What Makes People "Musical?"

[Jabberwocky]

My daddy-poos was "Musical."

 

Give him any instrument and he could learn to play a passable tune on it in a matter of minutes.

I`ve seen him on a piano and an accordian-I even saw him playing a trumpet once and according to him theres a sort of gene in my family that allows certain members of it to play just about anything a la Roy Castle.

 

I have a nephew- a little freak who is the same, he can play excellently and I remember him at the age of three with a drum kit- this was back in the 60s by the way, hammering along to the Stones and singing "Hey, hey you, you get off of my sprouts!"

 

(You know who you are, little freak!)

 

He was in a band or two and didnt do too badly.

 

So, obviously in his case, The musical gene struck again...

 

Some of my family, however, (Me, especially me) dont have that gene, that talent even though we would dearly love to have it.

 

Over the years I`ve owned recorders, penny whistles, a synthesizer or two, a few accoustic guitars and on all of them- on everything I tried I managed to make the simplest of tunes sound like a punk rock band falling down a flight of stairs.

 

Last year I actually considered buying an expensive electric guitar and speaker in the vain hope that it might make me sound better, in the way a crap fisherman with thousands of pounds worth of tackle glares at the kid with a piece of string on a stick who keeps landing huge trout while he sits there with nothing.

 

I saw sense in the end and saved myself lots of lolly but for a while I was seconds away from a lot of skintness and heartache.

 

So, my little Brighouse and Rastrics, are YOU musical? Can you pick up an instrument for the first time and play it as if you`ve been doing it for... well at least months?

 

Are you like me? Totally useless with anything that makes a tune- I can even make a song on an MP3 player go out of tune.

 

Did you have to learn to play your instrument of choice? How difficult was it? How many times did you come close to jacking it all in?

 

Discuss please.

 

Or I`ll swallow yer plectrums.

[leahiz]

im exactly like your dad i can play most instruments, my granddad was the same, he could play the piano and he was blind. and theres my brother, rather like yourself he was having guitar lessons for 3 years and could only play kum by yah and grand old duke of york!

[deedar]

I teach guitar and the main difference I've found between "musical" and "non musical" people is in their timing. Most people get the hang of where to put their fingers but some just have no concept of where the rhythm is. I suppose it's like dancing, some people can feel it naturally while others have two left feet.

[medusa]

Before I was ill I was musical too. I played in lots of orchestras on lots of different instruments and even played in a ceilidh band occasionally.

 

My total instrument tally was:

 

viola (national youth orchestra, county youth orchestra, university orchestra etc)

violin (ceilidh band, performing in pubs and busking)

cello (county string orchestra, various quartets, quintets etc)

tuba (school band, county wind band etc)

flugelhorn (busking mostly)

clarinet (for fun)

bass guitar/bass and baritone sax (county swing and jazz orchestras)

piano (to accompany other people mostly)

mandolin (to see how long it took to learn)

bass recorder (national recorder ensemble)

hand and church bells (to learn the rounds)

penny whistle (to join in with the Pogues)

and I've probably forgotten some of them- I only bothered taking exams in a few (viola, piano, violin, cello, tuba) as you run out of practice time when you play so many instruments.

 

Unfortunately I can't really play any more since being ill as all of these take speed, strength and coordination with the arm I can't use, so I'm restricted to singing now, which leaves a huge hole where all of the music used to live inside my head. I miss it more than I can say.

[Jabberwocky]

But cant the voice be classed as a musical instrument?

 

I know its words but... its still an instrument of sorts...?

 

Come to think of it, it has to be the first instrument mankind ever used to make music with...?

[LordChaverly]

There was a very good science programme on this subject on TV a while back, in which they studied Vanessa Mae's brain in order to discover the roots of musicality. The conclusion was that her musical talent was largely down to nurture rather than nature, in that the learning of an instrument at a very early age, plus constant practice, had altered her still developing brain in such a way as to give her the gift of musicality. She was quite disappointed in the findings, as she thought it would be due to raw talent. The case of Mozart, who of course was the very essence of musicality, would probably also bear this out. So the secret seems to be, start early and practice a lot.

[onewheeldave]

Before I was ill I was musical too. I played in lots of orchestras on lots of different instruments and even played in a ceilidh band occasionally.

