I note that most people are poly-instrumentalists - me, I’m monogamous in the instrument department. I played fiddle for close on 20 years but was having shoulder problems and I’ve given it up in favour of the flute. For me this is THE instrument now (and at the risk of being unfaithful to my fiddle, I wish I’d discovered the flute decades ago). I love the simplicity of it - ‘just’ a tapered tube with holes in it (with apologies to master flute makers everywhere) and you can (eventually!) get these great and expressive sounds from it (well, okay I can’t yet, but I’m working on it!). So portable too… Also, my inclination is to own ONE flute only - no desire to have a collection of them - I’d just like to get the best flute I can (hopefully sometime soon) and stick with it probably until I shuffle off…
I have a whistle, but hardly play it at all (flute is enough of a challenge).
My fiddle though remains unsold - sitting there in its case (just in case!).
great question, but the other instruments i play besides woodwind are a little guitar and piano, i play more blues or classical on piano, and guitar i dont know what i play, i guess you can call it crap. i also play lap harp, but that is pretty limited. i play irish and folk with that.
Great topic… I started playing blues harmonica as a teen. which was many, many years ago… been playing Irish flute for about 6 years now, several types of Asian flutes the last couple of years, and recently taken up the most ancient of Chinese instruments, the Guqin, a 3000 year old seven-stringed Asian zither that can sound like a slide guitar among other things. While I’ve always enjoyed music, it’s turned into a passion now… never thought my musical tastes would grow so eclectic.
I play mostly flute and whistle, more flute than whistle nowadays, and octave mandola, which I restrung to make it into a tenor mandola.
I play flute when I am full of energy. I play whistle when I have less energy, or to take a break from the flute. I play mandola when I have little energy, simply to my own enjoyment and comfort, and also sometimes when I want to eat at the same time as play. Flute playing and biscuit eating does not go well together, but with a mandola: no problem.
Sometimes I play whistle while walking. I used to play my whistle when I was an organic gardener with an acre walled garden to look after: I played during the many walks from potting shed to greenhouse, which where some distance apart. Whistling on the loo works quite well too.
So you see I am perhaps pragmatic in my choice of instrument, adapting to the occasion.
Guitar is my native language. Everything I know about music theory, harmonization, scales, and all that stuff was learned on the guitar.
Flute is the ITM melody instrument I’m most proficient on. I started playing it because it was the sound that really grabbed me way back when I first started listening to the music. Everything I know about ITM ornamentation and variation was learned on the flute.
C#/D accordion is the ITM instrument I’d like to be most proficient on. It’s the ultimate dance music machine, and of course the most undeniably cool instrument there is except for the guitar and the vibraphone.
Mandolin is my hobby. There’s no way in hell I’ll ever be able to play it fast enough in any but the most laid-back front-porchy sessions. But I love playing it, and I find it very easy to learn new tunes on.
Bouzouki’s fun, but I kind of get bored with it quickly, which is why I don’t own one now. I’ll occasionally borrow somebody else’s in a session though.
In recent years, the more regular instruments have been Whistle, Wooden Flute, Mandolin, Accordion, Keyboards and Sax.
Don’t play the rest very much now.
I’m probably now more interested in recording, and I’m learning this through forums such as http://www.studiotrax.net/ . Having bought some decent recording equipment, I am pursuing that at the moment.
Hi! Great topic! The fascination and challenge of learning something different seems to plague many. I play Irish flute for ITM, Boehm flute for classical as well as a little jazz and blues, whistles for ITM and old-time, a little guitar, and am learning the mandolin.
Chromatic harmonica would be my main axe since age 12 or 13. Fife came next then clarinet and sax. I stuck with chromatic harmonica - dropped the fife six years ago and began simple system flute.
Chromatic harmonica for classical, pop and jaz; flute for irtrad and church.
wow. a real live chromatic harmonica player. i’ve never met one. i did read once of a guy in england who got his music degree in harmonica. that befuddled his professors. i am still trying mine but only for the occasional and rare accidental. even then, it’s still ugly. do you have any clips? i’d love to hear one.
A keyless M&E polymer D flute and tenor uke are the only instruments I currently play daily. I’m fairly good on the uke and getting better on the flute.
I played fiddle for close on 20 years but was having shoulder problems and I’ve given it up in favour of the flute. For me this is THE instrument now (and at the risk of being unfaithful to my fiddle, I wish I’d discovered the flute decades ago). I love the simplicity of it - ‘just’ a tapered tube with holes in it (with apologies to master flute makers everywhere) and you can (eventually!) get these great and expressive sounds from it (well, okay I can’t yet, but I’m working on it!). So portable too… Also, my inclination is to own ONE flute only - no desire to have a collection of them - I’d just like to get the best flute I can (hopefully sometime soon) and stick with it probably until I shuffle off…