How long have you gone without playing music and why?
How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Reading a comment in another thread made me think back on a lifetime of playing music. I can honestly say that from about 14 to 46 I've only *not* played music a couple of days. Even when I had a stroke and was in a hospital for two weeks I played an electronic keyboard with my good hand(having a private room in a learning hospital had it's advantages-and they say the health care here sucks!?!). Just wondering about other folks here? Any long lapses in your playing?
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Sometimes I don't play for a week or two at a time, but then I play almost every day for a while, then it gets more sporadic again, and so on. Lately, I have been writing a good bit, as an editor who used to like my work recently resurfaced, and started asking for more. So the music got less attention during the past year. There is only so much time in a day...
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Music is essential to life. I don't play in the car anymore. Aside from that I play every morning when I wake up & every night before going to sleep. So, the longest I'll go without playing is when I don't have my flute during the day ~ probably 6 to 10 hours.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Was that my comment? The longest i've ever gone without music is six months. It was after my 4th year of piano. I moved to Chattanooga, Tn. to try living with my Dad for a school semester when i was 11 or 12 years old. I only remember playing a cheap keyboard twice in a wal-mart and taking a poorly taught music class.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I'm like Al Brown. Sometimes in the summer I'm just too busy doing other things and the music takes a break. Other times I can't seem to keep away from playing - I leave my (Delrin) flute lying around and pick it up lots during the day. My partner often goes to bed early and can't handle noise, so night time is usually out.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I broke my left collar bone once falling on ice during a hike in the mountains. I had to give a the fiddle for a couple of weeks until I figured out that I could still play by disconnecting the sling from the strap around my body. It wasn't the best position, but it worked. Later, I broke the radius bone in my right arm. I was in a cast from my fingers to my shoulder for several weeks, then several more weeks of physical therapy. So, altogether, I was not able to play at all for about 6 months.
I don't play every day now, but I play several times a week. I especially like to play when people come over to dance or just to sit around in the kitchen having tunes. Luckily for me, that happens often enough.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I was in a car accident in 1990, didn't play for 4 1/2 years. Then I got a dead man's bone (coulda been a woman's, but I like the sound of "dead man's bone"), and titanium installed in my neck and was ...... healed! (that would be two syllables, he-allled). When I picked up the fiddle 8 weeks after surgery, it never sounded so sweet!
Although, those 4 1/2 years were difficult. I just about lost my mind, was quite on the verge.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
wyogal, I just had my C3 and C4 fused back in June. Yes, dead man's bone and a titanium plate and screws. Was playing mandolin the next day, and fiddle a few weeks later. Haven't looked back (lol, still don't have enough range of motion in my neck for *that* ).
I've taken long breaks from a specific instrument or two due to injuries and chronic joint problems, but I've always just switched to a different instrument. Since I was 7, never really going musicless more than a few days at a stretch. And I'm 52 now....
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Lately life's been busy enough that I can go for a few weeks at a time playing pretty much only at the session, I might pick up the box once a week. Funny enough, earlier this evening I picked up the guitar and played a few tunes - it turns out I do lose some flexibility after a few weeks of not playing... I suppose I'll have to play a bit more.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I'm inclined to think that as you get older you are inclined to play less. I sometimes find myself with a queue of tunes in my head waiting to be practiced. It must be great to be a whistle or a flute player, especially the whistle. If you hear a 'must have' tune all you have to do is whip the whistle out from an inside pocket and play. I have to psych myself up to find the accordion case, open it up and strap on the box. By the time I've done all that, the 'must have tune' has faded into oblivion. My sympathies however are with the uileann piper who nearly has to get planning permission before the pipes are assembled and ready to play.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
The longest I have ever gone without playing music was the four years when I was an enlisted man in the military and didn't have access to an instrument.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I was in a rock band that recorded for some national labels in the mid-60's. I stopped playing in 1969 because my life was crazy and I didn't think I was a very good guitar player.
I started playing again in 2006, acoustic guitar in an Irish session. I won't say the layoff did me a world of good, but I now play for myself, and try very hard not to compare myself with other guitar players. I try to learn from any mucisian I come in contact with, and play with musicians who are better than me.
I play in a local Celtic band, and we have a lot of fun!
