Musical Instuments/Whats your interest?

[Falkenbach]

they could steer you to a player-piano repairman, if they do still exist, that is...

Ain't that the hard part! Finding people who still carry out this kind of work. I had enough trouble finding somebody to repair a 1981 electronic organ (see my previous post in this thread for a pic of organ model). In all of the city of Adelaide and suburbs, there is only one person who does it. He lives in the outer southern suburbs - I live in the outer northern suburbs! He will come out, but he charges extra for the travel time. Which is fair enough, but it also means I can't afford it right now.

I imagine finding someone to fix a player piano would be much harder indeed.

[Bajanne]

As a preacher's kid, piano and organ were a part of daily life.  I grew up sitting next to my sister as she played the organ at church meetings.  She died when I was 21 and whenever I hear "Largo" I can't help crying.  I become a child again.  For some years I was one of the accompanists for church meetings.
I did the Royal School of Music Piano exams up to Level 4.   I also went to guitar class - not classical, just learning to strum.  That was great.  I also play the recorder - my daughter and I sometimes duet.

I also play the radio and the fool!

[LightLizard]

cool. i noodle on the recorder, too.
one of my favourite instruments is the swinette, really.

[Falkenbach]

When I was in high school, I once dated a guy called David, the son of the local Anglican priest. I'm not a church-goer, so I would wait until church was finished before going to visit him on a Sunday.

One Sunday I went down to see David after church (the family home was beside the church) and he was setting things up in the church for the evening service. So whilst I was there, I was allowed to play the pipe organ in this big, empty church. It's the only time I've ever got to play a pipe organ. It was great!

His father pretended to be all impressed, which really bugged me at the time, because I knew full well what HE really thought of me. 

[kidney4traci]

I have a nice electric piano with weighted keys.  Bought it for my daughter, but I was thinking about taking lessons.  I had a baby grand as a kid and took lessons then, but find it hard to read music now.I played the alto sax in high school, now my daughter is.  Music is so fun to play! 

[fluffy]

i've been playing guitar and bass for about 10 years. Owned a strat at one point too but i sold it, im currently playing a jackson JS series flying V and i have a broken Ibanez Rg. I used to be in a metal band but i stopped doing the music thing, lack of energy and lack of motivation.

[Falkenbach]

*waves* - Welcome, fellow metal fan! 

[Sluff]

I'm not much into Metal but I love the guitar. Hope you still play once in awhile. 

[LightLizard]

here's some sound-bites of some stuff i've recorded on over the past few years.
http://www.klatu.com/rainforest/

and i just finished a tape of my own on which i over-dubbed myself playing drums and some other
instruments. the guy of the above link is transferring it to CD for me, as i write.
i love recording, i think more than live gigging. its really a craft.
i wrote and recorded it all while we were living on pender island (a small, gulf island near vancouver island) over last summer. wow, i just realised i've been on dialysis for 10 months now.

[fluffy]

  All right! another metalhead!! I do still play somtimes, just not lately cause the V is currently on loan to a friend who does home recording.

[Kitsune]

Hey Epokid,

I'm a Jonas Brothers fan as well. My main interest is power metal, which I practice singing with my Discman while I'm on the machine. Most people like hearing me and say I'm talented, except for this one mean-ass tech who'll let this one woman scream, yell, cackle and raise hell as loud as she wants because "she can't help it", but yet I'm the villain for being alert and bored,  not wanting to sit there half-dead in front of the TV and waiting for my demise, like most of the people there....and of course, my dear friend (said sarcastically) Angie, who lies through her teeth and says that other patients are telling her to ask the techs to stop me from singing. She's so full of it, since no one likes her except for the techs, and that's because they're paid to . My favorite song to sing? Kotipelto's "Sleep Well" from their 2007 album "Serenity".

[ODAT]

Hope you don't mind me 'horning' in here (lol). I have a Casio electric piano. Wanted a 'real' piano, but hubby said he didn't want to be bothered with tuning and moving. (He paid for it so it's okay.)  I took lessons when I was 5 for just a few months. Took them again when I was 40 for about 6 months. Started again when my son (15) took drum lessons. His teacher also does piano and a ton of other stuff. He teaches me about the history of music and has so many stories from his days as the deaf music director at RIT. I cannot believe how much there is to learn.

LL, as a drummer, how would you say I could go about inspiring my son to practice? He is in marching band at high school and plays crash cymbals, snare, bass, all that stuff. He takes private lessons - I let him switch teachers because his friends go to this guy (like 50 years younger than original guy) and I thought he'd practice.

My oldest play trumpet from 4th to 7th grade. I cried for months when he quit. He took art lessons a while ago and he did a chalked piece of a trumpet laying against a case. I asked him if he was trying to make me cry again!

I truly believe that playing an instrument adds so much to your life. My teacher keeps telling me to 'feel' the music and put myself into it. I can't wait till I can manage that because right now I'm too focused on key signatures, dynamics, damper, sight reading, chromatic scales, and all the other stuff! It doesn't help that I sometimes freeze with the teacher. I've been taking lessons from him for almost two years, have known him for five years and am really a close friend as well. I wish I could relax and play as well for him as I do at home. Any ideas?! thanks!

[LightLizard]

i don't know what would be the best approach to inspiring your son to practice, Odat. kids are pretty unpredictable, as you know, when it comes to such things.
all you can do is provide him with the tools and the space and hope for the best, i think.
if he has a passion for drumming, he will drum. if not, he'll find something else, i'm sure. they all do, eventually. when i was a kid i drummed because i couldn't help myself, i 'had' to. it's not the same for everyone.

love

~LL~

[ODAT]

LL, I've always known that the passion inside fuels the learning. He has an awesome drumset with a sound system, the best headphones, got him an 8 and 10" tom for Christmas, he won a cymbal from a drummer that was visiting his school, we went to see Libery DiVito when he was here (rochester, ny), frankly I don't know what else I can do. Like you said, it comes from inside. He plays well so I think he thinks he doesn't need to practice. thanks for the advice!
take care

[Hippy]

I like to play a Harmonic. When I make a mistake, it still sounds good. I did try guitar lessons but kept messing up with my left hand.
The Harmonica is easy to play but hard to play well. I did learn with free Internet lessons how to do the "bends".
   One guy showed me his method , where he puts the entire Harmonica in his mouth, no hands. He plays a whole song using tongue blocking
of holes.

[Krisna]

I played the clarinet in grades 4-9 (I had to repeat 7th).  In 9th grade I got PE waived so I also took Choir.  I don't play the clarinet anymore, but I have an acoustic guitar I have been trying to learn how to play.  And I love to sing, though, I am extremely shy.  My oldest niece takes after me with music.  She plays like 7 or 8 instruments and belongs to three bands and she is nine yrs. old.

When I was in 9th grade I taught my three sisters how to harmonize!  I love music...all genre's.

[Mimi]

I play piano.  My parents bought it for me when I was 10 years old.  I took lessons until I was 17.  I now have a
big, big bedroom with a sittingroom at one end and in that sittingroom sits my piano.  My piano is now 84 years old.
It was made 10 years before I was born.

Love, Mimi

[Falkenbach]

I'd love to have a beautiful old piano like that!