 

My total instrument tally was:

 

viola (national youth orchestra, county youth orchestra, university orchestra etc)

violin (ceilidh band, performing in pubs and busking)

cello (county string orchestra, various quartets, quintets etc)

tuba (school band, county wind band etc)

flugelhorn (busking mostly)

clarinet (for fun)

bass guitar/bass and baritone sax (county swing and jazz orchestras)

piano (to accompany other people mostly)

mandolin (to see how long it took to learn)

bass recorder (national recorder ensemble)

hand and church bells (to learn the rounds)

penny whistle (to join in with the Pogues)

and I've probably forgotten some of them- I only bothered taking exams in a few (viola, piano, violin, cello, tuba) as you run out of practice time when you play so many instruments.

 

Unfortunately I can't really play any more since being ill as all of these take speed, strength and coordination with the arm I can't use, so I'm restricted to singing now, which leaves a huge hole where all of the music used to live inside my head. I miss it more than I can say.

 

There's a few instruments which are fine to play with one hand, such as

 

Didgeridu

 

Tabor pipe (like a tin whistle but with only three holes, but played in the second octave and higher, which gives the full major scale)

 

Personally I don't play brass instruments, but would think that they could also be played one-handed?

[medusa]

There's a few instruments which are fine to play with one hand, such as

 

Didgeridu

 

Tabor pipe (like a tin whistle but with only three holes, but played in the second octave and higher, which gives the full major scale)

 

Personally I don't play brass instruments, but would think that they could also be played one-handed?

 

It may sound like I'm being elitist when I say this, but I don't want to just play an instrument, I'm used to being good at playing them and I won't be happy unless I play well.

 

The other thing is that these days I'd probably want to play with others in a folky kind of way, so that immediately rules out didgeridu and most brass instruments. Strictly speaking, even though you could play both of those with one hand, moving them about and supporting them in practice takes two hands, even with the brass instruments which only have 3 valves or keys (and they're almost always set up for people to use their right hands on the valves, which means I'd need to have one made as a mirror image, which would cost thousands just to try one out with my left hand- which is not going to happen).

 

Playing with others and accompanying singers also brings in the rather large limitation of a tabor pipe- they play only in a designated key and so you'd need a box full of pipes to be sure to have one which will work with the person who likes to sing in E. I'd rather be playing a recorder or flute which have the flexibility of half notes, but I just can't coordinate my gammy arm well enough

 

I've spent the last 13 years trying to find an instrument which I could play properly and I've failed dismally to this point. Everything either needs two arms to carry, set up or support during play or one handed play is the wrong side for me- I think I'm destined not to play again if I'm honest and in some ways emotionally it's easier to deal with a 'never' than it is to deal with a 'possibly'.

[flamingjimmy]

There was a very good science programme on this subject on TV a while back, in which they studied Vanessa Mae's brain in order to discover the roots of musicality. The conclusion was that her musical talent was largely down to nurture rather than nature, in that the learning of an instrument at a very early age, plus constant practice, had altered her still developing brain in such a way as to give her the gift of musicality. She was quite disappointed in the findings, as she thought it would be due to raw talent. The case of Mozart, who of course was the very essence of musicality, would probably also bear this out. So the secret seems to be, start early and practice a lot.

 

I have always been of the opinion that nurture is far more important than nature when it comes to people being 'musical'.

 

I started learning guitar and piano at a young age and when I began I had no discernible 'natural talent' at all, I just made a lot of noise. It wasn't until after a couple of years of not really enjoying my lessons and real struggles that things started to click. Now I have perfect pitch and can pick up new instruments very quickly.

 

In the early days I was so bad that I really wanted to quit, I thought I'd never be able to make any nice sounds out of an instrument, but my parents forced me to keep going to lessons because they'd already payed for a whole term's lessons and didn't want to waste their money. For this I am eternally grateful.

 

As with the vast majority of things in life, the most important thing by such a very long way is practice.

[flamingjimmy]

I've spent the last 13 years trying to find an instrument which I could play properly and I've failed dismally to this point. Everything either needs two arms to carry, set up or support during play or one handed play is the wrong side for me- I think I'm destined not to play again if I'm honest and in some ways emotionally it's easier to deal with a 'never' than it is to deal with a 'possibly'.

 

You have a deep sympathy from me. I broke some fingers not long ago, which meant the only instrument I could play to any sort of level was my harmonica. It was completely lame. I even do it no handed (I've got one of them brace things for when I'm playing guitar at the same time). I hope you do get to play again at some point, and harmonica's can be quite fun.

 

You could fit a harmonica in with some folk music (just about) but it's still not the same.