Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Hello all - this is the first time I've submitted a discussion so try not to savage me too bad (now I've asked for it...)
Anyway, this thought has popped into my mind often - sometimes I find myself listening to beautiful music and next thing I know I'm trying to figure out the key, the tuning on the guitar/bouzouki/banjo or what-have-you.... thereby missing the point in some ways, i.e. hearing the actual music and not just it's components. So I try to get back to that never-played-an-instrument frame of mind, but it's difficult enough to stay there.
Does this make sense to anyone or am I just a sad eejit?
Thanks for your time.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I feel your pain. I have the annoying habit of practising the bowing of whatever tune is in my mind - air fiddle with my index finger so to speak - until people in my vicinity think I'm stroking the empty air. Very embarrassing at times.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
In the days when I used to do those awful grade exams, one of the tests was to sing back the bottom line of something played on the piano. Because I play purely melody instruments - fiddle, oboe - I realised that I wasn't really listening to what went on underneath - I sang the top line back perfectly and failed that part of the test!!
It's not a problem in Irish music that is top line driven but I sometimes wonder whether I'm getting the full effect of other music!
The other thing I tend to do is subconciously pick out the instruments I play. My husband sound engineers and I always think the fiddle/oboe are too loud just because my brain is subconsciously focussing on them whereas he has such a good ear for the complete sound.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
What a strange thought. It has never really occurred to me, so no, I certainly don't wish that. Think of yourself as having the privelege to be able to play. That you're a wee bit special compared to your average Joe.
Same goes for any other specialised skillset or faculty you possess.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
But, when you're listening, don't you secretly sit there analysing the structure, harmonies, etc?
When people say "music is all about emotion" or "I let the music flow over me" I can't see that at all. To me it's a sequence and a discipline. Not that I don't love listening, I just find it difficult to simply enjoy. I guess I would love a simple painting, where otehrs would be critical about the technique, relation to art history, etc. I don't know about that stuff, so I just enjoy the painting.
The worst for me is say, on a conference where people play music in the background, because it's very distracting. I can't help but listen to it. For me it's as distracting as having someone reading poetry in the background.
So I don't wish I couldn't play, just that I realise different people listen differently, and once you've played an instrument there's no going back.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
PS Tarantella, I've had the opposite when recording sound for people - a choir member who asked me to record Berlioz's Te Deum (and if you know the piece, you'll know there's a LOT of stuff happening in it!!) and said choir member then complaining that the basses (the section he sang in) were sounding too distant. To me it all sounded just right, and of course, he was thinking of his perspective and not how the audience hears it. But that's a whole 'nother discussion.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
There's a stage of learning an instrument or a musical form where it's common to strip the music down to its individual parts, and your brain labels and catalogues all the bits, neat as a pin.
Analysis.
Our brains pride themselves on this new understanding through dissection, but it may also feel like the magic or mystery has gone fromthe music. I remember this stage lasting quite a while. But then we learn to listen beyond the bits and pieces again and hear things in the mix we never knew existed before.
Synthesis.
And the magic is back.
Sometimes I go through a Cliff notes version of this process when learning an unfamiliar tune. Because it's unfamiliar, it sounds mysterious--I struggle to hear the intervals accurately, or the rhythym is quirky. But the analytical side soon makes sense of what was once mysterious, which can feel like such a let down: "You mean, this is all it is? How simple. Why did it sound so foreign? Oh well." I almost wish I didn't know how to take the tune apart. But then in finessing the bits back to a cohesive whole tune again I learn to recreate the mystery myself, and that's one of the best feelings in the world.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
You are a sad eejit.
Im in the same boat as you, so I am to.
I play plucky stringed instruments. But I tire of the sound of the banjo.
I tire of backing.
I tire of the mellow sound of the mando....
I never bring them all to a session, so i always get p*ssed off with the one i was playing at the end of the session. I dont like to commit myself to one thing, cause at my rate I never feel like im improving, and begin to detest the sounds Im making.
