Whistling..

[hobbitblue]

I've not done as much music these past months as is usually the norm, stringed things are just too challenging for some reason, though I've been playing my recorder most days as its friendly (been playing since I was 6 years old after all (and boy am I out of breath... *g*)). For some reason the other night my brain remembered the existence of a

Comments

[hobbitblue]

I am, luckily, quite easily pleased (my boyfriend says its one of my charms... :) That recorder is quite a posh one, I do admit, I have an even posher expensive german one, went all the way to the early music centre recorder shop in London to get it (well we were in London for something else and I made sure we went there also...) and I got to playtest lots of really pricey ones, in the up to £100 range to find the one that a) sounded best and b) I could hit the high notes on fairly easily. Am very pleased to find how easy it is to get the high notes on the whistle, there's a folk song I play on the recorder that has bum note in cos I can't get a clear high A but its fine on the whistle (where its not a high A its a high something else with similar fingering but still...)

That's such a shame on the instrumnet thing, we had the same set up in school that it was first come first served on instruments, luckily I already played the flute from age 9 as I was a bit obsessed with it and had a doting Granny to buy one for me. Music teaching in school was rotten though, or at least my new teacher was lousy, moved me on too fast plus you had to go out of lessons to have your music lesson, so everybody stared at you as you walked out halfway through double history carrying the flute... with that and finding i was going dizzy playing it I gave up the lessons, damn shame really. So glad I've got back into music. You should find your recorder, or invest in a whistle (all of six squid!) and have a tootle :)

Did you take to the trumpet?

[ganimede]

Wow, £100 sounds like ridiculous prices for a recorder when you think that the majority of time it's just considered an introductory instrument for small children.

It was not a brilliant set-up at all really, rather than asking everyone what instruments they wanted first and then divvying them up, it was more a case of "Okay, A, what do you want? A flute? Okay there you go. Now, B, what do you want? A flute? Okay, there you. And Nathaniel, what do you want? A flute? Well, I'm all out of flutes. I can offer you a trumpet though..." The lessons were at lunchtimes so you didn't miss any lessons but the case for the trumpet was huge and incredibly heavy. It was like a midsized suitcase and I hated lugging it about. I didn't really like it at all so I don't think there was much chance of me taking to it. I wouldn't have minded a saxophone but there weren't any of those on offer. After a year of the trumpet, we came back to the UK anyway and my mother then decided I was going to learn the guitar so no more brass for me.

Wait, boyfriend??

[hobbitblue]

I know, its daft though that the recorder is relegated to "for kids" and most people just think about squeaking and bum notes from 6 year olds (I played mine perfectly from the first note, which I'm chuffed about...) and don't consider its had a long history as a "proper" woodwind instrument, differtent sizes, the choice of woods affecting tone.. I was in an early music group for one year at uni and we played recorder pieces from the renaissance and later as well as early instruments - crumhorns are fab! which really opened my eyes to the potential of the instrument.

Oh that's not a very sound method, especially if kids aren't really au fait with instruments and just go for the obvious :( Yeah, can imagine a trumpet's a hefty thing to cart around as a kid, at lesat flutes are pretty light and manouvrable! Guitar is much better, but then I'm biased as I don't get on with brass insturments. Though having said that I'd love to play the sax, takes too much puff though.. and pricey, though you can get a xaphoon I hink its called which is basically a plastic sax like instrument to practice on, or a bamboo sax. Mine's currently on loan (was supposed to get a real sax on loan in return for Mark to play but it never panned out..)

