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Which musical instrument can you play, or which would you like to learn to play?
| 30% | 47 votes |
| 22% | 35 votes |
| 1% | 2 votes |
| 8% | 13 votes |
| 2% | 4 votes |
| 2% | 4 votes |
| 20% | 32 votes |
| 11% | 18 votes |
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- Don't complain about lack of options. You've got to pick a few when you do multiple choice. Those are the breaks.
- Feel free to suggest poll ideas if you're feeling creative. I'd strongly suggest reading the past polls first.
- This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.
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Which musical instrument can you play, or which would you like to learn to play?
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Alimony and bribes will engage a large share of your wealth.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Monday November 04, @02:41PM (6 children)
I play Celtic music and, while not being a one-man-band, I play guitar, banjo, bhodran and tin whistle. However, only one at a time and probably quite badly now due to lack of practice.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by rufty on Monday November 04, @07:08PM
Melodeon, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatonic_button_accordion). Also for Celtic tunes.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday November 05, @11:51AM
I play accordion in a Celtic band, and know the basics of what to do with guitar, bhodran, whistle, bass (both upright and electric), and drums.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday November 12, @03:15PM
I marked "guitar." I used to be pretty good, but I haven't picked either one up for a decade or more so I probably suck bad now.
Our nation is in deep shit, but it's illegal to say that on TV.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday November 17, @03:26AM (2 children)
Here's an example
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kEbZFgFxECk [youtube.com]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday November 17, @07:42AM
Thanks for the link. I know of McKennitt's skills and have listened to her music for a couple of years now. The hurdy-gurdy was more popular in the 1960's but has always been a minority instrument. I was at that time a member of a local folk club in NW England, and we had an hurdy-gurdy player who appeared regularly.
Over the last decade it appears to have benefited from something of a revival although skilled players are still few and far between.
Personally, I prefer the hurdy-gurdy with much more subdued musical accompaniment, but you have just caused me to put a couple of hour's worth her music to play in the background while I begin my Sunday morning. Thanks again.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday November 17, @07:49AM
Another name to look out for is "Patty Gurdy" who is also to be found on youtube.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday November 04, @03:45PM (9 children)
About five years piano lessons starting in 4th grade. Stopped in high school because of geek urges to hyperfocus on anything having to do with computers. Which paid off in spades. I did have people encouraging me to go into music and study piano.
I got the DX7 in 1986 with quite a few accessories for, IIRC, about $1600. Including a nice stand and super rugged (and heavy) carrying case. I still have it along with original boxes, cartridges, pedal, stand, case, etc. Plus I had purchased a couple of read/write cartridges which were preloaded with lots of other interesting voices. Then I bought a book in some super cheap "let's get rid of this cruft" bin at a mall Waldenbooks store in the early 1990s -- that book is a large spiral book with manually entered "programs" for lots of other new interesting voices. These included musical as well as lots of special effects like telephone ringing, sirens, train whistles, and moar. Those were fun daze.
In hindsight I recognize that people who can make a career as a musician not only must be talented (which I have my own personal internal doubts about despite what people said) but you must have the lightning stroke of luck. Just like tons of actors who are talented but never get the stroke of luck to be in some major motion picture or tv series or something which makes them famous.
Not only do I eat, breath and dream computers, but it has paid the bills for decades.
If a Christmas present has a EULA it should be on the outside of the wrapping paper.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday November 04, @04:39PM (4 children)
And without that kind of luck, you try to make what you can via merchandise [bandcamp.com].
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday November 04, @05:10PM (3 children)
It was nice to be able to play piano but not be highly skilled. But my real passion was computers. I knew that. Even with people telling me how well I played and should study music.
Now looking back as an old man, I would definitely counsel young people if they have a passion to do something, and they won't starve doing it, then definitely follow that passion. Still carefully consider the counsel other people give you about career advice. But ultimately it is your life and you (not them) have to live with your decision.