Ahhh Im secretly learning the flute and have been for a while. but thats a whole other degree of unsuccessfullness.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I know exactly what you mean, hurleystick. I'm the same way with movies, so I don't watch them; once you've worked in enough of them, you're busy looking at the production values and the editing and the lighting and all that, rather than allowing yourself to be transported into this new world.
But I agree with Will, too. I'm only just now starting to move into that synthesis arena now, so I can only sort of dimly see that far-off goal, but I think it's something to be aware is a normal stage of growth as a musician.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
The other day, I was watching a sunset in the west and a moon rise in the east and decided to stop driving, pull over, get my instruments out. I decided to get my instruments out and play some music. I was about 600 feet above a river in the Sierra Mountains. I drank a beer and relaxed into playing for a long time, until it started to get dark. I was going to leave, but some light fog had formed and I had a 360 degree circle of beauty still all around me.
Then the police were driving by and heard the music and stopped to check me out. Since it was half dark, the officer approached me with her hand on her pistol. I was taken straight out of playing music and enjoying beauty to having to respond almost at gun point to a Nazi law enforcement officer. I was hesitant with my words (a usual response to anyone with their hand on their pistol). She wanted know the name of the song I was playing, and I had to stop and remember the title. She asked about my collection of instruments. I was going to say Bouzouki, but looked at the pistol again and said "Mandolin." She saw my Bodhran and I said "Irish Drum." She smelled the beer on my breath and gave me a lecture about not drinking and driving. I tried to look earnestly interested knowing that I have my self imposed limit of two beers, ales, stouts and no hard liquor. Compared to my misspent youth, that is mild. I don't seriously drink and drive.
The lesson I learned was that I need to be on the look out for police cars, stop playing and hide the instruments. They will probably think of me as some tourist and not dare bother me for fear of hurting the local economy.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Most interesting, helpful and amusing comments so far, thanks lads - now I am officially a sad eejit but am glad to also be a "wee bit special" - that almost sounds worse....
Interesting to think that this whole thing is a stage of playing - that hadn't occurred to me as it seems pretty permanent by now; not that it's a big deal of course, but sometimes, like Zina and Mark say, you just want to enjoy the movie/painting.
Thanks again
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Same problem here hurleystick. Can not just listen to some music, have to analyse it to bits. I think that's one of the reasons I don't like over produced studio stuff (i.e, lots and lots of overdubs and studio musos). I'd far prefer to listen to something that sounds like a group of people playing instruments together. I want to be able to discern each instrument. I particularly like live albums!
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
It's like a magic card trick.
How many times did someone show you a magic trick with cards and you were amazed and impressed and even thought for a moment that it actually was magic? Then you demand to be shown how to do it. After you learn what the trick was it becomes a technical feat and you never experience that sense of wonder when it was first shown to you. I remember being fascinated by music the same way until I started learning it. My perception of some things I listened to early on has changed dramatically.
I suppose that’s part of what you sacrifice when you learn any art, but there are things to be gained as well. There are times where I'm enjoying something I'm hearing very much and I can see is going right over the head of people who don't play. I can also follow things in the music that I couldn't hear before. But I did have to relearn how to appreciate the simple things in the music as well.
But do I wish I never learned to play? Well, sometimes I wish I never got involved with women, or tasted chocolate, or Guinness... but then again, life would be awfully dull without any of that stuff.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
There was a time where I tried to be a writer (the one editor that bought my stuff got canned, which ended that). For years afterward, I could not read a book without analyzing sentence structure, proofing for grammar, etc. I actually cut my reading back for a while, and eventually, the habit went away, and I could read for fun again. I guess this is what you are talking about.
