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Instruments | Pad Patter 10.21

OMG Recorders drive me crazy!!
DS just started band this year and is playing Percussion.
I played flute in the 5th grade haha. I was in the flag corp with the band in high school. My senior year, someone got the bright idea that if you wanted to be a flag, you had to also play in the band during concert season. So, I dug out my flute and faked it! I could play my tuning note, which was the only one I had to play alone :giggle
 
Funny how many of us played the flute! I tried to give mine away recently to a woman who had a granddaughter starting to learn to play and they said it wasn't worth tuning! We always had more violinists in grade and high school so I used to laugh because I was 1st, 2nd and 3rd flute! while my girlfriend never got past 2nd violinist. I also played the piano for most of grade school but can no longer read music much or play. I can look at sheet music and have an idea of how it sounds though

#1 son - nada in the music field
#2 son was given a basic drum set at age three by my mother (we approved that in advance) and while he loved it, he went on to guitar in early grade school (Smoke on the water...days) and taught himself piano by ear and to read. He went to Berklee in Boston for two years and then realized he didn't have what it took to be a pro so he's the chef now.
Daughter - nada musically

My current husband, I am told, played the tuba in high school but there are no photos to prove it! lol He can play the piano but with a heavy heavy hand and imho it sounded awful. He tried an electronic one but apparently loved pounding those keys and didn't like the keyboard. Fortunately, he gave the piano to his son. Phew!
 
That's awesome for Julia! School concerts are so fun!

I played clarinet in elementary (5th-8th). All the girls wanted to play flute, and although my dad says different, I wasn't full of enough hot air to get the breathing right. :giggle

I can pick out piano, especially right hand, but we moved so much, I never had consistent lessons. I do have a full sized keyboard, and am debating on working on learning again. I want to start Matthew in piano lessons, but I've been told to wait until he's 8. So, currently he just plays on his toy xylophone. He likes to sing, but it is not in his talent set. He's enthusiastic, but very off key.
 
Your girls sound diligent! DS wants a guitar for xmas - we've explained until our throats are sore that it's the lessons that are important and guitars themselves do not the musician make. Logic is not prevailing in this case. We still have a piano keyboard from DD's 1 year of lessons in 1st or 2nd grade (it was provisional she do a year of lessons for us to buy the keyboard for her), she can still play what she was taught but wasn't interested in doing lessons or homework, or learning to read sheet music... b/c along came computer games
 
As all kids, I started my musical career with the flute, but google translates the kind of flute I'm talking about into a recorder? Is that what you are talking about? What a weird name for it. Anyway, I was pretty good in it tbh.
Most people only know the soprano recorder, because that's what you learn as a kid.
But there are many different kinds.

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From top to bottom: bass, tenor, alto, soprano and sopranino.
The alto was my instrument, but I also played the tenor or the sopranino sometimes.

Anyway, after a while, I was done. I wanted to play drums. So I got my first set when I was about 14 and have played for years. Got lessons, got a couple of diplomas, played in a band for like two years (we were bad...). I loved it. I have bought my own gorgeous set but now I live so small I don't even have the space to store it...

I like to try some other instruments some day. I know I have a feel for it. I understand melody and rhythm. I can read sheet music. I don't like to LEARN though. I want to just be able to play it. Which is why I loved the drums, I swam through that for years until it got harder and I stopped practicing.

I long to play again. Any sort of instrument. Someday.



Oh and why all the recorders for kids? Because it's a cheap and simple instrument that fits kiddos hands and doesn't generally take a lot of technique to learn to play it. It teaches kids the basics of music: melody, rhythm, reading sheet music, etc. If you can't play the soprano recorder, you probably just don't have that music gene.
Also if your kid want to play the saxophone for example but is still changing teeth or is wearing braces, than you might have a problem. So for many people the recorder is seen as a first introduction into playing music as it's cheap, fits a kid, and relatively easy to learn. And after that first year or two, they decide on what instrument they really want to play.

Also I need to make a note about the reason why so many feel negative about recorders. 1: you HAD to learn it when you were a kid and you didn't want to. 2: most kids suck at playing it and can't produce clean, clear notes. Therefor it sounds horrible. But believe me, if the player know what (s)he's doing, it sounds pretty nice! Of course music is all about preference, so you might not like the sound of it anyway, (just like I don't like violins, ugh), but let's not blame the instrument.
 
In 3rd grade, I tried the flute. I grew up with 2 chain smoking parents. They smoked while pregnant, while we were in the car with them, etc. I'm sure you all know what I mean. Anyway, my lung capacity was, and is, not what it should be, so it proved to be a near impossible instrument for me to play. I switched to violin, then switched to drums in 6th grade. I wasn't very good at either, no matter how much I practiced. In high school, I attempted to teach myself to play guitar. I did learn a little. When I was 19 and a single mom, I had to sell my guitar for diaper/food money. My daddy had given me that guitar, and it broke my heart. After that I had met my husband, had 2 more kids, and we've moved so much I just never kept up with anything. My daughter played viola for 2 years, and she seemed to pick it up pretty quickly and easily. She decided to not play this year. Yesterday she hinted about drum lessons. I've been needing Christmas present ideas for her, and I think I'm going to check with our local music store about them. Maybe some of what I learned will come back to me, if she plays. We have a full size drum set in our spare room. I also tried hinting to hubby about wanting an acoustic guitar for Christmas, although I have a feeling I'll just wind up getting it myself. I can't remember how to read music, at all. My memory sucks, and I'm older, but with my kids being teens, I need a fun hobby.....well besides digi scrapping! ;)

Sorry for the book!
 
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