Do you want to play an instrument, or do you just like the idea of playing an instrument?

[solarbird]

I had someone comment elsewhere about not being able to play any musical instrument and being sad about that. I offered a shorter version of this in response, and decided to expand it a touch and bring it up a level.

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Do you want to play an instrument, or do you just like the idea of playing an instrument?

Go to a musical instrument store with a lot of kinds of instruments. I don't mean "a lot of different guitars," I mean a lot of different kinds entirely. Things you've heard, things you've never even heard of before; the more options, the better. In fact, go to more than one shop. Go back to the same one if you want, go to others if you get bored.

Poke around at different instruments until you find one you like playing with. Not "playing" in the sense of "making a song come out;" playing with. Maybe it'll be something with strings; maybe it won't be. Whatever you do, don't load yourself down with preconceptions and expectations about what you should like.

For the first month or month and a half after Anna gave me her mandolin - Summer, the mandolin I perform with now - almost all that I did with it was poke at it at funny angles and strum it with all strings open. Then I'd try to play Great Big Sea's "Goin' Up," or the traditional song "Lukey" a few times, and generally I'd just go back to making it make noises. For five weeks or so, that was mostly just open strumming. No chords, no strings held down, just strum.

You want to find the instrument where when you try something like that, it's fun, and doing it more also sounds fun. Forget your ideas about "proper" instruments and for the love of the gods don't let your preferences in musical genre dictate the choice. Maybe it'll be a ukulele! Maybe it'll be bells. Maybe it'll be a theremin. Maybe it'll be a flute, shakuhachi, or whistle. Maybe it'll be a string-plucked washtub bass. Maybe it'll be a beatpad, or a 10x10 sequencer grid. Maybe it'll be a balalaika. None of that matters. Forget everything else and just find the thing with the noise that makes your brain go "....oh!"

That's what my brain was doing with the open-strumming thing for five weeks. The sound was working its way into my brain, and it felt great.

After you've played with something like this a few times, buy it, take it home and just keep playing with it. Not "play it" - play with it. Just play with it, without expectation, and let what happens, happen.

If after a while you want to try to play a song, make one up. Find a sequence of noises that sound good and play with them until you think it's a song. Guess what: it is! (Maybe you stole half of it from somebody else: great! Just don't try to copyright it. ^_^) Or, if you'd rather, pick one song you like a lot, look up some videos on youtube that introduce you to the basic concepts of playing whatever you've got, and try to echo what you hear in the song you like. Don't start drilling on scales or whatever if you don't want to; that can wait until you're hooked good and proper and actually want to do that.

It's not school. It's not work. You aren't being graded. You aren't being paid. You don't have to do it in someone else's order. There is no GPA at stake. There is no performance review. You'll make ugly noises. You'll screw up. That's fine. Throw all that away and just find the noise and the toy you want to play with, and play with it however comes to mind.

And maybe you'll get bored, and maybe nothing will happen. Or, maybe something amazing will. Find out.

Comments

[nijibug]

♥ I love you for this

[solarbird]

I spent a lot of time liking the idea of being an artist. In particular, an illustrative artist. Unlike a lot of people who like that idea, I have crazy determination and got... not really bad at it, eventually. I got hired as a games artist, I did some freelance, I got in print, I showed at some conventions. I did some work of which I'm still rather proud.

But I never doodled. Not really. When I did, I had to make myself do it. It was a chore, and really, that should've been a tip-off. The other artists I knew - and I was in a couple of Srs Bsns art circles at the time (Ontario and West Coast, several of whom are full-time working artists) - they all doodled. I was jealous of that.

Then some things happened - it's a bit of a laundry list, so I'll skip it. And I tried going back to glass sculpture, where, while I didn't really doodle as such, it certainly played right to my design skills and I would toy with things at least a bit. I had a couple of shows and sold some things... until that quit working, all at once. So between that and Medical Hell Half Decade, I stepped away from just about everything creative for a bit. I actually went back to school, with graduate school in mind; I had the idea that I finally knew what I wanted to do next in research.

And kind of late in that, Anna gave me that mandolin... and something amazing happened.

It's hard. It's scary. My artwork never felt this raw or this exposed. A gallery opening makes you nervous, and you are kind of performing on something like a stage, but it's nothing like this - neither the highs nor the lows. It's terrifying and exhilarating both at once.

I suspect for people whose art really is sculpture, or painting, or mixed media, or whatever - they feel about that like I feel about my music. Particularly at openings.

Anyway. Long comment is long and cranky arms are cranky. I guess the point is I figured out the things I have to say in this post by doin' it wrong for a long time, then accidentally, all at once, doing it exactly right. Maybe by sharing that, I can save some people some time.

[nijibug]

I think I first found music playing with keyboards in an electronics store. My parents paid for me to take lessons, and even though I started much later than most kids who got classical instruction, I was able to "catch up" in a very short time. But my lessons were discontinued when I started high school. I hadn't as much time to devote to classical instruction, and I just didn't show the kind of promise that would warrant my parents' financial investment. I never stopped playing though. I think I learned in the first place so I could write my own songs, and as long as I keep doing that, I still make a figurative profit out of my own joy. :]

Lately my primary instrument has been my voice, I guess. I'm becoming fascinated by the versatility of a cappella arrangement, experimenting to see how many actual instruments I can vocally replace. Trying to teach myself to harness breathing and popping into some semblance of beatboxing.