Fortunately, even though I do sometimes dive past the surface and start thinking about what is going on within a musical performance, I have never felt this way about music. I do sometimes, however, think I would have been better off avoiding playing for money. Sometimes the pursuit of cash can remove the enjoyment from an endeavor. So now I approach it passively, and if an opportunity to get paid arises, I am willing, but I don't go out of my way for it.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I don't know that I *always* have music going thru my head, unless tinnitus counts, but pretty often, and it's been true for years and years. But up until very recently (and in 60 years very recently is in the neighborhood of 3 or 4 years) it didn't occur to me that it might be an indication of some musical ability to learn tunes. I was so blindered into reading notes and not hearing, or for that matter making, music that I never thought of myself as someone who could learn by ear, or hear different parts of the music besides the melody (to invoke a couple of other discussions), tho since I quickly picked up a bass style reflective of the old-time and bluegrass music I like it seems evident that I've always been able to do so. So now I'm more likely to pay attention to it as music and not some indication of whatever else is in my psyche at the moment and actually have it help me learn tunes. But I'm not as naturally musically talented as some of the folks on this site, so I can sometimes ignore musak. Altho "noise" of any kind I can find really distracting - radios, musak, tvs, etc, so I live in a pretty quiet world at home - unless I'm the one making the noise, of course. All I can say, is that I'm grateful that I didn't learn everything I was ever going to learn when I was young, because starting to play music so old has been a joy, even a life saver, and really fun. There could be *much* worse things in my head than tunes!
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Yes cj there is a door around here - there's a guitar player trying to unlock it while a bunch of fiddlers stand around screaming at him 'Wrong key! Wrong key!'
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
It can be a curse. I have a really hard time listening to guitar players and fiddlers without silently analyzing and critiquing. And I don’t mean it in the sense of “I could do that better”. I’m just making observations and cataloging them, but I’m not sure why. Which is a moot point, anyway, because I can’t stop it.
What’s worse is that after several years of doing sound engineering, I go to concerts and pubs and coffeehouses and find myself listening to the engineering instead of the music. That’s one reason I’ve started turning down sound gigs. I almost wish I’d never taken it up.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Al and Bob and everyone else, I suppose that's the root of what I'm getting at - the old 'can't see the wood for the trees' paradox that happens when you get really involved with something - or someone for that matter, and suddenly you're on the inside looking out - wouldn't change anything for the world but I just find it an interesting conundrum. Interesting discussion for me, thanks again.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Will's got the right of it. You reach a point of skill where you start picking everything apart to figure out how it works. DON'T STOP working on your instrument, and music in general. Don't get complacent (sp?)
You'll then reach a point of truly enjoying what you listen to. Just ask any fan of PDQ Bach. The more they know about music, the more of the jokes they get.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
No, I only wish I had more time to play pipes, work on my chanter technique, master the regulators, and learn to make excellent reeds. Eating, working, and sleeping just seem to get in the way somehow.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I sit in school and "play" air Flute on a pencil and I have no problem with it I love playing. There are lots of instruments I wish I could play though.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
On a similar vein, something I haven't experienced with the tunes on the banjo, but definitely on the guitar.
When I hear some wonderful arrangement - the most recent was Bert Jansch's accompaniment to The January Man - there's a point where I make a conscious decision whether or not to "destroy the magic" and figure out how to play it. This involves many hours going over and over each segment, first to figure it out and then to commit it to "finger memory." When I'm done, the music is still good, but it's become a bit jaded through all the repetition.
Sometimes I'm envious of the "at-speed" sight-readers who can have music up and running quickly without going through this process.
With ITM tunes the learning is easier so I don't tend to hurt the tunes by over-tedious repetition.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Well, then I'ld just be one of the crowd, wouldn't I? There's so much pleasure in playing with other people that I'd miss if I was just a spectator. Long live sessions !
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I finger tunes constantly with my left hand, kind of like I have an imaginary fiddle or something. I've always got some tune stuck in my head that I'm practicing. It drives my friends crazy, they're constantly yelling at me to stop, and I had a History teacher who made fun of me all the time for it... But it's so hard to stop!
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
At the other hand: since I started playing the fiddle I listen differently to fiddlers, I hear more details of what they're doing and how it sounds. I enjoy it more because once you get more deeply into the music, or an instrument, you learn to appreciate its richness, which is too subtle to be discovered at the first moment.
It's like drinking whiskey or wine. When you're young or anyway not very experienced, it just tastes like an alcoholic drink you wouldn't spit out immediately. But as you get to know more of it you learn to recognize the differences between different brands, different years, and you discover a whole world that didn't seem to be there when you first tasted it.
