First off, thanks for the pointers and support you've given me in the last post. I managed to borrow those timpani mallets today, and hand speed training is a GO.
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There's something I wanted to share with all of you... it's not a song, but rather, what I experienced recently -- in fact, just a few days ago.
In addition to the bodhráns and the guitar I have in my possession, Seán and I unearthed a few more instruments that had not been played for yonks -- two accordions, a violin, a tin whistle and a MIDI keyboard. Nearly all of them had fallen out of tune, but I just wanted to draw a sound out of them. I picked up the violin and its bow, and began drawing it over just one string, and I just got lost in the motions of it.
"You'd make a good violinist, you," I was told.
I was deeply moved. That may have been true, but when contemplating a second instrument for me to learn when I was 12 years old, the common choices were the violin and the flute -- and I didn't want to play what everyone else played. I didn't want to fit a 'mould'. My favourite instrument was the same then as it is now -- the drum. I forewent the violin and the flute, knowing full well that I wanted to be my own person.
But that day, as I drew the bow over that old violin, there grew in me a desire to breathe life into any instrument I found... regardless of what it was. I wanted to play something. I still want to play something. I just don't know what...
I don't know if my dream of becoming a multi-instrumentalist will ever be achieved. But that little incident, I felt, was beautiful. I don't quite know how else to express it.
camoshark
Your little story is fairly similar to mine, actually. I began taking piano courses at a young age, and became fairly good at it. I had a good teacher, which was a retired professor from the conservatory, and essentially taught me most of the musical knowledge I had until I reached college, which is saying a lot.
Unfortunately, once I reached secondary school, piano was not offered in band class, so I had to change to another instrument. I had to pick between sax, trumpet and percussion. I tried the sax, but I had a hard time producing a sound, and plus I didn't want to play what everybody else wanted to play. I then had to pick between percs and trumpet, but I tried the trumpet first, and just fell in love with the instrument and chose that one before even trying percs. I don't know if I would have taken percs if I had given it a shot, but the idea of one day being able to play what my uncle (world-reknown player) could do had me hooked.
I thought that would be all, but once I hit a certain age, my father decided it was time that he taught me a bit of his art, or congas and djémbé. I didn't think that would de much at first, but once I discovered the world of percussion, I was once again hooked, and almost 10 years later, I couldn't be more thankful! To this day, I'm discovering new instrument I want to learn on a daily basis, and my formal training in almost all types of instruments has helped me tremendously.
So the moral of the story is: Don't be shy to try new things, you might just discover a passion you didn't know you had!