When I was 8 years old I had my first violin lesson. Not really sure how I ended up with a violin in my 8 year old hands (and not sure many survived the screeching sounds that cut through concrete walls!), but it was my experience of being taught music.
I subsequently tried the trumpet, piano but ended up becoming quite proficient on the acoustic guitar and stringed instruments (other than violins!)
I’d love to know what instrument you play and why you chose that one…
Been playing the piano on and off since 1987. Even played on stage and on live TV around 1996. Added bass guitar to the mix, plus fiddled with a little bit of drums and accordion. Nowadays, I’m toying around with my daughter’s ukulele.
I started learning guitar when I was eleven. My senior year in high school I was a guitar instructor. I kept playing until I was around fifty, and then decided to focus on writing poetry (which I started doing around nine.) I haven’t really touched a guitar in over fifteen years.
I never considered myself a musician. I was essentially a trained chimp who could play some songs, but reading music was a struggle, and I learned some of the lingo but never really warmed to it.
I’ve fiddled with piano during my last two years of high school, then did nothing for years, and starting singing when I was 26. Does that make me a muscian? I don’t necessarily think so. I guess my instrument, though, are my vocal chords.
I fiddled with the cello (pun intended), and then followed on with the violin and viola. My grandmother taught music, until her husband died, but also wrote songs.
Looking to hopefully acquire a violin early next year, or maybe for Christmas.
I learned so many instruments it would be exhausting to list them here. My dad, who played just guitar, cautioned me that I was spreading myself too thin. But what I noticed was that each instrument has something different to teach about music, so i felt like a stronger musician even though i didn’t “master” any single one.
The “holy grail” for me was to reach a level where it no longer mattered what particular instrument it was. If it makes sound, it was part of my domain.
One of my favorite pieces of music is Bach’s “Art of Fugue”. A big reason for this is that no one knows what instrument (or voices?) it was composed for. Some say it was only ever meant to be heard by the “inner ear”.
When i was 18 i developed facial paralysis and could no longer play wind instruments. But that was ok because i still had keys and strings to play with.
In 2015 i lost the use of one of my hands. This was much more devastating because i had invested so many years in guitar, piano and violin. But by this point i was more of a vocalist, and was very much into electronic music production. I had a philosophy that i had transcended the limitations of physical instruments, and my musicianship had become fully abstracted from them.
At one point i stated that i wanted to keep making music even after my body expires. How? I dont know. What kind of music would i make if i were only a mind without a body? Im not sure… but whatever it would be, ive probably been getting closer to it every time i have to learn a new way of expressing myself.
I always regretted not learning the drums. Once i said that if i could do it all over, thats what id choose. “There’s still time,” a wise friend told me. So thats my latest endeavor… turns out, i can still hold a drumstick in each limb! I just had to be faced with the right circumstances to develop that part of myself.
When i learned to code, i was surprised to find that it also served as an outlet for creative expression. I hadnt expected it to satisfy that need so well, and im continually surprised at how much the principles of music composition also apply to software design.
Its almost as if i had been preparing to be a programmer all along… now, i write “songs that do stuff”.
@porkostomus, I feel like a simple Like just doesn’t do justice to how much your story has filled my heart. Thank you!
Wow @porkostomus - this post was such an enjoyable and thought-provoking read! I’m definitely going to go and listen to Bach’s “Art of Fugue” now and think about what you posted.
Funnily enough though, my experience with music is also quite similar. I tried violin, piano, trumpet and eventually built up enough momentum in guitar. I’ve subsequently learnt drums and bass and song a lot as well.
What I do find interesting was that guitar was the one instrument that I self-taught myself and had the impetus to learn, without any teacher or ‘professional’ guidance. I always found that interesting and feel that the same is often true of those who learn to code. The official educational channels never seem to satisfy in the same way that being self-taught would.
P.s. learning drums was really fun and you should totally do it if you get a chance! Even percussion and the various instruments that fall within that category are fascinating!
Oh wow! The cello is probably my favourite stringed instrument - the tone, depth and warmth (when well played of course) are unique.
Aww some of those instruments are wonderful - the ukulele is such a simple but enjoyable instrument but I was drawn to the accordion you mentioned as well!
Who did you play with, for in the later 90s…? That sounds like an interesting story…
I’ve tried a few different instruments: piano, organ, tuba, clarinet, harmonica, guitar, ukulele, and Sonic Pi. It’s not that I lacked talent, I just totally lacked application. Discipline and self-control weren’t a part of my life for the first twenty years and only just barely from then on. I sing and sufficiently well to have been a member of a church worship team for a few years. I had a three octave range. Am not sure if I still do, for as much as it matters.
Reading music (sight reading) was so hard! Never overcame that hurdle unfortunately.
Do you still have a guitar that is sitting in its case? I see you playing a Martin guitar for some reason… 
How did you start singing? Did I overhear that you joined a choir…?
That sounds like what I try to do with lots of programming languages 
I no longer have a guitar. I had a Gibson J-45 acoustic for years that I gave to my cousin’s son. I had a Guild electric (S-100?) that I was going to give to my ex-bro-in-law, but it was supposedly stolen from my ex-wife’s house by contract workers.
My wife has a beat-up old guitar in a closet, but I have no interest in playing it.
90’s was the high school + university decade for me. Started to jam with some HS friends, then their friends joined to form a (loose) band. That turned into playing a few bar gigs on the side, and our drummer (as the only pro musician among us) set us up to play as the stage band for a live afternoon show on national TV.
The live part was quite an experience, although the show was small-time. I remember the first time we were up on the stage to kick off with a song right away, all set up, rehearsed, sound-checked and cool 
, and then the stage manager yells 10 seconds to live, and suddenly my heart goes racing 
like never before
I had hair back then 
I did recently join a popchoir!
But started singing at karaoke, was told I should get lessons because it was not completely shit. After having a year of lessons, found out I had a abnormality on my vocal chords (probably already had it when I was very very young), and had to have that removed.
Finally stuck with the lessons, and now I’ll just take the mic whenever someone hands me one 
I’ve been playing bassoon for 20 years with distraction by saxophones at some points. I’d like to get better at electric bass and properly learn jazz basics, but taking even one instrument seriously is time consuming.