But at least I don't drink air whiskeys... That would ruin my reputation, would it?
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I understand your plight well, Hurleystick.
I think a micro version of this phenomena takes place every time I hear a new gorgeous tune. The first time I hear it,
if I'm in the right frame of mind, somehow I ignore all I know about music, and I get the essence of the melody in my mind. Whether it's the playing, the instrumentation, or the uniqueness of the tune itself, I don't know what it is that grabs hold of me. Somehow I just 'hear' the music without any interference and it is the most sublime feeling that I'm sure we all can relate to.
However, soon after this experience, I say "I must learn that tune!" What is it's name, how can I download it, what key is it in, etc, etc.. It's almost like a crush. I must have this tune!
This regularly happens to me. Unfortunately, by the time I've really learned the tune, after all the attempts, I'm often nearly bored by it. I have to wait awhile before I even want to hear it again, much less play it. Anyways, I related very well to the postings here.
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Ceol, I guess you didn't point out that you weren't drinking and driving, you were drinking and playing a Bouzouki, which I believe is still legal.
I never wished I didn't play, but I do sometimes think that I'd get a whole heck of a lot more done around here if I didn't.
Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Hello all - this is the first time I've submitted a discussion so try not to savage me too bad (now I've asked for it...)
Anyway, this thought has popped into my mind often - sometimes I find myself listening to beautiful music and next thing I know I'm trying to figure out the key, the tuning on the guitar/bouzouki/banjo or what-have-you.... thereby missing the point in some ways, i.e. hearing the actual music and not just it's components. So I try to get back to that never-played-an-instrument frame of mind, but it's difficult enough to stay there.
Does this make sense to anyone or am I just a sad eejit?
Thanks for your time.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by hurleystick
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I feel your pain. I have the annoying habit of practising the bowing of whatever tune is in my mind - air fiddle with my index finger so to speak - until people in my vicinity think I'm stroking the empty air. Very embarrassing at times.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by flipdievleugelt
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Ha ha ! Like you're petting an imaginary cat !
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by BegF
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
In the days when I used to do those awful grade exams, one of the tests was to sing back the bottom line of something played on the piano. Because I play purely melody instruments - fiddle, oboe - I realised that I wasn't really listening to what went on underneath - I sang the top line back perfectly and failed that part of the test!!
It's not a problem in Irish music that is top line driven but I sometimes wonder whether I'm getting the full effect of other music!
The other thing I tend to do is subconciously pick out the instruments I play. My husband sound engineers and I always think the fiddle/oboe are too loud just because my brain is subconsciously focussing on them whereas he has such a good ear for the complete sound.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Tarrantella
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
There are times when I wish that certain other people did not play an instrument
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
What a strange thought. It has never really occurred to me, so no, I certainly don't wish that. Think of yourself as having the privelege to be able to play. That you're a wee bit special compared to your average Joe.
Same goes for any other specialised skillset or faculty you possess.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
But, when you're listening, don't you secretly sit there analysing the structure, harmonies, etc?
When people say "music is all about emotion" or "I let the music flow over me" I can't see that at all. To me it's a sequence and a discipline. Not that I don't love listening, I just find it difficult to simply enjoy. I guess I would love a simple painting, where otehrs would be critical about the technique, relation to art history, etc. I don't know about that stuff, so I just enjoy the painting.
The worst for me is say, on a conference where people play music in the background, because it's very distracting. I can't help but listen to it. For me it's as distracting as having someone reading poetry in the background.
So I don't wish I couldn't play, just that I realise different people listen differently, and once you've played an instrument there's no going back.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Mark Harmer
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
PS Tarantella, I've had the opposite when recording sound for people - a choir member who asked me to record Berlioz's Te Deum (and if you know the piece, you'll know there's a LOT of stuff happening in it!!) and said choir member then complaining that the basses (the section he sang in) were sounding too distant. To me it all sounded just right, and of course, he was thinking of his perspective and not how the audience hears it. But that's a whole 'nother discussion.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Mark Harmer
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Of course not. I've never really fancied taking up the bodhran.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Johannes J
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
OK. Someone has to say it. "Instrument...."?
