Interesting viewpoint, though. I think of my potential as a musician to relate to music itself rather than any instrument in particular. Each instrument adds something to what I know and what I understand, so I feel they increase my appreciation as well as widening my experience in music.
I can see your point, I think, though. If I had restricted my interests to only guitar, for example, I might be more technically proficient with that particular instrument, I suppose. But I don't think I would have enjoyed the years as much.
I don't think I view music so much as something to use to achieve objectives as I think of it as something one does and is.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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I'm so impressed with those of you that can play multiple instruments. Have any of you ever made recordings, adding another instrument each time, so that you end up with your own little orchestra?
The most beautiful things in life cannot be touched or seen. They must be felt with the heart. ~Helen Keller~
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1. Those instruments you currently play.
Does instruments that you've played count if you just taking a break? If so, piano, guitar, recorder and violin. Violin is the only one I own and play at this point, but I will take up at least guitar and piano soon.
2. Those that you are unwilling to spend time to learn.
I can't find any instruments that I'm unwilling to learn. I want to learn everything from cello to mouth harp. Only thing that's stoping me its time.
3. Those to which you plan to give some serious attention in the future.
Piano and violin.
'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.
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@LindaK: Sometimes, though not to the point where I'd call it orchestra. LOL
Violin, I don't play all that well yet, so I haven't done much with putting together more than the occasional practice recordings, sometimes with a part I played on guitar as accompaniment.
I put at least one up on the forum, back when I was posting practice takes once a week. The first post in this thread was one where I first recorded a guitar track and then recorded a violin track:
https://fiddlerman.com/forum/s.....ice-takes/
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
TerryT said
...For the future I would love to play the balalyka just like Alexei Arkhipovsky....
Start right now then! =) Do You have a balalaika already? XD
Planning to continue playing Bass guitar and play piano sometimes (synthesizer... not a real piano =\) btw
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LindaK said
I'm so impressed with those of you that can play multiple instruments. Have any of you ever made recordings, adding another instrument each time, so that you end up with your own little orchestra?
As a matter of fact, I've been planning to do that, Linda. Probably a fiddle/guitar combo or maybe fiddle/recorder on a Colonial tune. Just have to get a little better on the fiddle. I won't have a bunch of other Fiddlerman members to cover me up!
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
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