Playing my guitar, piano, violin, didgeridoo, bongo, Kazoo.....

[elisedance]

This is for YOUR instrument.  What do you play, when do you play, why do you play, and just do you play... keep us updated...

[elisedance]

Went for an hours lesson last night - which went to 2 hrs just because I have the neatest teacher on the plannet and we were just having such a good time...

Started with the Alameda form the second Partita - which being self taught needed a lot of not correction exactly (no one really knows how Bach played it) but insight for sure.  Amazing what you discover - that the single line of music (very few of the sonatas or partitas are single lines) can be played as a conversation between two violins.  She also showed me how to approach the first movement of the third - there is no way I will ever play that properly but what an amazing piece it HAS to be played fast to hear the chords.

Even a trip to Utube to hear some lovely Elgar after we worked on his night music - a piece I love... just a wonderful evening

[ZPomeroy]

Well now, isn't this a lovely idea, i wonder how many we'll get posting...

For those that don't know i pay piano, which i have done so for approx. 10 years. I also play clarinet, but this is more so a school requirement than for my own enjoyment. In piano i have studied for and recieved my Amus, which for those not in Australia is pretty much a diploma. I take lessons through my school so have had a break with lessons for the past 2 weeks, though have plenty of technical exercises ect. to work on through the break. I love obscure works and composers such as bortkiewicz, catoire, feinberg, lourie ect. and i'm sorry if you all get sick of hearing me rave on about them

Zac

[Lioness]

Like Zac, I play piano. However I'm not such a high level as him - I'm grade 5-6 AMEB. I'm doing grade 5 exam but I can play grade 6 or 7 pieces.
At the moment I'm playing Debussy's Prelude from Pour Le Piano, Allegro Burlesco but Kuhlau, The Island by (I forgot), and a few other pieces for my exam. I don't practice as much as I should, but I manage to get some in every week. Debussy is awesome, and anyone who says not should run away very fast
I also play flute and voice, though I haven't taken flute lessons for a while and I'm really just playing it in school band and flute ensemble. For singing I'm in musical theatre club and do some solos at school performances.

I can't imagine not playing music of some sort. When I can't get to the piano I sing. Everywhere: shower, computer, walking down the street to the bus stop, etc.

[elisedance]

I wonder if we have any whistlers here - its truly a dying art (or maybe dead...) was a time when men at least seemed to be whistling all the time...

[Lioness]

I wonder if we have any whistlers here - its truly a dying art (or maybe dead...) was a time when men at least seemed to be whistling all the time...

Mum used to date a guy who whistled all the time. He could do trills and everything.

It got really, really annoying.

[QPO]

I wonder if we have any whistlers here - its truly a dying art (or maybe dead...) was a time when men at least seemed to be whistling all the time...

V is good at whistling.. it is a dying art. one I have never had

[cornutt]

I wonder if we have any whistlers here - its truly a dying art (or maybe dead...) was a time when men at least seemed to be whistling all the time...

I whistle a lot.  There are times when I have to remind myself not to do it.  It's probably annoying to anyone who is listening to me, because if I'm hearing a melody in my head, I'm likely to try to whistle a harmony part (or a bass part!), and people who hear it wonder what the heck I'm doing.   

I recall reading that in WWII, American soldiers who were trapped behind enemy lines in France or Holland, and in civilian disguises, had to constantly remind themselves not to whistle.  Apparently French and Dutch men of that generation did not whistle, so if any Nazi informers heard whistling, they knew it was an American and they reported it.

[elisedance]

but why has it always been a male thing? 

[Rugby]

I'm an excellent whistler but since I look like a fish out of water when I do I try to refrain.  I played clarinet for two years but I can't say I was good, just your typical mediocre player.

[ThisIsNotMe]

I play piano also, grade 8 AMEB, I stopped exams when I was sixteen; haven't had the time to go back.  I also play clarinet (about grade 5 on that).  These days, though, I'm mostly a singer.  I do alright, but hopefully will do better once I've started studying.  Music has always been such a huge part of my life, I don't think that I could exist without it in some way, shape or form.  To me, dance is an extension upon that.

[TangoDancer]

I have a beautiful instrument...an ivory grand. One of the funniest things I have ever seen is the legs coming to life, and the piano running across the room when I sit down to play. God, would that I were better. I love to paly when I am alone after a long day at the studio, or while resting in the soliitude of the night.

[elisedance]

I have a beautiful instrument...an ivory grand. One of the funniest things I have ever seen is the legs coming to life, and the piano running across the room when I sit down to play. God, would that I were better. ...

so that the piano would do gymnastics too?

if its already at the running stage I would say you play quite well enough already...

[Lioness]

I was at BF's house today, and he suggested that we attempt to play Haydn's Suprise Symphony as a duet. Even just sightreading it with him, I love it! It's not too complicated (well, it is, but no tricky syncopation or chords) and it sounds great. And it's funny. We were both only sightreading it then, and it still sounded good. Oh, and now I get to use that as an excuse to go over his house randomly

[cornutt]

but why has it always been a male thing? 

Never thought about it, but you're right.  And I have no idea why.  Maybe women are more likely to sing or hum to themselves if they're thinking of a tune -- my mom does this a lot.