#Hire Didgeridoo Players

[kingofthewilderwest]

peachdoxie replied to your post “somewhere in my childhood family household late at night…. dad: you...”

monoinstrumentalists are just so frustrating, aren't they

(anyway I know it's because you're a huge NERD and your family wouldn't be able to handle your NERDINESS because there's so much of it)

I know we’re goofing around and it’s cracking me up, but I thought it’d be interesting to discuss how what you said is true. While I live in a musical enough family, I’m the only actively multi-instrumental player. There is a different culture and priority to them as single instrument players, versus me, a multi-instrumentalist. 

For most of my family (even the casual players), the concept of purchasing and picking up a musical instrument is consistency and proficiency. I also want that. But I don’t “come across” that way with my musical activities; I may look flighty, undedicated, as I “bounce” seemingly from one instrument to another. 

It can look like I’m picking up and dropping instruments (What became of that clarinet I took lessons for for four months, but haven’t performed on since high school?). Or, it can look like I’m never developing any performable skill in them (despite playing viola for nearly ten years, I still sound scratchy, and the only reason I performed on it in college is because the orchestra accepted ANYBODY who signed up). Or, it can look like I’m buying instruments simply to have more instruments (the first question my mom asked when I went to buy the ukulele was whether or not I’d play it). Like an amnesiac crow attracted to pretty trinkets, they might see me as getting excited about The Latest Thing and then forgetting about it a year later.

But see: that’s not what I’m investing in. Here’s how I actively work through playing multiple instruments:

Some instruments are more casual and some are more serious. I did get good enough at flute to be first chair in All-State Orchestra my senior year of high school. I continued playing flute in bands through the end of my Master’s degree. Hell, I played keys and flute in praise band for church this last month! While I’m not in a classical ensemble now, it’s not impossible to expect I could rejoin a community ensemble, or if I had some extra disposable income, return to private lessons. 

The banjo, by the way, is my First Very Serious Musical Instrument Acquisition since I started playing viola almost ten years ago!!! I’m actively looking up ways I can get private lessons for this baby and Git GUD! I’m so excited. So this banjo investment is literally as serious as I can get.

Other instruments are never intended to be performance instruments, and when I nab them, I know that. I will invest my best time and attention to performance instruments that I want to be proficient/skilled in. But that doesn’t mean I neglect my “more casual” instruments. There are MANY ways in which all my instruments receive a lot of love.

First: I received my degree in Music Composition for a reason. The purpose of a Music Composer is to compose music, not be a hired performer. And the more instruments I have hands-on knowledge and experience with, the better I can compose for more instruments!

One point five: It is a VERY VERY fascinating experience to learn about all instruments out there. Whether or not I become amazing on them, I learn and experience so much by having on hand diverse music-making machines. It’s a world of difference between reading about an instrument and playing it. I gain endless enrichment by learning how these babies work. Sometimes I’m learning more about how an instrument ticks than how to be amazing on said instrument. You could say part of my music hobby is “learning how ALL music is played and performed”!

Second: Most paid music composition gigs I have are not for live performances. I’m contracted to produce tracks combining MIDI (computer synthesized music) and audio (recordings of real instruments being played). In general, if I can get good sound, audio is more appealing, expressive, and impressive than MIDI. Because I do not have the budget, time, and network to hire other people to perform my music, I can get more live instruments into my compositions by playing more instruments myself. My lack of professional performance-level skill can be worked around by how easy I make the part, how I splice audio files, how I mix the parts, etc. Ergo, it is always a net benefit when I have another instrument to my disposal, which goes back into the degree I went to school for, and comes out in every audio track I create.

Third: It’s fun. If I can fiddle around on an ocarina, it’s fun!!!!!!! If I can play HTTYD tunes on pennywhistle cosplaying Hiccup, it’s fun!!!!!

It’s true that, on occasion, some instruments are more keepsakes than playthings. But that’s rare, and I DO play all my instruments and don’t drop anyone. In general, the only time I get an instrument “to get an instrument” is because I have a souvenir tradition: every time I leave the country, I get myself a dictionary for an appropriate local language (to celebrate my Linguist side) and I get myself an instrument (to celebrate my Composer side). Thus far, I’ve only exercised this tradition on two trips. Getting meaningful, special souvenirs that I also might use for decades to come (even if rarely) is valid, yes? 

Last, I want to point out that the majority of my musical instrument acquisitions have been dirt cheap. I think my first pennywhistle cost $3, I got it my junior year of high school, and I still play it. My recorder and two other pennywhistles were an unexpected gift from a high school teacher. I found a didgeridoo in Goodwill for $15 last year. Literally, instead of eating out for one dinner, I got an instrument. Not a bad investment! I’m not being flighty running from instrument to instrument; I’m seizing opportunity to have an extremely exciting life experience, something much longer lasting than one night eating out. I tend to haunt craigslist for radical deals. The banjo, because I’m planning on getting very serious on it, is a raaaaaare investment to get A Good Instrument (and I’m STILL using craigslist to get used to drop price).

For my family, in a mono-instrument mindset, lots of these motivations don’t exist. Buy a good starter instrument so you can learn it seriously, buy an upgrade instrument after you’ve graduated to an advanced playing state, spend a ton of time practicing, they get that. They don’t get “SHIT GOODWILL HAS A $15 DIDGERIDOO!!!!!” excitement. For them, it makes no sense to grab it.

So to my family, when I’m like “Oh hey I want a new instrument!” It becomes this “Ugh, again? Why not SPEND TIME and play the ones you have?!?!” Except it’s unspoken. No one’s mean. And what they show is the lightest tinge of exasperation or lack of understanding, no real mean judging or anything. 

I’m not saying all people who play one instrument have the same perspective, but that’s how my fam goes!

So yeah. I live with a different set of values as a multi-instrumentalist.

But hell hahahahaha. Even for “mono-instrumental values”, my banjo goals are going to align well with their priorities. XD Dudes, I’m going to practice so hard on this baby. I’m going to shred it on the banjo. I’m going to be amazing. I’m going to be good enough to perform gigs if I can find some bluegrass buddies. I’m going to compose pieces on banjo and record them. I’m going to kick ass as a banjo badass.

I haven’t had a good music goal for years, honestly. Without the ability to afford private lessons for advanced flute or semi-advanced piano, without collegiate settings to keep me in the classical community, and without the emotional energy to invest in community ensembles, I’ve been cut off from musical performance goals. It’s felt stagnant and uninspiring. Picking up the banjo and working HARD on this thing is going to ignite a spark I’ve been missing for years. Life is more exciting and meaningful to me when I have an ambition, a trajectory, a goal. This is the start of a new bright life period for me, and I’m pulling so much hope and happiness into it.

I AM EXCITE!!!!