I've always been a performer, be it drama in high school or glee club in college, though ironically I've always been painfully mediocre. My parents consistently gave me the impression that any sensible daughter should give up — would have given up long ago. I guess maybe that's why I haven't? That, and the fact that as you mentioned, I just really enjoy what I do.

I think I may also have liked the idea of being an artist once, several years ago when I was a child. But at the time I was under a serious misconception. I thought that visual art, unlike, writing, was a form of instant gratification. That was before I ever tried it. And when I did, I discovered that damn, art was difficult. I give up easily when it comes to things I don't desperately enjoy, so I guess the only reason I continue to subject the internet to my idle scribbles is because my friends have tremendous talent, and I would really like to be able to maintain a connection to them on some level.

I think it takes unfathomable courage to hold an art show or give a public concert, especially with original work. I salute you for doing something I don't think I could ever muster up the guts or the discipline to pull off! :]

Don't apologize for the long comment — mine is terribly long too! ^^ I really appreciate you sharing these thoughts 'cause they ring true for me. ♥

[foibos.livejournal.com]

Wonderful advice. Also: Listening to music after you've started making music yourself (or as in my case, singing) is likely to be even more rewarding. I'm hearing new things in songs I've listened to for many years now.

[solarbird]

Awesome, and thanks. ^_^

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

small note: if you go for the shakuhachi, let alone the oboe: bring along someone who can show you the embouchure. it's totally unnatural (and even painful at first) but it will at least allow you to generate your first dying-swan squawk. nothing more irritating than an instrument you can't get to make any noise.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Damn that's a good rant. May I link?

[solarbird]

As always, public posts are always linkable. And private ones, y'can't! Well, you can, but it won't do anyone any good. ^_^

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

Yup. It's all about putting in the time. And noodling is joy.

[solarbird]

It's not. I mean, okay, it kinda is, but not really. It's about wanting to. If you don't enjoy playing with, you're not going to keep up the effort.

[loopback.livejournal.com]

This. after over 30 years of "i can't play music I am Teh Suk", I have spent the last year beginning to learn viola.

I was shocked, SHOCKED i tell you, at how easy it was to generate some initial good sounds with one, since 'string instruments are so haaaaard' is a common meme.

Here it is roughly a year (and a bunch of lessons from an AMAZING instructor) later, and I'm learning Bach's Minuet #1 & #2 in C Major. And by learning, I mean PLAYING. and figuring things out while my teacher is on tour, and having a blast.

That's really the big secret I've found: it's not just enjoying it, but accepting you're not going to be the Rock Star or even necessarily Good. That doesn't matter. You do it for no reason other than you want to. there's no specific goal in mind beyond, "i'd like to do this."

I think a lot of "i can't play music" headnoise comes from starting out wanting to play an instrument with a goal in mind that makes the early learning stages & plateaus frustrating enough that you walk away from it altogether.

[solarbird]

Yeah, afterwards, continue to refuse expectations. Eventually maybe you can let yourself have goals - a different kind of thing entirely - but only if you want to.

[maellenkleth]

Concur. As witness continued willingness to bash keys on a manually-demanding organ. ^_^

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

OK, I am going to take my Sprint rebate and go to the music pawn shop and get a keyboard. And I am going to start exercising my muscle memory and building my physical technique- I might even find someone to give me lessons.

I want to fee the music that has been orbiting my skull for decades. I want others to dance to it, too.

[solarbird]

Also, Craigslist, and remember, pawn shops negotiate. You'll want and need MIDI and force awareness and if you can swing it aftertouch is nice too.

Do you specifically enjoy playing with keyboards? Specifically that form? Do you like the bounce of the keys, the feel of them as you press down, the way you interact with the physical instrument? If you do: awesome. CHAERG!! If not: you have the wrong keyboard, or maybe even the wrong instrument entirely. I have a keyboard for utility - but it's not my love. Is it yours?

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

I used to noodle around on my grandmother's piano, and when I was a kid, my most beloved personal belonging was a small Magnus chord organ.

So, yeah, I like keyboards. I kind of kick myself for not getting the magnificient Yamaha 88-key electronic piano that Sams Club had for $500 at Christmas. It was incredible- with velocity sensitive keys, MIDI interface, and all sorts of other stuff.

But if I can get a decent MIDI controller, that would be fine. I have Cakewalk 4 and want to play with it. Can't do that without a keyboard. It probably isn't the same as hand-building a gamelan or messing with a guitar (hard to do when you are left-handed, let me tell you...), but I would like to make some sort of music. Even if it's just boring old techno dance music.

[solarbird]

Don't have expectations doesn't mean be down on yourself either. ^_^ Is it fun? It's fun. That's what matters.

I paid $100 for a used MIDI keyboard, full size, velocity-sensitive, with aftertouch, via Craigslist. Just, you know, sayin'. $400 buys a lot of virtual instruments and side equipment.

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

What a great post!

I'm not a "great" drummer, but I don't play for anyone but myself. I'm not looking to start a band or make a living from drumming.

People have said to me: "I could never do that." To which I reply: "How do you know unless you try?"

I'm sure there are people who are non-musical, but I think their numbers are much smaller than some people think.