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Mark Harmer
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
There's a stage of learning an instrument or a musical form where it's common to strip the music down to its individual parts, and your brain labels and catalogues all the bits, neat as a pin.
Analysis.
Our brains pride themselves on this new understanding through dissection, but it may also feel like the magic or mystery has gone fromthe music. I remember this stage lasting quite a while. But then we learn to listen beyond the bits and pieces again and hear things in the mix we never knew existed before.
Synthesis.
And the magic is back.
Sometimes I go through a Cliff notes version of this process when learning an unfamiliar tune. Because it's unfamiliar, it sounds mysterious--I struggle to hear the intervals accurately, or the rhythym is quirky. But the analytical side soon makes sense of what was once mysterious, which can feel like such a let down: "You mean, this is all it is? How simple. Why did it sound so foreign? Oh well." I almost wish I didn't know how to take the tune apart. But then in finessing the bits back to a cohesive whole tune again I learn to recreate the mystery myself, and that's one of the best feelings in the world.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Will CPT
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
You are a sad eejit.
Im in the same boat as you, so I am to.
I play plucky stringed instruments. But I tire of the sound of the banjo.
I tire of backing.
I tire of the mellow sound of the mando....
I never bring them all to a session, so i always get p*ssed off with the one i was playing at the end of the session. I dont like to commit myself to one thing, cause at my rate I never feel like im improving, and begin to detest the sounds Im making.
Ahhh Im secretly learning the flute and have been for a while. but thats a whole other degree of unsuccessfullness.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Hugo Chavez
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I know exactly what you mean, hurleystick. I'm the same way with movies, so I don't watch them; once you've worked in enough of them, you're busy looking at the production values and the editing and the lighting and all that, rather than allowing yourself to be transported into this new world.
But I agree with Will, too. I'm only just now starting to move into that synthesis arena now, so I can only sort of dimly see that far-off goal, but I think it's something to be aware is a normal stage of growth as a musician.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Zina Lee
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
The other day, I was watching a sunset in the west and a moon rise in the east and decided to stop driving, pull over, get my instruments out. I decided to get my instruments out and play some music. I was about 600 feet above a river in the Sierra Mountains. I drank a beer and relaxed into playing for a long time, until it started to get dark. I was going to leave, but some light fog had formed and I had a 360 degree circle of beauty still all around me.
Then the police were driving by and heard the music and stopped to check me out. Since it was half dark, the officer approached me with her hand on her pistol. I was taken straight out of playing music and enjoying beauty to having to respond almost at gun point to a Nazi law enforcement officer. I was hesitant with my words (a usual response to anyone with their hand on their pistol). She wanted know the name of the song I was playing, and I had to stop and remember the title. She asked about my collection of instruments. I was going to say Bouzouki, but looked at the pistol again and said "Mandolin." She saw my Bodhran and I said "Irish Drum." She smelled the beer on my breath and gave me a lecture about not drinking and driving. I tried to look earnestly interested knowing that I have my self imposed limit of two beers, ales, stouts and no hard liquor. Compared to my misspent youth, that is mild. I don't seriously drink and drive.
The lesson I learned was that I need to be on the look out for police cars, stop playing and hide the instruments. They will probably think of me as some tourist and not dare bother me for fear of hurting the local economy.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by CeolCairdeas
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Most interesting, helpful and amusing comments so far, thanks lads - now I am officially a sad eejit but am glad to also be a "wee bit special" - that almost sounds worse....
Interesting to think that this whole thing is a stage of playing - that hadn't occurred to me as it seems pretty permanent by now; not that it's a big deal of course, but sometimes, like Zina and Mark say, you just want to enjoy the movie/painting.
