I think I'm spread too thin

TomB · Post by **TomB** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 2:17 pm

[quote="StevenGood thing I'm buying a house in a couple of weeks, so I have the excuse that I need all the money for that. Once that's bought, though, I may be in trouble..........

Steven[/quote]

I wouldn't worry about extra money for whistles once you buy your house. A new home seems to know how to make any extra money in your wallet disappear quicly.

All the Best, Tom

Steven · Post by **Steven** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 3:28 pm

TomB wrote:I wouldn't worry about extra money for whistles once you buy your house. A new home seems to know how to make any extra money in your wallet disappear quicly.

All the Best, Tom

It's worse than that, Tom -- it's an old house, not a new one! 83 years old, to be precise. So yeah, I probably won't be rolling in greenbacks for a while.

:roll:
Steven

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 3:39 pm

Steven wrote:
TomB wrote:I wouldn't worry about extra money for whistles once you buy your house. A new home seems to know how to make any extra money in your wallet disappear quicly.

All the Best, Tom
It's worse than that, Tom -- it's an old house, not a new one! 83 years old, to be precise. So yeah, I probably won't be rolling in greenbacks for a while.

:roll:
Steven

Make that Never. But, it's a labor of love. Mine is a 64 yr old Craftsman that was built by my husband's grandparents. While, luckily?, it had very few updates so we did not have to rip stuff out to get back to the original, the basic stuff like insulation, heating system, that were not included in the original etc. are a bear. Plus the upkeep on these old gems is ongoing.One day I hope to have kitchen cabinets...Yeeeeey.

meir · Post by **meir** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 3:57 pm

collecting instruments is no different than collecting any other work of art. people who collect paintings- well, you don;t here them saying "gee, i already own a picture, guess i won't be needing another one".

it is true, wooden or reeded instruments of any kind really have to be kept in a friendly place and played. but whistles of plastic and tin? or brass, silver etc? long shelf life. works of art. play the ones you love, and keep around as many as you can afford not to sell.

in my case, a classical guitar, a silver flute, sweetone high D, susato high D, water weasel high D, dixon high D, sweetone D, original C and D. Copeland low D. It gets worse. 3 blues harps, border pipes in A, scottish smallpipes in A. and a Daye Penny chanter.

as far as whistles go, since the copeland has arrived (2 months i think now) i just can't play anything else. so one cure for whoa is to finally get one whistle that just amazes you. that can apparently take a while. but i also love my plastic whistles inumerated above- all of them.

so, you all are not alone. embrace your love of instruments- they are an extension of the best of the human spirit.

while i believe in getting good at just 2 instruments, every time you take up a new one, you learn stuff that improves all your skills. and you generally learn to listen better and appreciate those who really play well.

just my ranting. btw, i would consider selling the SSP since i have little time to love them, but only to people who are local to me (DC area) and can try them before they buy.

meir

Doña L · Post by **Doña L** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 6:33 pm

Cranberry: Try to think of playing your multiple instruments as musical cross-training. No one would think of telling a tennis player not to go swimming or a basketball player not to work out with weights, would they? As long as you play something every day, you'll improve exponentially, probably on all instruments. The phrasign on a wind instrument might give you some insight into the stringed instrument, or vice-versa. Anyway, consider , it's better to try something new and regret it than to regret not trying it. HAVE FUN!

mamakash · Post by **mamakash** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 7:01 pm

Does this buzz through anyone's head . . . the "man, if I had only started when I was younger, I could be playing (insert instument)?
Right now, I limiting myself to the whistles and guitar, but find myself, as 31 years . . .
a:old
b:tired
c: not quite as enthusiastic as I was when I was 15

It's hard to resist the pull of "Wow, now that I'm not a kid and earn my own money, I can buy pretty much what I want" and the "I can't seem to find the time to fool around on hobbies."

Then again, when I was 15, there was no internet. Major distraction. If there was internet when I was 15, I'd have gotten done less homework than I did . . . and I didn't do much then.

jim_mc · Post by **jim_mc** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 7:43 pm

Cranberry wrote:I think this is a glockenspiel... It was labeled on eBay as a xylophone (CB 700) but from what I've read xylophones are made of wood and if they're made of metal then they're called glockenspiels. Whatever.

Cran, you have it just about right. Glocks have a metal striking surface and Xylophones have a wood striking surface.

Glocks are often used for marching music. My mother played one in a marching band many years ago. She plays the piano, and was able to just pick up a glock and start making music. Here's what the marching one looks like:

The orchestral ones look like this:

Most toy xylophones made for children are actually glockenspiels (i.e., they have metal striking surfaces). Both of my kids had them with multicolored painted metal bars. They had a range so small you could hardly play a tune on them.

chas · Post by **chas** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 8:41 pm

mamakash wrote: Right now, I limiting myself to the whistles and guitar, but find myself, as 31 years . . .
a:old
b:tired
c: not quite as enthusiastic as I was when I was 15

I find myself at 42:
a: old
b: tired
c: as enthusiastic as I've ever been, about life, music, beer, and a lot of other things.