As luck would have it, I was getting into microcomputers just as it was taking off in the late 1970s. A few years before the IBM PC.
If a Christmas present has a EULA it should be on the outside of the wrapping paper.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by krishnoid on Monday November 04, @05:33PM (1 child)
In a country without a great social safety net, hone your skills in something, boring or otherwise, that pays sufficiently well. But in the *meantime* -- and particularly with the resources now available online -- I'd say definitely engage with that passion, even making it a go-to when you're procrastinating from your day job. But unless your passion is dynamically balancing accounting and art, let your finances support your passion, not depend on it.
I've talked to a few artists at fan conventions. One said, "Make sure you have a partner that makes the money." And I poorly phrased a question to a comic book artist at a panel, "Is there anything else you're good at?" to a murmur of mild disbelief and nervous laughter. He promptly replied (approximately) "No. If I couldn't do this and make enough money at it, I'd probably be homeless. If you can do anything else for a living, do that."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday November 04, @10:52PM
In the late 1970s in high school, I wouldn't have thought of the US as a country without a great social safety net. Maybe just a naive teen.
That is good advice. Do something that pays well, or at least pays the bills. And pursue your passion if it is different. In my case my work was my passion. During the 80s and early 90s I was a card carrying Apple fanboy.
If a Christmas present has a EULA it should be on the outside of the wrapping paper.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Friday November 08, @01:15PM
I too had piano lessons in the 1970s when I was a boy. But then I heard an Apple II play a song note perfect. It didn't have to spend hours practicing, or understand sheet music. Made the whole idea of learning to play an instrument seem like so much antiquated bull. It may have been the intro to the game Beneath Apple Manor, which plays In the Hall of the Mountain King. Lot of those early computer games used classical music, no doubt because those are out of copyright. Soon after that, I heard a few games on it produce speech (Dung Beetles says "We gotcha!" when you lose the game, and even more impressive, Seadragon plays a little speech at the start of the game: "Captain, the ship's computer is now ready."), scratchy, but nevertheless the words could be made out. The sound that an Atari 2600 console could produce was of better quality, making it clear that the audio on the Apple II was more of an afterthought. Soon, video games in arcades demonstrated even better audio. It was pretty plain that audio electronics had immense potential. What might be possible with a computer system on which more attention was paid to the audio? The Commodore 64 was a step forward.
But you know how it was. The older generations didn't get it, seemed they didn't want to get it. "Serious" computers such as IBM mainframes didn't do audio. Only toy home computers and video arcade games did that. When computer games dropped the classics, moving to original music, the efforts were scorned by the established music industry. For years, video game music was not even eligible for Grammys. It was only last year, 2023, that the Grammys added a category for video game music. And true enough, a theme song such as the one to M.U.L.E. is weak, with a few short and repetitive melodies. I still like it, not because the tune was good, but because the game was good. Now, we have orchestras playing the music of Super Mario Bros. among other games.
I ditched the piano lessons just as soon as I could get my mother to grudgingly accept that I didn't want training in what was clearly going to be an obsolete activity, and turned to computers.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Tuesday November 05, @01:28AM (1 child)
I took keyboard lessons as a kid but pretty much hated it. But it was good foundation. In teen years late 70s I picked up guitar. I can play some stuff, but I'm always chasing that impossible song or riff. Never played in a serious band but I have played live in some situations (long stories).
More importantly I found myself getting into and being (very?) good at audio, including live mix. Have done some dozens of gigs with some pretty top talent, some known. Like you I've always known some very talented musicians that have never "made it", certainly not made it big. I won't mention any, but I'm sure everyone reading this can think of some famous and successful musicians that aren't all that talented.
Mass audiences aren't super turned on by virtuoso talent. For example the many incredible guitarists I listen to- they don't have widespread audience appeal.
Singing is pretty much the biggest crowd draw.
Some of the major keys to music world success: for sure making connections, which might involve some self-promotion to the right people and situations.