Oh, it was only a 37 year layoff. The only thing that concerns me now is, do I have time to get really good? The better I get, the better I realize how much better I need to get.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I sliced three of my fingers open with a circular saw, on my last cut of the day. All I can say is that the sun was hot, and I must have been suffering from heat stroke which made me make a crucial mistake. My band faded away, but I fell in love with a beautiful woman at the same time, though we are no longer together. I eventually recovered and am able to play again. After that I spent all my savings on a fiddle, because I'd always wanted to play fiddle and it was through fiddling that I discovered Irish music, although I had been dabbling on the five string banjo for a year or more. It's been 7 years since that one where I basically couldn't play. a few years ago I bought my 17 fret tenor banjo so I could do on a banjo what was developing in my fiddle playing.
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Bail รณ Dhia oraibh! Greetings all!
I feel quite humbled in reading some of the experiences shared here. Some of you have had quite horrific experiences.
Anyway for what it's worth there have been two occasions in my musical journey when I didn't or couldn't play.
I tend to play every day, and have instruments lying about, and might pick one up here, and another one there.
However the two times I didn't were quite long layoffs for me.
In 1987 I, with my girlfriend, was blessed with the birth of a beautiful baby boy. How my playing surged, joy bubbling from within. Sadly, exactly a month after he was born he died a cot death. I just couldn't pick up a flute, I didn't/couldn't go out. Everything just felt so empty. I didn't play again until the October.
I used to work with a charity NACRO, 16-18 year old young offenders.
In March 1990, one of my trainees flipped, and my right shoulder was badly injured. In that instance I couldn't pick up a flute for about four months, and even then that wasn't that frequent.
Over these last few years the injury has caught up, and some days it is incredibly difficult, painful to try and play the fiddle; bowing becomes a test of fortitude!
I think it's called the cuff which has been damaged. and when there's a weather front coming through, my shoulder beats the forecasters!
Anyway, as I wrote above, some of you have had some terrible times, mine aren't so bad by comparison I suppose.
How long have you gone without playing music and why?
How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Reading a comment in another thread made me think back on a lifetime of playing music. I can honestly say that from about 14 to 46 I've only *not* played music a couple of days. Even when I had a stroke and was in a hospital for two weeks I played an electronic keyboard with my good hand(having a private room in a learning hospital had it's advantages-and they say the health care here sucks!?!). Just wondering about other folks here? Any long lapses in your playing?
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by shanty
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Sometimes I don't play for a week or two at a time, but then I play almost every day for a while, then it gets more sporadic again, and so on. Lately, I have been writing a good bit, as an editor who used to like my work recently resurfaced, and started asking for more. So the music got less attention during the past year. There is only so much time in a day...
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by AlBrown
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Music is essential to life. I don't play in the car anymore. Aside from that I play every morning when I wake up & every night before going to sleep. So, the longest I'll go without playing is when I don't have my flute during the day ~ probably 6 to 10 hours.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Batgirl has left the GPL ;)
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Was that my comment? The longest i've ever gone without music is six months. It was after my 4th year of piano. I moved to Chattanooga, Tn. to try living with my Dad for a school semester when i was 11 or 12 years old. I only remember playing a cheap keyboard twice in a wal-mart and taking a poorly taught music class.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by fiddlelearner
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I'm like Al Brown. Sometimes in the summer I'm just too busy doing other things and the music takes a break. Other times I can't seem to keep away from playing - I leave my (Delrin) flute lying around and pick it up lots during the day. My partner often goes to bed early and can't handle noise, so night time is usually out.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Bredna
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I broke my left collar bone once falling on ice during a hike in the mountains. I had to give a the fiddle for a couple of weeks until I figured out that I could still play by disconnecting the sling from the strap around my body. It wasn't the best position, but it worked. Later, I broke the radius bone in my right arm. I was in a cast from my fingers to my shoulder for several weeks, then several more weeks of physical therapy. So, altogether, I was not able to play at all for about 6 months.
I don't play every day now, but I play several times a week. I especially like to play when people come over to dance or just to sit around in the kitchen having tunes. Luckily for me, that happens often enough.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by John Culhane
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I was in a car accident in 1990, didn't play for 4 1/2 years. Then I got a dead man's bone (coulda been a woman's, but I like the sound of "dead man's bone"), and titanium installed in my neck and was ...... healed! (that would be two syllables, he-allled). When I picked up the fiddle 8 weeks after surgery, it never sounded so sweet!
Although, those 4 1/2 years were difficult. I just about lost my mind, was quite on the verge.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Wyogal
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
wyogal, I just had my C3 and C4 fused back in June. Yes, dead man's bone and a titanium plate and screws. Was playing mandolin the next day, and fiddle a few weeks later. Haven't looked back (lol, still don't have enough range of motion in my neck for *that*
).
