Thread: Do you play an instrument?

I used to play Trombone for about 3 years. Then I stopped that because we changed band teachers, and instead of Mr. Relate-able who loved They Might Be Giants, we got Mr. Baldy, who yelled at you for lifting a finger if you weren't told to.

Then I started playing piano. I'm okay at that. Not super crazy. I mostly just have a few songs memorized and play those.

And I've been playing guitar for like 3/4 of a year now. I've memorized all major and minor chords and taught myself a few good songs. Played for my friends, that sort of thing. Sadly I have no guitar. I really need to borrow someone's, over here. I really want to play one again. I used to play my brother's, but he moved out and got married. :I

Oh, and I sing! I've been doing that for all 17 years of my life. Very avidly. Love it, I do.

Sadly never took any chorus classes or anything like that. Just kind of got the tack of it in my own house, and then started doing it for my friends. They seem to like it a lot. And I like singing. So that's kind of a win-win.

Not really an instrument, though. ._.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

But it's not.

When you are practicing an instrument, you are using your body (your hands and mouth) to manipulate a thing other than yourself to make sounds. That is 'playing an instrument.'

When you are singing, you're merely using your body to make notes. Granted, you have to train your body to get good at making those notes, but you are not training your body to play an instrument. You are training your body to sing, which is not playing an instrument...because it's not an instrument.

People want to use the word 'instrument' to describe the voice while singing, because they think it gives the voice more validation as a method of making music. This is unnecessary, as it is unequivocally a respectable music maker, however it is not a 'musical instrument', in the tradition of musical instruments, because 'musical instrument' (as I believe the OP is using the term) describes a 'tool' outside of the human self that is used for making music.

Validation has nothing to do with it. This concept that an instrument must be exterior to the body is an arbitrary attribute not relative to the actual mechanics of the voice, which operate the same way as an instrument. Vocal cords require the same training and same approach as picking up any instrument and learning how to play it. Simply because we all have them does not mean the voice is not an instrument. Every voice trainer I've ever had has told me to think of my voice like any other instrument because that thought process is serviceable to the practice.

Besides, the poll fails anyway since I play an instrument in every category except brass. I was just having trouble classifying myself with one specifically. I've been playing saxophone the longest, guitar the second longest and piano the third longest and I don't really have a specific preference in regard to any particular instrument except my voice. A vocalist is the best way to classify myself as a musician.

Why is piano listed under percussion? I understand the internal mechanics of the piano are percussive in nature since it is a hammer striking a string. The method of playing, however, is entirely different. It is a keyboard classification instrument more than anything. I would consider something like marimba, xylophone, vibes, etc. to be percussion since the -method- of playing is to strike the keys with mallets.

Think this: The way you play piano is essentially the same as the way you play harpsichord (technique might vary here and there, but that's beside the point). The internal mechanics of a harpsichord are a string being plucked when a key is pressed. With this logic, you'd classify it as a string instrument. IT ISN'T. Piano and harpsichord are keyboard instruments.

tl;dr - I play piano. It's a keyboard instrument, not a percussion instrument. Also this:

Originally Posted by Omnis Dei

Validation has nothing to do with it. This concept that an instrument must be exterior to the body is an arbitrary attribute not relative to the actual mechanics of the voice, which operate the same way as an instrument. Vocal cords require the same training and same approach as picking up any instrument and learning how to play it. Simply because we all have them does not mean the voice is not an instrument. Every voice trainer I've ever had has told me to think of my voice like any other instrument because that thought process is serviceable to the practice.

Guess we are just going to have to agree to disagree. I still think the correct answer to the question "do you play an instrument?", for a singer, would be "No, but I sing." *shrug*

I have been playing the guitar for 3 years now, I started off with the electric but I've been playing and writing acoustic stuff lately. Even though I suck at it, I've been interested in learning the piano for quite a while and can write mean melodies (in my head) for any instument as long as I'm vaguely familuar with the sound and capabilities. Two major goals for this year: learn to sing well and learn music theory at least to the level where I can write multiple parts that don't clash without relying on trial and error which makes composing a chore.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

Guess we are just going to have to agree to disagree. I still think the correct answer to the question "do you play an instrument?", for a singer, would be "No, but I sing." *shrug*

I'd like to see you say that to the swarming throngs of Berklee Divas. 18-23 year old chain smokers, jacked up on caffeine, probably haven't eaten in a few days. Tempers like Medusa with head lice.

