I have a background in brass instruments (trumpet primarily). I mostly play synths and guitar now. I enjoy it.
Nice! Brass for me too - started on trumpet in high school, then switched to french horn except for marching band.
I played in school and church orchestras, first with an old single, then a new double. A group of us would travel every year to an isolated are in the central highlands in Mexico to get a children’s camp ready for summer for a missionary friend (I was the electrician and construction consultant for the teen helpers) - we took mostly brass instruments and played in little communities all over the area every few days - it’s hard do describe how poor and how happy those people were. I eventually sold the double but kept the single for fun.
Currently have a cornet and bugle too but my lips are in horrible condition. I keep the cornet in the shop down by the barn and been slowly trying to build them up - I can now hit the high G in the star spangled banner - my horrible playing doesn’t seem to bother the llamas at all! Tried the trombone, but besides the tuba, the mouthpiece was so far from the trumpet and french horn I gave up almost immediately.
My parents believed a music education was just as important as the reading/‘ritin’/‘rithmatic so we all started on piano as kids. My brother and I would fight over whose turn it was to practice! Played a few trumpet/piano duets with him (I eventually hauled that old piano to TN from PA - it was a player with a mechanism in bad condition - and rebuilt it. My oldest son has it in his house now, with lots of rolls!)
So I’ve been playing piano for over 60 years, some in churches, a few weddings, duets with my cello-playing son. I’m pretty bad now - lost nearly all of my “muscle memory” after several years of not playing during recovery from medical issues and surgeries but I’m trying to work up some classical and improv again. I keep a Yamaha P525 in the shop (with a good dust cover!) so I can practice as hard and as much as I want without disturbing the family. I find I REALLY like having an electric piano there - makes for a great change of pace, especially when the old hands start getting cramped up from too much woodturning. (I had a woodturing student singing along just last week!) I have a Baldwin SF-10 in the house, bought new in 1980 - was recently telling someone here about my concert bench - I got it for a big discount because it was used, it was the one Billy Joel rented and sat on when he did a concert near here about that time. Good fun!
More recently took up accordion then had to stop - I’m still unable to work the bellows a year after a fall and shoulder surgery. I’m building a test bellows and my mentor is teaching me accordion repair so maybe that will be fun. Also been playing classical guitar since college, working on harmonica, a few other fun things. (Ever try a melodica?) Had a 12 string for years but like the classical far more. My wife made me get rid of the musical saw - she said it had to go or she would!!
I fell in love with the sound after hearing someone flawlessly play “O Danny Boy” at a ventriloquist convention. (Don’t you just love those conventions!) My attempts at the saw got up to, how should I say, less than flawless. Hardest thing I ever tried.
I’m trying to find a local person who can use some “vintage” high-end synth/midi gear - I have a Kurzweil Midiboard and a Yamaha KX88 (the model Stevie wonder used for years) plus studio speakers, a rack of Kurzweil synths, midi switcher, reverb, mixer, and more. Don’t have room to set it up in this house so it’s stored in a spare room. Maybe I can trade it all for a cello! I’ve dabbled with cello and like it far more than violin and double bass - know anyone who needs a violin?
Need to find a home for an electric bass too (my left shoulder can’t handle it) - someone on this forum who doesn’t live too far away expressed an interest.
Sorry to ramble so much about music but it’s hard to stop - as I mentioned, it’s one of my mostest favoritest things to do!!
JKJ
