PEOPLE WHO PLAY INSTRUMENTS

I need your help! If you’re open to another one of my weird questions, of course :joy:

So, I haven’t picked up an instrument since early high school. Those of you who do play, here are my questions:

  1. What do you play?
  2. Why did you pick that instrument?
  3. How difficult is it physically?
  4. Do you have any emotional associations with it? (eg., how does it make you feel? Does it help to play when you’re thinking / have had a bad day? etc)
  5. Do you enjoy playing?
  6. If you could, would you change what you play?

Yes, this is for a book :joy:
Thanks in advance, guys!

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✧・゚: * ✧・゚:* Happy to assist! ✧・゚: *✧・゚: *

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hi but weren’t you not summoned? :joy:

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HIHIHIHI

Response collapsed because space

What do you play?

I play violin (well, played. I quit bc it got super hard and annoying and I couldn’t deal with the neck pain anymore)

but it’s still fairly recent so I do have some helpful hints for you.

Why did you pick that instrument?

we had a thing in middle school where we had to pick something to learn so I picked violin.

I originally wanted to play cello but they didn’t have any left so I had to pick betwen viola and violin lol. (and who wants to play viola, am I right? :tired_face:)

How difficult is it physically?

I had to quit because it got too painful, you have to hold the violin up with your shoulder and head, and at the same time use both hands to play it.

I have a swan neck, so most shoulder rests are diabolically short for me. combine that with EDS, and you have a perfect disaster. after a lesson, my fingers were swollen from bending back too far, my wrist hurt from the rotation required to play, and my necka nd shoulder were stuck in the wriong position because of how many muscles were needed to simply hold it in place.

it was super painful, and it’s one of the reasons I quit lol.

another reason is that you have to rely on hearing every time, if your finger is a mm off, it makes you sound horrible. with my pain and issues with pitching without relative pitch, it makes for hell.

Do you have any emotional associations with it? (eg., how does it make you feel?

it actually makes me feel like i’m mute. it’s really hard for me to express anything through the music because there’s so much technique involved that I never actually get my emotions into the piece. it’s just kind of… stuck behind a wall of thinking.

Does it help to play when you’re thinking / have had a bad day? etc)

no, it just makes it worse :sweat_smile: (see above)

Do you enjoy playing?

i don’t enjoy playing, I enjoy being part of an orchestra. it’s super cool to have a community around your hobby that you really like and it’s super motivating to have that as an incentive to practice. :grin:

If you could, would you change what you play?

I’m currently looking into it, actually. i’m teaching myself to sing (and I would do it more if I could actually have somewhere I could practice without being heard) and i’m looking to play drums soon.

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What do you play?

  1. The flute!

Why did you pick that instrument?

  1. Honestly I just chose it out of impulse and aesthetic appeal. I was in a thrift store once and I found a wooden flute inside a box. It was a traditional looking one, with beautiful intricate carvings of leaves and branches.

How difficult is it physically?

  1. Not that hard, if you have some muscle or are used to raising your arms for a decent period of time. The difficult part is the breathing exercises you have to do, and learning how to breathe in an efficient way. If you are a heavy breather you WILL feel dizzy and short of breath constantly during playing, not to mention the strain on your face. This comes with the territory of using a woodwind instrument, but it gets better over time. Also correct posture is important, especially if you are performing in an orchestra.

Do you have any emotional associations with it? (eg., how does it make you feel? Does it help to play when you’re thinking / have had a bad day? etc)

  1. Yes, playing the flute brings a sense of peace and helps calm my thoughts. It also brings me closer to my ancestors as well; They too played the same instrument.

Do you enjoy playing?

  1. Yup :blush:

If you could, would you change what you play?

  1. Yeah, I need a new hyperfixation. Maybe piano? Violin or electric guitar? They’re all more chic imo. You look cooler and more impressive playing those than a flute.
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@LadyOfTheRiver @NightStar Thanks, guys. This is super helpful :smiling_face:

Still open to more responses from people

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