Musically Instrumented Textkittens

[annis]

I can't remember the last time we discussed this, so... what musical instruments to Textkittens play when their noses aren't buried in Homer or Vergil?

For years and years I've played Irish flute and tin whistle, and then picked up mandolin. But a few months ago I had a complete breakdown, partially inspired by Banjo Meets World, and got myself a 5-string banjo. In truth, the temptation had been waiting to overtake me for a while.

I don't play bluegrass, but an old-time style/technique called "clawhammer." After the mandolin I was expecting this to be easy, but the clawhammer technique has taken me quite a while to get down reliably. I'm not going to be playing in public any time soon. That said, I can't wait until the weather is warm enough for me to sit on my front porch and alarm the neighbors while I practice by playing Pretty Little Dog over and over and over...

[Lex]

I used to play steel-string guitar, but I haven't in quite some time; mainly because, when I play, it sounds like somebody once took a claw hammer to my hands.

[tjnor]

I play (at a rudimentary level) the uilleann pipes (tibia utriclaris).

Vale, Timotheus

[wstevena]

I have been learning viola for about a year now. In the past I have played some piano, clarinet and guitar, but have let my skills lapse. My goal is to someday play in an amateur string quartet, but given my modest rate of progress, it will be sometime before I can do much with it.

I did buy a clarinet a few months before the viola to try to recapture my pre-teen glory, and I still could play somewhat and was enjoying it, but the clarinet was a low price model and blowing into the mouthpiece for any length of time was giving me a headache. I wonder if the Greeks had similar problems with low cost Chinese-made auloi?

[annis]

I play (at a rudimentary level) the uilleann pipes (tibia utriclaris).

oooOOooh! I've never been brave enough to drop the cash required for those.

I had a cheap pair of highland pipes once, but after concussing neighborhood children with them a few times, I had to put them away.

[chocobo]

I just started banjo lessons, and since I didn't know what style I wanted to do, my teacher's instructing me in bluegrass. I'm not complaining cuz my nails are crappy as they are, and I hope to be able to eventually learn blues and ragtime using the same bluegrass techniques.

[bedwere]

I sing Gregorian chant and polyphony in church. Does my voice count as an instrument? Well, at least it's in Latin, with the occasional Greek and Hebrew.

[galen697]

I play trombone and have played baritone and tuba in the past. I also dabbled in a steel drum band for a couple semesters in college- fun stuff.

[pythagoras.lym]

I play Cello, Piano and sing with a Tenor voice. Favorite Composer is J.S. Bach, then Beethoven.

[arcacaerula]

I play the saxophone, though I'm way out of practice, and dabble with the piano; it has been a long time desire of mine to learn how to operate a sitar, however. Ravi Shankar, along with JS Bach (huzzah!) and Lizst, is an idol of mine.

[Benedarius]

The piano for years. I love playing Scott Joplin, but I play classical pieces as well.

[mingshey]

Oh, I had no serious musical training in my life. There were music classes in the school, but that was all.

Now that I got interested in Modern Greek songs accompanied with Bouzoukia music, and with Homer in my hand, I long to get at least some guitar lesson. But alas, I can only scarcely carve out fragments of time even for studying Greek language itself.