Thanks again
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by hurleystick
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Same problem here hurleystick. Can not just listen to some music, have to analyse it to bits. I think that's one of the reasons I don't like over produced studio stuff (i.e, lots and lots of overdubs and studio musos). I'd far prefer to listen to something that sounds like a group of people playing instruments together. I want to be able to discern each instrument. I particularly like live albums!
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Deaf Frets
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
It's like a magic card trick.
How many times did someone show you a magic trick with cards and you were amazed and impressed and even thought for a moment that it actually was magic? Then you demand to be shown how to do it. After you learn what the trick was it becomes a technical feat and you never experience that sense of wonder when it was first shown to you. I remember being fascinated by music the same way until I started learning it. My perception of some things I listened to early on has changed dramatically.
I suppose that’s part of what you sacrifice when you learn any art, but there are things to be gained as well. There are times where I'm enjoying something I'm hearing very much and I can see is going right over the head of people who don't play. I can also follow things in the music that I couldn't hear before. But I did have to relearn how to appreciate the simple things in the music as well.
But do I wish I never learned to play? Well, sometimes I wish I never got involved with women, or tasted chocolate, or Guinness... but then again, life would be awfully dull without any of that stuff.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
There was a time where I tried to be a writer (the one editor that bought my stuff got canned, which ended that). For years afterward, I could not read a book without analyzing sentence structure, proofing for grammar, etc. I actually cut my reading back for a while, and eventually, the habit went away, and I could read for fun again. I guess this is what you are talking about.
Fortunately, even though I do sometimes dive past the surface and start thinking about what is going on within a musical performance, I have never felt this way about music. I do sometimes, however, think I would have been better off avoiding playing for money. Sometimes the pursuit of cash can remove the enjoyment from an endeavor. So now I approach it passively, and if an opportunity to get paid arises, I am willing, but I don't go out of my way for it.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by AlBrown
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I don't know that I *always* have music going thru my head, unless tinnitus counts, but pretty often, and it's been true for years and years. But up until very recently (and in 60 years very recently is in the neighborhood of 3 or 4 years) it didn't occur to me that it might be an indication of some musical ability to learn tunes. I was so blindered into reading notes and not hearing, or for that matter making, music that I never thought of myself as someone who could learn by ear, or hear different parts of the music besides the melody (to invoke a couple of other discussions), tho since I quickly picked up a bass style reflective of the old-time and bluegrass music I like it seems evident that I've always been able to do so. So now I'm more likely to pay attention to it as music and not some indication of whatever else is in my psyche at the moment
and actually have it help me learn tunes. But I'm not as naturally musically talented as some of the folks on this site, so I can sometimes ignore musak. Altho "noise" of any kind I can find really distracting - radios, musak, tvs, etc, so I live in a pretty quiet world at home - unless I'm the one making the noise, of course. All I can say, is that I'm grateful that I didn't learn everything I was ever going to learn when I was young, because starting to play music so old has been a joy, even a life saver, and really fun. There could be *much* worse things in my head than tunes!
Cathy
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by cj
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Oh, sorry - posted to the wrong thread - is there a door between the adjoining rooms around here?
cj
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by cj
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Yes cj there is a door around here - there's a guitar player trying to unlock it while a bunch of fiddlers stand around screaming at him 'Wrong key! Wrong key!'
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by hurleystick
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
It can be a curse. I have a really hard time listening to guitar players and fiddlers without silently analyzing and critiquing. And I don’t mean it in the sense of “I could do that better”. I’m just making observations and cataloging them, but I’m not sure why. Which is a moot point, anyway, because I can’t stop it.
What’s worse is that after several years of doing sound engineering, I go to concerts and pubs and coffeehouses and find myself listening to the engineering instead of the music. That’s one reason I’ve started turning down sound gigs. I almost wish I’d never taken it up.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Bob himself
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Good one, there, hurleystick!
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by AlBrown
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Al and Bob and everyone else, I suppose that's the root of what I'm getting at - the old 'can't see the wood for the trees' paradox that happens when you get really involved with something - or someone for that matter, and suddenly you're on the inside looking out - wouldn't change anything for the world but I just find it an interesting conundrum. Interesting discussion for me, thanks again.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by hurleystick
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Will's got the right of it. You reach a point of skill where you start picking everything apart to figure out how it works. DON'T STOP working on your instrument, and music in general. Don't get complacent (sp?)
