Quote:
Originally Posted by Lateralus
So many people mention this idea of "finding your instrument." The idea that you will try many instruments, and finally you'll pick up one particular one that just clicks with you and you have 'found' the instrument that you are apparently meant to play forever.
I don't think it works like this. I have dabbled in many instruments but I don't think I have one particular 'one' that suits me. Usually the ones that I am better at are the ones that I tend to practice more!
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My experience with choosing instruments was a little different than Lateralus's, so I will share it, TyrantSong.
When I was 8 I heard a friend playing violin and I loved the sound and so asked my parents for lessons, which I had (Suzuki Method...great!) all though high school. I have continued to play the violin for many years after graduation! I always liked the violin more than the clarinet, which I learned to play through public schools. I also had university lessons on clarinet during high school, so I took it seriously and practiced clarinet as much as violin...actually more than the violin. However, I loved the violin whereas I just *liked* the clarinet, one reason being that, well, I just never really liked the sound of the clarinet as much. Plus, you stick something in your mouth. It feels a little invasive to me. And I don't like old stinky, wet saliva-soaked reeds. Yech.
In retrospect I wish during high school I would have played the flute because I loved the way the flute sounded, but some adult in 5th grade said my lips "weren't suited to the flute" when we got to try out and pick our future band instrument. I have a flute now to belatedly fulfill that unfulfilled flute dream of childhood! (Great instrument, Burning Down and Toretorden!)
Today my main instrument (which I've played 33 years...eegads!) is the violin, yet I must admit that after all these years it seems kind of "ho-hum" to me. It is like an old friend. I love the smell of it. It is a very personal instrument. I enjoy playing...the feeling of the vibrations. I don't feel excited to play it, though, and somehow I'm not inspired to practice it much...I do what I need to play orchestral music, but don't spend time with it beyond that.
Then, I tried acoustic guitar and decided to get an electric guitar earlier this year (an instrument I had *never* thought of playing during most of my life)...and for me this instrument felt, suddenly, *very right.* I like the electric guitar partly because as an instrument with strings it feels familiar since I'm so used to the violin. Partly I like the electric guitar because it seems so versatile. There are probably also deeper psychological reasons.
So, if you find yourself repelled from some instrument, for whatever reason, as others like Mr. Dave said I recommend avoiding that instrument. I have very different feelings about the instruments I play; each brings out different feelings in me. For me playing different instruments is kind of like speaking different languages. I grew up speaking English and learned German as a second language, and, oddly, feel more "me" when speaking German (though I'm out of practice now and have forgotten a lot, sigh). I feel German words capture the essence of the meaning of objects and actions more than English words do. Similarly, to me the electric guitar feels more immediate and emotional than the violin, which in turn gives me a stronger "vibe" than the clarinet.
I think it is great you are trying so many instruments so that you can become decently able to make the music you want with many of them. You'll probably just have to discover through trial and error whether you are someone for whom (like me) one instrument will "click," or someone who can (like Lateralus describes) feel equally glad playing and practicing a variety of different instruments with the preferred one being the one that is practiced most.