For sure good business acumen, or at least have someone who can be your manager / promoter.
But from what I've observed: a kind of urge / drive to get up and perform and entertain people. As we see, some lesser talented people have a way of connecting with their followers, and that energy often works both ways, inspiring the songwriter to pander to and connect with their audiences more and more.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 05, @03:07PM
That is a good description of how having people skills (instead of machine skills) is important to succeed in music. As a geek, I would have been clueless about self promotion. Glad I stuck with computers.
If a Christmas present has a EULA it should be on the outside of the wrapping paper.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday November 06, @03:41AM
Absolutely.
Back in my college days, I double-majored in computer science and music composition, in part because my alma mater had one of the top music conservatories in America. The composition profs were trying to get me to drop the computer science, but I mentioned a desire to be able to make a living, which they were apparently opposed to. My music classmates, on average, were really really really good musicians: The instrumentalists and vocalists could play anything you put in front of them, and emote with it, even the weird stuff us composers were encouraged to create for them. And the composers were extremely creative, trying all kinds of weird stuff to see what worked, and a lot of them finding out some stuff that worked really well and was fun to listen to.
And out of the hundreds of talented musicians at that school while I was there, as far as I can tell less than 10 of them are full-time professional musical performers or composers. A decent percentage of the rest make their living teaching music, or being church organists, or writing ad jingles and the like. Most, like me, found non-music ways to make a living.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Saturday November 09, @11:01PM
I have a reasonably good, even above average 'ear' and can hear when I play something wrong vs right or at least reasonably close. I also had a couple of years of piano lessons off and on over the years, but when it comes to playing with both hands simultaneously, I have some kind of disability, it just doesn't happen no matter who teaches me or how much I practice...
As for a career as a professional or popular musician... It looks appealing on the surface, but putting myself into their actual lives... The only thing worse than starving while waiting for that lottery hit of success would be the success itself, touring months at a stretch year after year into your late 70s... No thanks.
Having said that, Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night are projecting one of the more appealing "successful musician" lifestyles for the past couple of decades. Blackmore's Night music is o.k., kinda Stevie Nicks wanna be, but the touring schedule / lifestyle actually looks like fun. If the stories are actually true.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by krishnoid on Monday November 04, @04:26PM (1 child)
That should have been an option too. Although I guess it counts as a wind instrument (?).
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Monday November 04, @11:00PM
When I wrote the pole question (mar 20, 2024), it had all but the one man band option. It also underwent minor editing which was nice.
Vocal chords -- groups that sing acapella using only their vocal cords.
If a Christmas present has a EULA it should be on the outside of the wrapping paper.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04, @04:48PM
How about the blaster beam [wikipedia.org]? It was used extensively in this song [youtube.com] and elsewhere in the soundtrack that this is from. The blaster beam is a massive instrument that has similarities to an electric guitar. There are two very familiar components to this theme, one that has been used extensively in later scores and is associated with a particular alien race. Then there's the blaster beam, which is used to create a sense of mystery, danger, and something that is just massive and sinister. Here is the actual scene [youtube.com] where this is played, but it's used elsewhere in the soundtrack for this movie and works to great effect. It's just a really awesome instrument with a unique and sinister sound. As far as I know, you can't just go out and buy a blaster beam, but it is possible to build your own. So my answer to this poll is that I'd like to build and learn to play a blaster beam, because it's fucking awesome. And if that's not possible, I'll settle for a theremin.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04, @07:55PM (2 children)
I can play a few chords and rhythms on the guitar, and a few easy tunes; but I'd never say "sure I play" if asked without qualifying it. I'd be absolutely embarrassed if I tried to keep up with a band.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07, @01:22AM (1 child)
> I'd be absolutely embarrassed if I tried to keep up with a band.