Ooops. Um, these are not the droids you are looking for...*g*

[ganimede]

Considering children also get to play the piano and the guitar, it's odd how they're not seen as instruments 'for kids' in the same way. I don't think I did too badly with my recorder lessons, I remember getting into more advanced fingering but the curse of the army brat meant that my lessons stopped. I've never heard of crumhorns so I had to go and find out what they were. But that lead me to this fantastic piece which I think you might enjoy very much. Although you're probably already aware of it :P

I didn't expect a trumpet to have such a huge case though. I could have fitted inside it quite easily! And that certainly didn't endear me to the instrument at all. I didn't get on with the guitar really - my hands are small so I struggled reaching the top string on some chords. Also the lessons I had at school taught me classical guitar when I wanted to play rock music! I tried teaching myself but didn't know how to figure out the strumming rhythm on sheet music. I do enjoy playing stuff like Guitar Hero because it tells you the strumming! Although I enjoy playing the bass section way more than lead or rhythm.

Aren't brass and wind instruments supposed to be good if you have breathing problems, like asthma and the like? They make you more aware of your breathing and help you get better breath control and lung capacity. Expensive way to go about it though, but fun too! I think saxes just look and sound awesome, but they're definitely pricey.

Ohhh, I think these are very interesting droids...

[hobbitblue]

I suppose its because recorders are cheap, plastic and disposapble at that level, which can hardly apply to pianos (tho if you want a second hand piano Ebay's always full of them, folk desperate to get rid!). Oh that's a cool piece, had forgotten about Dead Can Dance, there's lots of authentic renaissance music that's all bouncy like that with harsh crumhorns and stuff, especially the Spanish stuff I think (I've lost my fave cassette of same, wah!)

Yeah, can see how a case bigger than its owner is a bit of a problem.. I have big hands but some chord stretches on guitar are an issue, especially a classical, which is why I go for smaller size guitars. At least electric guitars have narrower necks.. I reckon you'd do great at playing a real one now you've had all the guitar hero practice :) Or a bass guitar, given you prefer it, fewer strings but I think big hands are more useful on those...

Dunno on the ashthma thing, I suffered from dizzy spells tho so less less oxygen made my head spin, still does sometimes, I have good lung capacity but it depends how it needs to be directed methinks.

*repeats jedi mind trick* *g*

[ganimede]

I think the reason for pianos being foisted upon children (not literally) is because they tend to be readily available in schools.

The guitar I was learning on was a classical guitar which is probably why it was such a stretch for my tiny hands. I actually exchanged it several years later for a smaller acoustic with a lovely red cherry wood back, but it still wasn't the electric guitar I really wanted! I actually saw a Hofner bass, like Paul McCartney's in the music shop in town last year and it was a really reasonable price too (between £1-200 as I recall). I was so tempted! I thought I could exchange my acoustic for it but never did anything about it. I wouldn't have thought bass players needed big hands, surely the necks are only narrow what with just the four strings.

Jedi mind-tricks do not work on Jedis :P

[hobbitblue]

Ok, why is lj opening the comment box *above* what I'm replying to? *scratches head*..

Um hard to foist pianos on more than one kid tho, don't remember it being an option at our school..

The nylon strings are easier on little hands but the stretch is not good at all.. yay smaller pretty acoustic, though if its not what you're yearning for that's no good. The bass neck is narrow indeed but its the stretches between frets rather than across the neck I was thinking of..

Since when did Jedi come from Gallifrey? *g*

[ganimede]

Weird, LJ opened the comment box above the comment I was replying to as well. Unless it's something to do with their new layout thing, maybe it broke yours somehow?

It is hard to foist pianos on more than one child at a time but aren't all music lessons one on one anyway so it wouldn't matter? I only had piano lessons at primary school, which was in Germany, so I didn't really think if it was a common occurrence or not!

I found nylon and steel strings equally as painful. I didn't think of stretching between frets, probably because I never had problems that way. I have short fingers but I guess my reach is quite good.

Well, Jedi mind tricks certainly don't work on Time Lords :P

[hobbitblue]

Flipping lj, dunno how ot fix the style so I'll just ignore it..

At primary school our recorder lessons were for the whole class, my flute lessons were one on one tho..i see your point on the piano tho

Nylon's usually ok after a shorter period of time, unless the guitar has really high action, another reason i like the littler guitars, tend to be "looser" on the strings.

Ah, good point :>