I think I'm spread too thin

Whistle
1

I was very tempted to buy a tenor recorder on eBay the other day then a little voice in my head told me not to. In the past five months in addition to oodles of cheap whistles and a couple not-cheap whistes, I’ve bought:

boehm flute
bamboo flute
quena
soprano recorder
glockenspiel
istruction books/tudors for them

I’ve also been playing my clarinet, an old keyboard, and now the guitar.

I suck at everything because I try to do everything. The thing I’m best at is whistle but not because I’m good, it’s because I’m so bad at everything else.

Nope, I don’t really have a point. And I know I need to stick to one (or mabey two) instruments, but I can’t decide which ones. I just like blabbering, it gives me a sense of relief that other people know what I’m talking about. I got rid of most of my whistles to better my playing, but bought other instruments in their place. Wasn’t that brilliant? :blush: Now I’m back to collecting whistles again.

I’ve bid on a hundred other musical things on eBay too. All I can say is thank god I didn’t win any of them.

2

You can get a glockenspiel on Ebay for 34.95? Oh great. Thanks. There goes my next chunk of change. … :smiley:

Definitely keep the whistles … as for the others, that’s a hard decision. I have a keyboard and a violin. But I play my whistles so much … well, it’d be hard to get rid of the others…

Good luck!!

Little John

3

I think this is a glockenspiel… It was labeled on eBay as a xylophone (CB 700) but from what I’ve read xylophones are made of wood and if they’re made of metal then they’re called glockenspiels. Whatever.

I want to just buy a tenor recorder, but God as my witness if I do I’m going to shoot myself in the foot for it (you heard it here first).

4

Well dont feel like the Lone Ranger Cranberry. Today was a Bouzouki day cause I was oiling my flute. Also got a Silkstone Bb in the mail today. Nice whistle. I loaned my guitar to a Hatfield (yes a real Hatfield as in Hatfields and McCoys) who plays country/bluegrass and broke his guitar. I refuse to count my whistles and flutes. I want another Bouzouki and I may try to trade my guitar for one. (F-30 Guild) I dont know what it is about instruments but I can never get enough of them :roll: But I figure if I dont count them I wont feel as guilty. Right now I`m going to wipe down my flute and catch up on my practice. Its to hot to go to bed.

Tom

5

Quote @ Blackbeer

Right now I`m going to wipe down my flute and catch up on my practice. Its to hot to go to bed.

Don’t you hate the heat? I’ve been staying at my friend’s house and there is only one air conditioner in the whole house, and it’s in the living room window. During the daytime everybody stays in the living room and during the night everybody fights over who is going to sleep on the couch.

6

Spreading yourself thin CAN be a problem!
If you DO decide to get a Tenor recorder, don’t buy one “blind” from eBay. You never know what you are going to get. For less than $100 ( $60-80 I think) you can get a superb Yamaha plastic Tenor from a number of sources ( eg courtlymusic.com ). It’s as good as wooden Tenors costing thousands of dollars (and you KNOW I’m a fan of wooden instruments…). I regularly play one in performance with our Baroque recorder consort. It’s great for playing low D whistle music too.

7

Let’s see. Mountain dulcimer, hammered dulcimer, mandolin, autoharp, banjo (which I haven’t even touched yet), harmonicas, flutes, whistles, recorder and even a jaw harp.

Yep. I understand completely. We are not alone!!!

8

I can’t tell you the time that I find myself spending on Ebay as of late. I need more whistles (at least that’s what I have convinced myself). My daughter wants a flute, 2 or more of the kids want guitars, my other daughter wants a fiddle, and then of course more whistles. I would LOVE a mandolin and a banjo as well. SIGH!!! If you find yourself bidding on that soprano recorder, and then shoot yourself in the foot, could you please come and shoot me in the foot as well? :laughing:

Heather

9

Three guitars, whistles, flutes, spoons, recorders.

10

cranberry, if you took up uilleann piping and sailboating you might feel more, oh well there’s not a word for it in the kings english,
well rounded? :astonished:
tansy :smiley:

11

There are four guitars in our house and nobody who knows how to play them.
I started learning mandolin this week and having wierd moments where I realize the last time I had to think to play a simple scale was in fifth grade.
Let’s see, there is also the mountain dulcimer, erhu and a couple uke’s around somewhere as well, dozen or so drums and a box of assorted percussion, more whistles and flutes than anything, couple thumb pianos I made a week or two ago (fun instrument by the way), keyboards, upright piano, pile of ocarinas, basket of panpipes and a crock full of quenas.