Originally Posted by Artelis

Why is piano listed under percussion? I understand the internal mechanics of the piano are percussive in nature since it is a hammer striking a string. The method of playing, however, is entirely different. It is a keyboard classification instrument more than anything. I would consider something like marimba, xylophone, vibes, etc. to be percussion since the -method- of playing is to strike the keys with mallets.

Think this: The way you play piano is essentially the same as the way you play harpsichord (technique might vary here and there, but that's beside the point). The internal mechanics of a harpsichord are a string being plucked when a key is pressed. With this logic, you'd classify it as a string instrument. IT ISN'T. Piano and harpsichord are keyboard instruments.

tl;dr - I play piano. It's a keyboard instrument, not a percussion instrument. Also this:

I thought the piano was commonly categorized under string instruments.

Originally Posted by Artelis

I'd like to see you say that to the swarming throngs of Berklee Divas. 18-23 year old chain smokers, jacked up on caffeine, probably haven't eaten in a few days. Tempers like Medusa with head lice.

Point taken.

Originally Posted by Meeps

I thought the piano was commonly categorized under string instruments.

It actually is categorised as percussion or string. Although I'd never heard of it until this thread and decided to look it up.
As I said before though as well, percussion just isn't correct unless you wanna classify playing a guitar with a pick as percussion as well.
And, as Artelis said, it's not actually direct striking of the strings.

Nice playing btw Artleis, got any more?

Originally Posted by tommo

It actually is categorised as percussion or string. Although I'd never heard of it until this thread and decided to look it up.
As I said before though as well, percussion just isn't correct unless you wanna classify playing a guitar with a pick as percussion as well.
And, as Artelis said, it's not actually direct striking of the strings.

Nice playing btw Artleis, got any more?

Yeah, plus I was just going off of the main poll since piano was listed under percussion, heh.
Thanks! It took me a long time to nail that solo, fffffff it's hard. I don't have any more good vids of me playing. I made that last year one night when I was bored and on a huge ben folds kick. I could make a few more for the hell of it sometime. It'd be more Ben Folds stuff since that's all the covers I can play that are impressive. I usually just jam out in a rock band comping improv all night.

Ben Folds tracks I can nail:
You To Thank
Trusted
Philosophy
All U Can Eat
Zak and Sara
Army

I'm working on Kate right now, but it's still pretty eh.

Ben Folds is awesome! You should upload Zak and Sara, I think

Awwww that's the least exciting one. Tell you what. I'll upload that and something else too

haha, I love it though, and awesome!

Blah... a somewhat sore subject with me.
I was in Band in Middle School, but the Director kicked me out when he figured out I was playing my clarinet by ear and couldn't get me to focus on reading the music. I just couldn't. It made no sense to me.
I also took piano lessons when I was little for 1 or 2 summers (my grams set it up). But that teacher was just as aggravated by my playing by ear.
And one day, some 10 years ago or so, my step-daughter brought over her flute and I started playing songs off it right away.
I'm very proud of my "ear" for music.

Other than the piano, though, I don't understand strings at all. I've tried playing but only crap comes out

My talent has always been severely stunted though. I can play basic notes only (no chords- I lack coordination). And because I can't read music, I have to play something a million times before I can memorize it.

I've not picked up an instrument since that flute a decade ago. I miss playing sometimes.

bah, piano is a KEYBOARD instrument, people! You don't PLAY the strings on the piano. They're internal!! GRRR!

Soooo. There ARE strings! That's enough!

*facepalm*

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF I just spent some time recording a few vids... I knew I should've done a test vid first. It came back insanely distorted. Shitty piece of webcam recording software needs to die in a fire. I WAS MONITORING THE OUTPUT AND IT WASN'T DISTORTED, WHY?!?!?!?!?! Also there is some audio monitoring lag from when I hit the keys to when I hear them. Only a fraction of a second, but enough to drive me up the god damn walls. I'll try a different monitoring method next time with less latency... Sigh.

resurrecting an old thread to shamelessly post a new vid.

One Angry Dwarf by Ben Folds.

Youtube and Vimeo both think the audio on this are effed up or something, so I had to upload this to my server. Should still stream on most browsers I think...
http://timlukens.com/OneAngryDwarf.mov

It's a good thread. Resurrect it proudly!

32 of them to be exact. Skin flute is not one of them.

Tubs.

]

Saxophone, 9 years

I have played percussion for about 6 years. Seeing as I also consider the voice to be an instrument; I have been in choir for 4 years and I have been singing at karaoke bars on and off for about 3 years.

You should put vocal in the poll.

Oh, and I played the piano in third grade. lol