Musical Instruments Thread

[whistle]

I've been playing the violin for 13 years, during most of which I've been in various school and a few community orchestras. as you'd expect from someone who's been playing for this long, I'm pretty decent, but nothing mindblowingly awesome. sometimes I go to a concert and there's a soloist there who plays really well, then I think to myself "if only I practiced a lot more" (as in hours+ per day through grade school)... but in general I'm pretty happy with my skill level because there aren't many songs that I wish I could play but can't due to technical reasons (a few bach sonata/partitas especially :( ). I don't see myself doing music for a living but it's definitely going to be something that I enjoy doing for a long time to come!

 

[Otterpaw]

Dunno if anyone posting in this thread lives in PA, but if you do, you'd likely be familiar with PMEA festivals (District/Region/State level for those who aren't); I did those in HS, and those audition solos for Districts were HARD. The one I had sophomore year (Morceau Symphonique, written in 6 flats) was probably the worst of the 3 range-wise; the thing was filled with high notes (Upper G Flat, A Flat, and B Flat) and an optional C (the one above the aforementioned B Flat.)

I'm a high school Clarinetist from the Pittsburgh area, currently 2nd chair in the upper band. I was a middle 3rd Clarinet in the PMEA honors band (one of the only true competitive high school bands), and I'm auditioning soon for which chair I'll be in within the first clarinets of the district bands.

 

[Focus]

I took piano lessons for several years, and I stopped when I started playing the trumpet. I consider myself pretty good at it (I made the top Texas All-State Band for three straight years in high school). However, my high register seriously sucks. My senior year, I took a piano course and played the toccatta section of Toccatta and Fugue in D minor for a concert! It was a blast! I also got a guitar last year, and have been playing it almost nonstop since.

In band class, I was the one who frequently got in trouble for playing other people's instruments (I really like playing the trombone and the flute, but I could never quite get the embouchure right for the clarinet). Also, I had a good ol' time teaching myself how to play the recorder a couple years back. If you hand me an instrument, you can be sure that I will obsessed with it for a solid month.

 

[Delibird1]

I played baritone in 7th through12th grade
and now I play guitar and trumpet for about 3 years now

 

[ocarina of rhyme]

I was never taught to play the french horn. I did play Tuba for 2 years in high school. That was 7 years ago. Just the other day my mom showed me her new french horn (she teaches and plays music at a local college). I picked it up and started playing the chromatic scale by ear. They're just not trying.

sorry for the late response on this, but i can say from experience that the french horn is very difficult to play, but from what you said about your four horn players, it sounds like they're just lazy. though horn is difficult to play, a Bb scale is, like, the first scale we learn.

 

[Lanturn314]

I've been playing clarinet and piano since 5th grade and flute since 7th grade. In my high school years, I was pretty good at clarinet, making districts all four years and all-states my senior year... Now, I'm pretty bad at it. I play in my college wind ensemble, where everybody sucks, so I'm not motivated to practice as much anymore, whereas in high school, the band I played in was good, so trying to sound good had more purpose back then.

I still play piano almost every day though, and I guess I'm OK at it. I play mostly Chopin, Debussy, and Beethoven, but I sometimes work on things by other composers as well. I've written a few of my own pieces, but I'm the first to admit that they suck. Playing these things helps keep me sane, though, as I truly love playing the piano. My parents got me an electronic keyboard that has weighted keys almost like a real piano as a hs graduation present, so I can even play in my dorm in college without pissing off fellow residents :D

And I've never been any good at flute. It's really just something I picked up for fun, and I've never been serious enough about it to get any good.

 

[alamaster]

I've played the guitar for just over 3 years...still suck at it lol. The internet told me that chicks dig it though so I'ma keep playing

 

[Annhialator Zero]

Been playing the guitar for two and a half years. No grades yet although I'm aiming for 5/6 soon. I play the thing basically non-stop, and I'm currently arranging all of Toccata and Fugue for guitar/bass (Ironic that a previous poster mentioned it) for my AS-level Music performance. I'm in a band and we're wrapping up the process of recording our second song (First is an instrumental guitar piece performed entirely by myself). For my playing itself my strongest area is definitely tapping. I could do Metallica's "One" at only four months of playing. Granted it sounded horrible and jerky, but the sheer speed required to do that (7.2 taps per second!) isn't bad if I do say so myself, and my fluency has greatly improved over the last two years. Still no Chris Broderick though :P that shit is crazy.

Sorry if that came off as horrifically arrogant, I've been told I do that a lot and I don't mean to.

 

[Carbon Lifeform]

I've been playing the clarinet for seven years along with tenor sax for almost three. Somehow I'm much better at my sax...