Can you, or did you once, play a musical instrument ?

[IndigoSpritz]

I played the descant recorder in Primary School - over forty years ago - and the violin from Primary into Secondary School. I never liked either as I had absolutely no say in the whole business.

I dare say the recorder was, and still is, a rite of passage for thousands of school children.

I'm now learning the piano - something which I want to do. I'm only four lessons in but my teacher is very pleased with my progress so far. She reckons Grade 1 within a year.

Bumping. No plans for any formal exams. I'm just doing this for my personal pleasure. I think my teacher also plays the ukulele but that's not part of the plan !

I played the guitar from age about 11 into my mid 20s when I was in bands doing the whole 'I'm going to be a rock star' bit!

The weird thing with me is that I never got any better, no matter how much I practised, performed, wrote songs etc.

In my thirties I decided to take it up again and used to go for weekly guitar lesson with this brilliant teacher, as well as practising a lot at home, but I can honestly say, I play no better now than when I was a teenager.

I play the same riffs, the same technique, the same style to the same degree of proficiency as I did when I was young.

I am just one of those people who got to a certain level very quickly and stayed there.

Grade 5 piano several decades ago

I did piano at school. My folks still have all my books & the piano i spent hours on. DD is starting lessons next term which is quite exciting!

I always wanted to learn the clarinet. Or the saxophone

I can play the piano, I can sing and can play various woodwind instruments. Maybe I’ll do some more on them some time

I played the cello from the age of 8-11. I was pretty gutted that the school I had to move too didn’t practice with instruments

I play tenor horn in my local brass band. I am new to it and very average but I LOVE it.

As a kid I got to Grade 7 on piano but didn't love it nearly as much as I love my brass band!

Recorder for me. Even made it to the Treble Recorder.

I like it as it was my choice. Still have my recorders 25 years later. I can totally impress my DC by playing The Skye Boat song on it. It's the only one I can remember!

I'd love to play the piano but always struggled as I have tiny little hands!

Saxophone, piano, trumpet, clarinet, recorder and trombone a little

Oops forgot tenor horn

12 years of piano. 7 years of flute. Hated both.

Piano, guitar, violin, accordion, ukulele, harp and so on. Basically I can do strings and keys but I'm absolutely hopeless with wind instruments. And I sing (if that counts)

Yes. I was really good. From 11 til about 18 I played clarinet and saxophone (both Grade 8, one with distinction) and piano (grade 5). Then I went to university and never picked them up again.

Played the recorder and the viola.

I must have made an impression with the recorder because the first other instrument I got to try was the flute. I really wanted to play the clarinet but I was told I couldn't and had to play violin. Great. Five years and two school orchestras later I'd had enough. I still have my 3/4 size violin at home.

(well, started with a violin. Which seems to have been standard back then. idk how it's done nowadays...)

I learned the recorder at primary school. At the very least it meant I learned to read music. I then played tenor horn in a band now competing in the championship section (we were only 3rd section when i was there, I wasn't very good, can only assume the rest of them weren't either!)

DD is working for grade 4 in cornet, I never did the exams but she's keen and I think she's pretty good.

I played the violin and the viola from 7-14 and the piano at 18. Sadly, I was paying for piano lessons myself through my gap year job so I couldn't afford to continue once I left for university. I own a piano now but my measly maternity pay won't cover lessons. I also own a cello and always wanted lessons.

I didn't play any instruments at school (wasn't selected after taking a music test in 1st year).

I now play ukulele a little, but honestly I have no natural musical flair and purely learn songs by rote. I really enjoy it though and am pleased with the progress I have made.

I played the recorder and then progressed to the treble recorder in junior school. When I got to secondary school I started to learn the flute and had weekly lessons for five years. I was in the school orchestra but used to mime playing as I has no confidence in my ability and struggled to keep up. You were automatically put into the orchestra if you played an instrument at school as there wasn’t a great deal of interest in music so it made no difference if you weren’t very good.
Thinking about it I can’t have been very good because in all of that time I wasn’t entered for any exams.

I sold the flute when I was 18 to raise money to go to the US on holiday, I wish I still had it though.

Piano. Started at 6, continued with the same teacher until I was 22. Did competitions, all the grades and a diploma after grade 8 (wanted those letters after my name ). It’s not related to my job etc but playing the piano is my favourite thing in the world. I can’t thank my music teacher for that gift. I try and play as much as it de stresses me and i love finding new pieces to play. Just hope my kids love it as much!

I also played the violin for a year. It was awful. Wrong teacher, wrong instrument and I wasn’t mature enough.

The clarinet to grade 5. I HATED it. I wanted to play the flute, but my dad pulled rank. I'd love to learn the piano one day.

Recorder (to grade 8), piano, clarinet, cello while at school. Now I’m learning the harp which has always been a dream. And I love it.

Recorder, piano and guitar. Learnt recorder at school ;piano would have been better had I practiced ( and it was my choice to have lessons);self taught ( ie obsessive ) acoustic and electric guitar because female singer songwriters were in vogue when I was young and I was going to be a star. Wasn’t, but did perform semi professionally in clubs and pubs all over the place in teens and at uni, more for the love of it than any professional ambition by then.

Taught my DDs to play the recorder and read music- one turned out to be v v good and I took up the piano again recently because her piano is sitting in the house - damn, it’s hard to start over, like riding a bike it is not.

I got to grade 8 on the flute nearly 20 years ago now. I recently picked it up again after well over 10 years of not playing at all and was surprised how well I could still play. Muscle memory my fingers just remembered where to go.
I never loved it though. It was more just one more school activity to do and it got me out of science every week.