You'll then reach a point of truly enjoying what you listen to. Just ask any fan of PDQ Bach. The more they know about music, the more of the jokes they get.
-P
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Philem
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
No, I only wish I had more time to play pipes, work on my chanter technique, master the regulators, and learn to make excellent reeds. Eating, working, and sleeping just seem to get in the way somehow.
# Posted on December 15th 2005 by Hanley
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I sit in school and "play" air Flute on a pencil and I have no problem with it I love playing. There are lots of instruments I wish I could play though.
# Posted on December 16th 2005 by Unseen122
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
On a similar vein, something I haven't experienced with the tunes on the banjo, but definitely on the guitar.
When I hear some wonderful arrangement - the most recent was Bert Jansch's accompaniment to The January Man - there's a point where I make a conscious decision whether or not to "destroy the magic" and figure out how to play it. This involves many hours going over and over each segment, first to figure it out and then to commit it to "finger memory." When I'm done, the music is still good, but it's become a bit jaded through all the repetition.
Sometimes I'm envious of the "at-speed" sight-readers who can have music up and running quickly without going through this process.
With ITM tunes the learning is easier so I don't tend to hurt the tunes by over-tedious repetition.
# Posted on December 16th 2005 by grego
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Well, then I'ld just be one of the crowd, wouldn't I? There's so much pleasure in playing with other people that I'd miss if I was just a spectator. Long live sessions !
# Posted on December 16th 2005 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I finger tunes constantly with my left hand, kind of like I have an imaginary fiddle or something. I've always got some tune stuck in my head that I'm practicing. It drives my friends crazy, they're constantly yelling at me to stop, and I had a History teacher who made fun of me all the time for it... But it's so hard to stop!
# Posted on December 16th 2005 by Fiddlekit
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
At the other hand: since I started playing the fiddle I listen differently to fiddlers, I hear more details of what they're doing and how it sounds. I enjoy it more because once you get more deeply into the music, or an instrument, you learn to appreciate its richness, which is too subtle to be discovered at the first moment.
It's like drinking whiskey or wine. When you're young or anyway not very experienced, it just tastes like an alcoholic drink you wouldn't spit out immediately. But as you get to know more of it you learn to recognize the differences between different brands, different years, and you discover a whole world that didn't seem to be there when you first tasted it.
But at least I don't drink air whiskeys... That would ruin my reputation, would it?
# Posted on December 16th 2005 by flipdievleugelt
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
I understand your plight well, Hurleystick.
I think a micro version of this phenomena takes place every time I hear a new gorgeous tune. The first time I hear it,
if I'm in the right frame of mind, somehow I ignore all I know about music, and I get the essence of the melody in my mind. Whether it's the playing, the instrumentation, or the uniqueness of the tune itself, I don't know what it is that grabs hold of me. Somehow I just 'hear' the music without any interference and it is the most sublime feeling that I'm sure we all can relate to.
However, soon after this experience, I say "I must learn that tune!" What is it's name, how can I download it, what key is it in, etc, etc.. It's almost like a crush. I must have this tune!
This regularly happens to me. Unfortunately, by the time I've really learned the tune, after all the attempts, I'm often nearly bored by it. I have to wait awhile before I even want to hear it again, much less play it. Anyways, I related very well to the postings here.
# Posted on December 16th 2005 by halfwaythere
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Ceol, I guess you didn't point out that you weren't drinking and driving, you were drinking and playing a Bouzouki, which I believe is still legal.
I never wished I didn't play, but I do sometimes think that I'd get a whole heck of a lot more done around here if I didn't.
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by drinharp
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
Do I sometime wish I didn't play an instrument? Are you mad?
I only wish I could play more.....
# Posted on December 19th 2005 by flying tigerpig
Re: Do you sometimes wish you didn't play an instrument?
hello darran
# Posted on December 20th 2005 by tina concert