It's different now with ubiquitous live recordings but 30 years back standards were generally lower, mistakes were more common and only musicians ever noticed. You'd probably have done fine on the weekend warrior circuit back in the day -- half the guitarists I knew didn't even own a metronome.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07, @05:32PM
I play mostly for my own amusement; but I think you're right insofar as I could probably get up to speed by practicing with some other amateurs. Having a real musician friend helps, but his band is pro and I know I'd just be tripped up. Their lead guitarist/singer is amazing and even so he struggled with confidence a couple years ago. I think confidence is actually a significant part. I'm given to understand some of the 70s and 80s punks were absolutely horrible musicians, but had huge confidence.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Freeman on Monday November 04, @10:45PM
I learned a bit of piano when I was young and I was in a band in High School. I'm certainly not a very good piano or trumpet player, but I can read sheet music and play both. Perhaps the most interesting skill that piano taught me is exactly that, the ability to read sheet music. I've also been in a "handbell choir", but that's more about following instructions and being able to keep up with the rhythm. Also not a bad thing to learn.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Tuesday November 05, @11:55AM
Not, like, super-great or anything, but well enough that I can use those instruments in public and not be completely embarrassed by the results, and can do well in bands entertaining a couple hundred people. The only families of instruments I've never tried are reed instruments (saxaphones, clarinets, oboes, etc), and that's mostly due to the fact that you can't borrow them for a bit without getting spittle all over somebody's reed and that's annoying to deal with (especially for double-reeds like oboe and bassoon).
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Rich on Tuesday November 05, @12:50PM (1 child)
I found more than four strings to be a bit challenging. Also, I like the sound of crunchy Rickenbackers.
I can strum a bit on a six-string guitar as well, but it's not worth mentioning. As is my keyboard/piano playing. I know where the notes are, but I can't properly play two-handed. However, I can build synthesizers really well .:)
And I recently discovered my old recorder flute in the cellar and enough from the school drills stuck to get enough notes out of it, including a clean half-thumb high E, to play a tune in a (barely) recognizable fashion. Haha.
I think that good software people almost inevitably dabble in some instrument, and the preliminary results and replies seem to somehow confirm that impression.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 06, @10:59AM
Just don't replace the strings when they inevitably break. Eventually you'll be killing it on the easiest to play guitar ever made.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Ingar on Wednesday November 06, @11:03AM (10 children)
Been playing the piano for 35 years, although I haven't played much the past few years.
I like Bach.
Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Wednesday November 06, @10:08PM (2 children)
Bach is amazing, so that's just a sign of good taste. There's stuff he wrote that now, 300 years later, theorists are reacting to with "WTF! How does that work? It clearly does, but we have no idea why."
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08, @08:23AM
A part of that is the mastery of the art. For example, Bach used resultant tones before Germans learned of their discovery from the Italians with technique not formally described until much later. However, a part of the Bach revival is also because he was too ahead of his time. His music is a much closer match to our modern ear than it is to what was popular at the time, especially among the "vulgar people."
(Score: 3, Funny) by damnbunni on Friday November 08, @08:16AM (4 children)
Aaaah, Bach.
(Score: 3, Funny) by janrinok on Friday November 08, @09:42AM (3 children)
He was also very popular with the Beatles. "Get Bach", "Bach in the USSR", "I'll be Bach" and others.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday November 13, @09:35PM (2 children)
He also made all the key signatures sound the same. Before him, tunings were such that each key signature had its own characteristic. Now they're all identical, just modulated by a few Hertz.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13, @11:57PM (1 child)
A common misconception is is that Bach used equal temperament. Instead, he used a well temperament. The biggest difference is that while there is no wolf interval, key color remains due to impure beats. Thanks to this, Bach doesn't sound too weird in any of the common equal temperaments today. Something that can't be said for other music of his time. Although, many of his pieces do sound better, in my opinion, when played on instruments tuned to a well temperament. However, the perfect pitch part of me definitely notices some tones are "wrong" when I pay attention to particular notes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20, @05:23AM
It has been bothering me that I couldn't find a good example of what I was talking about. There are a lot of examples of people comparing the two but some of the difference could come from how they played it. But I finally found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztT5CdkTHNQ [youtube.com] It has the same song played identically on two different MIDI instruments. A bonus is that the layered reverberation they add makes the resultant tones a bit more obvious. I should note that the song itself was composed with a different temperament than either of the ones it is played in so both are technically "wrong" in that regard. I'd be curious what people and particularly the non-professionals think. Do you prefer one over the other? Can you hear the difference at all?