I've taken long breaks from a specific instrument or two due to injuries and chronic joint problems, but I've always just switched to a different instrument. Since I was 7, never really going musicless more than a few days at a stretch. And I'm 52 now....
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Will Harmon
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
That's a great story, wyogal. Good for you!
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by John Culhane
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
We'll have to collaborate on a tune, Will. Dead Man's Bone is too good a title to pass up, eh?
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Wyogal
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
And good for you too, Will. Modern orthopedics can work miracles, yes?
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by John Culhane
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
at "breakneck" speed
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Wyogal
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Lately life's been busy enough that I can go for a few weeks at a time playing pretty much only at the session, I might pick up the box once a week. Funny enough, earlier this evening I picked up the guitar and played a few tunes - it turns out I do lose some flexibility after a few weeks of not playing... I suppose I'll have to play a bit more.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I'm inclined to think that as you get older you are inclined to play less. I sometimes find myself with a queue of tunes in my head waiting to be practiced. It must be great to be a whistle or a flute player, especially the whistle. If you hear a 'must have' tune all you have to do is whip the whistle out from an inside pocket and play. I have to psych myself up to find the accordion case, open it up and strap on the box. By the time I've done all that, the 'must have tune' has faded into oblivion. My sympathies however are with the uileann piper who nearly has to get planning permission before the pipes are assembled and ready to play.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Free Reed
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
The longest I have ever gone without playing music was the four years when I was an enlisted man in the military and didn't have access to an instrument.
Laurence
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by fauxcelt
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Most of my life because I didn't know how. :/
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Marc C
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I was in a rock band that recorded for some national labels in the mid-60's. I stopped playing in 1969 because my life was crazy and I didn't think I was a very good guitar player.
I started playing again in 2006, acoustic guitar in an Irish session. I won't say the layoff did me a world of good, but I now play for myself, and try very hard not to compare myself with other guitar players. I try to learn from any mucisian I come in contact with, and play with musicians who are better than me.
I play in a local Celtic band, and we have a lot of fun!
Oh, it was only a 37 year layoff. The only thing that concerns me now is, do I have time to get really good? The better I get, the better I realize how much better I need to get.
# Posted on September 1st 2011 by Celtic Guitar
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
You're like anyone. You have all the time you'll ever need, and not a minute of it to waste.
# Posted on September 1st 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
I sliced three of my fingers open with a circular saw, on my last cut of the day. All I can say is that the sun was hot, and I must have been suffering from heat stroke which made me make a crucial mistake. My band faded away, but I fell in love with a beautiful woman at the same time, though we are no longer together. I eventually recovered and am able to play again. After that I spent all my savings on a fiddle, because I'd always wanted to play fiddle and it was through fiddling that I discovered Irish music, although I had been dabbling on the five string banjo for a year or more. It's been 7 years since that one where I basically couldn't play. a few years ago I bought my 17 fret tenor banjo so I could do on a banjo what was developing in my fiddle playing.
# Posted on September 1st 2011 by Earl Cameron
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
5 years.
And then my Mammy took me to my first piano lesson from a terrifying old dragon who lived in the next street.
# Posted on September 3rd 2011 by Trevor Jennings
Re: How long have you gone without playing music and why?
Bail รณ Dhia oraibh! Greetings all!
I feel quite humbled in reading some of the experiences shared here. Some of you have had quite horrific experiences.
Anyway for what it's worth there have been two occasions in my musical journey when I didn't or couldn't play.
I tend to play every day, and have instruments lying about, and might pick one up here, and another one there.
However the two times I didn't were quite long layoffs for me.
In 1987 I, with my girlfriend, was blessed with the birth of a beautiful baby boy. How my playing surged, joy bubbling from within. Sadly, exactly a month after he was born he died a cot death. I just couldn't pick up a flute, I didn't/couldn't go out. Everything just felt so empty. I didn't play again until the October.
I used to work with a charity NACRO, 16-18 year old young offenders.
In March 1990, one of my trainees flipped, and my right shoulder was badly injured. In that instance I couldn't pick up a flute for about four months, and even then that wasn't that frequent.
Over these last few years the injury has caught up, and some days it is incredibly difficult, painful to try and play the fiddle; bowing becomes a test of fortitude!
I think it's called the cuff which has been damaged. and when there's a weather front coming through, my shoulder beats the forecasters!
Anyway, as I wrote above, some of you have had some terrible times, mine aren't so bad by comparison I suppose.
All the best
Brian x
# Posted on September 4th 2011 by briantheflute