Looks like you are certainly in good company Cranberry.


Mark V.

12

Hey, then while you’re waiting in the emergency room together, you could play some tunes! :laughing:

I’m actually struggling very hard not to be in the same boat as Cranberry (and several others, it sounds like). My brain is really yelling at me that banjo and concertina would be loads of fun to play, even though I’m still trying to get halfway decent on the whistle and flute. Plus, of course, there are a few whistles I don’t have that I really need to own. Good thing I’m buying a house in a couple of weeks, so I have the excuse that I need all the money for that. Once that’s bought, though, I may be in trouble…

:boggle:

Steven

13

Cran, eventually you’ll pick one or two instruments and stick with them. I can’t begin to count the number of instruments my wife and I have, many of which we picked up about 3-8 years ago, intending to learn them. Eventually, we came to grips with the likelihood that we’d learn them in retirement.

For ages, lap dulcimer was my instrument. I haven’t played it for more than an hour in the last year, but could be fluent in a week if I desired. I’m sticking with the whistle and picking up the Irish flute slowly. She’s setting her priorities, too. It’s something one has to do to keep one’s sanity.

14

Six guitars (three acoustic, three electric), and eight whistles (four soprano D, three Low D and one Low G)…
Now if only I could learn how to play the guitar with my feet, so I could use the guitars and whistles simultaneously!!! :slight_smile:

15

Hm, I’d say you’d best pick maybe 2 instruments to work on at a time. Maybe spend 2 months playing whistles and keyboard, then switch, and so on. I wouldn’t try doing it all at once.

16

[quote="StevenGood thing I’m buying a house in a couple of weeks, so I have the excuse that I need all the money for that. Once that’s bought, though, I may be in trouble…

:boggle:

Steven[/quote]

I wouldn’t worry about extra money for whistles once you buy your house. A new home seems to know how to make any extra money in your wallet disappear quicly. :smiley:

All the Best, Tom

17

It’s worse than that, Tom – it’s an old house, not a new one! 83 years old, to be precise. So yeah, I probably won’t be rolling in greenbacks for a while.

:roll:
Steven

18

Make that Never. But, it’s a labor of love. Mine is a 64 yr old Craftsman that was built by my husband’s grandparents. While, luckily?, it had very few updates so we did not have to rip stuff out to get back to the original, the basic stuff like insulation, heating system, that were not included in the original etc. are a bear. Plus the upkeep on these old gems is ongoing.One day I hope to have kitchen cabinets…Yeeeeey.

19

collecting instruments is no different than collecting any other work of art. people who collect paintings- well, you don;t here them saying “gee, i already own a picture, guess i won’t be needing another one”.

it is true, wooden or reeded instruments of any kind really have to be kept in a friendly place and played. but whistles of plastic and tin? or brass, silver etc? long shelf life. works of art. play the ones you love, and keep around as many as you can afford not to sell.

in my case, a classical guitar, a silver flute, sweetone high D, susato high D, water weasel high D, dixon high D, sweetone D, original C and D. Copeland low D. It gets worse. 3 blues harps, border pipes in A, scottish smallpipes in A. and a Daye Penny chanter.

as far as whistles go, since the copeland has arrived (2 months i think now) i just can’t play anything else. so one cure for whoa is to finally get one whistle that just amazes you. that can apparently take a while. but i also love my plastic whistles inumerated above- all of them.

so, you all are not alone. embrace your love of instruments- they are an extension of the best of the human spirit.

while i believe in getting good at just 2 instruments, every time you take up a new one, you learn stuff that improves all your skills. and you generally learn to listen better and appreciate those who really play well.

just my ranting. btw, i would consider selling the SSP since i have little time to love them, but only to people who are local to me (DC area) and can try them before they buy.

meir

20

Cranberry: Try to think of playing your multiple instruments as musical cross-training. No one would think of telling a tennis player not to go swimming or a basketball player not to work out with weights, would they? As long as you play something every day, you’ll improve exponentially, probably on all instruments. The phrasign on a wind instrument might give you some insight into the stringed instrument, or vice-versa. Anyway, consider , it’s better to try something new and regret it than to regret not trying it. HAVE FUN!