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday November 13, @09:32PM (1 child)
Bach invented modern music.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Friday November 15, @01:17PM
In the sense of "yes, his music is remarkably modern for having been written centuries ago", sure.
In the sense of "he's the main reason modern music exists", heck no. Most modern forms of music owe their existence to mostly unknown people who performed African-influenced music in Congo Square, New Orleans which developed into ragtime, jazz, and blues.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Saturday November 09, @04:05PM (1 child)
It never really ends, like programming, even the pros are still learning.
Here's a puzzler for the soylentils. If I want to do Prokofiev No.2 I need a piano player to play along with or a recording online or phone app or something to do a duet. I have not researched lately but "years ago" there was nothing. You'd think with all this AI garbage "someone" would come up with a duet player. I don't think you could make an AI duet player smart enough to improvise Dixieland jazz on the fly but playing Prokofiev along with me seems like it should be possible.
Its probably stupid, I know I'm going to get stuck in the rain and ruin it someday, but I like to take hikes with my cheap flute and play music in the wilderness. I take my cheap crappy $100 amazon flute with sticky keys because I'm outside. It fits quite easily in the backpack next to my first aid kit and stuff like that. If there's no one around I'm not bothering people, unlike the people blasting Bluetooth speakers whom always seem to be in the crowded areas. I have an old non-chinese Gemeinhardt that is indoors only.
I'd say flute prices for the last quarter century have been about like graphics card prices; it'll work but its shit is $100 or less, "A couple hundred" will get you great amateur grade stuff, and if you want you can pay $2000 but its not really going to work any better than the $300 flute. I just checked and Gemeinhardts are now Chinese and more like $350. Oh well.
(Score: 4, Informative) by RamiK on Sunday November 10, @06:50PM
Prokofiev has a dozen different "No.2"s so I can't be sure, but I think you're referring to op94 flute sonata which also has a violin adaptation called "op94a" or "op94, no.2": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flute_Sonata_(Prokofiev) [wikipedia.org]
i.e. https://imslp.org/wiki/Flute_Sonata,_Op.94_(Prokofiev,_Sergey) [imslp.org] vs. https://imslp.org/wiki/Violin_Sonata_No.2,_Op.94bis_(Prokofiev,_Sergey) [imslp.org]
If so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLWXdIGwT0M [youtube.com]
(all 4 movement in description in case you were talking about the 2nd movement)
I've used Spleeter to separate vocals and the likes to create backtracks for guitar practice back when: https://github.com/deezer/spleeter [github.com]
There's others too: https://github.com/stemrollerapp/stemroller [github.com] https://github.com/nomadkaraoke/python-audio-separator [github.com]
Btw, Cathedral's Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain is one of my favorite songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v-cuWxBNRo [youtube.com]
compiling...
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday November 13, @09:32PM
When I was a small kid, everyone at primary school had to learn to play the recorder (flute). We all had to get a descant and some of us went on to play the treble.
I ended up playing the violin/fiddle too. Goodness knows how, but I was persuaded into it and I was terrible. Neither of my parents knew anything about music as such other than being Boomers and well into Pop Music in the days when it was still cool (Kinks, Who, Beatles, Rolling Stones etc.). So that meant that the violin could never be tuned at home to begin with. It also meant that my idea of intonation came from the likes of the Devil Went Down to Georgia.