At 31, I might've written what you wrote. Maybe in 10 years, you'll be singing that Dylan refrain, "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 8:47 pm

I can't imagine that any musician stops at just one or two instruments. I sure don't know any that have.

In my dining room(besides the usual dining room furniture)-

Odd and various whistles, Great Highland Bagpipes,practice chanter, Shuttlepipes, bohdran,
Scottish tenor drum, mandolin, guitar, 2 clarinets, piano.

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 9:32 pm

Steven wrote:
TomB wrote:I wouldn't worry about extra money for whistles once you buy your house. A new home seems to know how to make any extra money in your wallet disappear quicly.

All the Best, Tom
It's worse than that, Tom -- it's an old house, not a new one! 83 years old, to be precise. So yeah, I probably won't be rolling in greenbacks for a while.

:roll:
Steven

I don't know.....we just bought a 90 year old house that also needs lots of work, and despite the lack of funds in my wallet, I am still trying to come up with brilliant schemes to buy more whistles (at least to start with...a flute sounds really nice too, as well as a bodhran, and maybe a fiddle....give a few minutes and I'm sure I can come up with more!

). You'd be surprised at just how much money you can find in the cushions of the couch and under the china cabinet!

Heather (who has been known to fish a quarter out of the gutter for a good cause! )

TomB · Post by **TomB** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 7:03 am

cowtime wrote:
Steven wrote:
TomB wrote:I wouldn't worry about extra money for whistles once you buy your house. A new home seems to know how to make any extra money in your wallet disappear quicly.

All the Best, Tom
It's worse than that, Tom -- it's an old house, not a new one! 83 years old, to be precise. So yeah, I probably won't be rolling in greenbacks for a while.

:roll:
Steven
Make that Never. But, it's a labor of love. Mine is a 64 yr old Craftsman that was built by my husband's grandparents. While, luckily?, it had very few updates so we did not have to rip stuff out to get back to the original, the basic stuff like insulation, heating system, that were not included in the original etc. are a bear. Plus the upkeep on these old gems is ongoing.One day I hope to have kitchen cabinets...Yeeeeey.

Yep, I hear the both our your. Mine is a 71 year old home. Luckily, it is in pretty good shape, and back then they "built them solid." Still, some things will need upgrading soon- for instance, we still have the "original" furnace, which is a converted coal burner. Still working great, but of course, if it ever breaks, I don't think my local heat guy is gonna have many spare parts lying around.

All the Best, Tom

Monster · Post by **Monster** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 7:13 pm

Yes, all those instuments can be quite alluring, all cool looking and jaunty on Ebay

(sorry just had to try another emoticon). Seriously though, I must admit to having been there and being over taxed in my musical endeavors, and I found it necessary to scale back. I now only play the banjo, and newly acquired, whistle.

I think if you feel you are doing too much, you are probably right. I decided to make banjo my main instrument because that is where my true emotions run, I relate to it best,and I play it because I want to, not because I am trying to build an image or do the popular thing.

Best Wishes

Jeff

madguy · Post by **madguy** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 7:31 pm

Jeff, looking at your info to the left of your post, I see that you just came to us today?!

So let me be the first to welcome you to this wild, wacky, wonderful world!!!

~Larry

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 7:57 pm

madguy wrote:Jeff, looking at your info to the left of your post, I see that you just came to us today?! So let me be the first to welcome you to this wild, wacky, wonderful world!!!

~Larry

Yes, Jeff, welcome! I like the emoticons too, but I hesitate to use this one

because it reminds me too much of myself!

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 11:02 am

Doña L wrote:Cranberry: Try to think of playing your multiple instruments as musical cross-training. No one would think of telling a tennis player not to go swimming or a basketball player not to work out with weights, would they? As long as you play something every day, you'll improve exponentially, probably on all instruments. The phrasing on a wind instrument might give you some insight into the stringed instrument, or vice-versa. Anyway, consider , it's better to try something new and regret it than to regret not trying it. HAVE FUN!

I agree. I'm now messing with both whistle and fiddle. In the last two weeks I played a tune I learnt on the whistle (something slow by O'Carolan) on the fiddle from cold, and Britches full of Stitches, that I learnt on the fiddle, I was able to play on the whistle. Both times it was because I was in a session, heard them started, and joined in on the instrument I was holding at the time.

Play the kind of music you want to play, and get the tunes into your head. Cross-instrument practise is useful, but as Sam said, maybe try to stick to two things. I'd suggest one string and one wind, but that's because I'm biased.

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