After many years of perseverance, humiliation, tribulation, pain and suffering, I got to a certain standard, but my god it was awful. I scraped passed in some exams fortunately because my parents decided Music should be part of my academic record. Argh!
I also got myself a bass guitar in my teens. I don't know exactly when I decided bass was the thing for me, but from a very early age I like The Police (Walking on the Moon and all that) and Sting's bass playing. I also liked things like Bob Marley and some funky stuff, but whatever I liked I was always drawn to the bass, and when I was about 15 and discovered thrash metal, that was it! And me and my friends had a band and we were ace.
There's always been a frustrated guitarist in me too and I dabble. I'll never be Kerry King, Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield or Billy Corgan. Sometimes it's nice just to make a loud noise.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday November 13, @09:40PM (1 child)
To me, music is magic. Despite its apparently simple mathematical nature, it's infinitely complex and any musician of any sort of reasonable standard is, as far as I'm concerned, a practitioner of magic and I appreciate that. On the one hand I want to understand music, because it is so amazing and on the other I don't want to spoil the magic because of the immense pleasure it gives me. Good music brings me out of myself and into a completely different world. Music is intrinsically very human and that's why it's always better live, performed by real people. It's a form of communication and it transcends barriers such as race, gender, class, age and language. When you close your eyes and open your ears...
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday November 15, @01:21PM
As a trained musician, couldn't agree more.
And no, knowing how it works doesn't spoil the experience too much, so long as you remember to turn off your brain a bit and let the surprises happen (because good music always does some things that are a bit unexpected, that's what keeps you listening).
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 16, @10:05AM (3 children)
They just pop into my head. This one [youtube.com] has over 600 views now.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday November 18, @04:25PM (2 children)
Back in 2011, on my first Android smartphone (on AT&T it was a Samsung Captivate), I discovered an app called ChordBot. After trying the trial version, I decided to spend $5 on it. Best $5 I ever spent. I spent the next eight years or thereabout constantly playing with that app. I came up with lots of arrangements (mostly guitar or piano voices) of traditional church hymns.
At some point, I realized I should invest all that effort into MIDI. But this was a "fiddley" app (like a fidget spinner) that I played with on my ever present phone.
I still have that app, and all of the work I put into it. It moves to each new phone. But I rarely do anything with it now except occasionally play something I did on it to listen to. Like the other day I wanted to hear the chords I had used in a Christmas hymn.
If a Christmas present has a EULA it should be on the outside of the wrapping paper.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18, @10:58PM (1 child)
None of this is worth reading, so I'm burying it all piecewise into spoilers which you will be free to peruse if you are ever truly bored. It is reminiscence of an old man, but it does pertain to the question raised in this poll.
Genesis...
Numbers...
Psalms...
Acts...
Revelations...
Epilogue...
I am still in awe of people who can read a score and play an instrument at full speed at first glance based upon it. It is a variation on touch typing that I never mastered.
--
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19, @12:22AM
I still remember the first time I did that unconsciously. I was going into my fourth hour of practice that day. While I was stretching myself out, my assistant grabbed the score out that he previously prepped. However, it was one I had never played before because I had sent him the wrong one! He put in the registration according to the notes and laid it out the way I prefer. I sat down, did some scales to check the balance. And away I went. I remember thinking to myself as I was going that the song seemed longer than I remembered. I got to the end and the final chord wasn't what I expected as it reverberated. I looked at the cover and we discovered the mistake. I told my wife, who was less than impressed. She was supportive, of course; but she was not impressed that a professional musician managed to sight read music that was previously prepped. Sure, it was something I've probably done millions of times without realizing it over the previous decade. But, it feels different to realize you did.
Long story short, I don't know if I'd count yourself out. You are probably better at it than you think. The key is just accepting you'll make mistakes and not overthink it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by engblom on Saturday November 16, @01:54PM
I am not professional, but I still play several instruments, mostly piano and guitar, but also recorder, harmonica and violin.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 21, @02:55AM
...is between my legs. I beat the meat.