It is time for another Things To Do Before You Die post. Sorry I missed last week, I was taking care of my own bucket-list… I conquered a volcano! But enough about my personal bucket-list, let us discuss someone else’s list. Todays item is actually something I have done…
#13: Learn That Instrument!
According to 101 Things To Do Before You Die, ” people fall into two categories: those that had after-school music lessons and those that didn’t. With hindsight, those that didn’t wish they had, and those that did wished they hadn’t at the time but now are glad they did.”
I 100% agree. I was in band, I played the clarinet. It wasn’t as f0o-foo as the flute, which most other girls played, but it wasn’t as masculine as the trombone… and I just didn’t feel worthy of the sax. I didn’t feel as though I was cool enough to have the honor of playing the sax. The most logical instrument for me was the clarinet. Did I continue playing the clarinet? No. Did it ever lead me anywhere grand? No. However, I did understand and appreciate music.
I went a while without playing an instrument and then decided I wanted the play the guitar. I had a few lessons, my dad paid the man in Samuel Adams and I learned the basics pretty quickly, thanks to my band experience. But, I decided it wasn’t for me. I moved onto the bass guitar. This was for me. Again, thanks to my experience with both the clarinet and guitar… this came fairly easy.
Next came college, I minored in music. For the minor, you have to “study” an an instrument. I just wanted to learn about music. I wanted to learn about history, origins, and freshen up on theory… I did’t want to actually play something. I wasn’t “trained” in either guitar or bass and it had been years since I touched a clarinet… the logical choice? Voice. I picked voice mainly because I didn’t want to lug an instrument around campus. I also took a few drum classes, but voice was my ticket to completing my minor. And thanks to my musical past… I picked it up fairly easy. Next, came the Ocarina… which I had never heard of until a trip to Seattle. I only enjoyed playing that during the drive home, now it collects dust.
There is a trend here. Once you’ve been in band, you learn other musical instruments fairly easy. However, in my case, that is all I ever really did. I learned the basics and then moved on. Never really mastering any instrument, but I feel that if I really wanted to, I could. This is all due to the fact that I was once a band geek and music has been instilled in me. Unlike those who never took band, they will never be as cool as I.
If you would like to play a music instrument, but don’t want to play the every instruments (guitar, piano, drums, etc.)… Check out this list: Oddmusic.com
The book is pretty lame when it comes to expanding on this list item, so I will improvise at attempting to entertain…
The Top 10 Benefits of Playing Musical Instrument:
- Better intellectual capacity
- Discipline and patience
- Relieves stress
- Sense of achievement
- Communicate your emotions
- Emanate your personal style
- Teamwork
- Physical workout
- Bragging Rights
- Fun!
And here are a couple of video clips: Zack Kim displaying his guitar mastery:
And then for those unfamiliar, this is an Ocarina:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This was a good post. Now that I’ve learned an instrument, I think I’m ready to die.
For some reason, whenever I see “sense of accomplishment” it implies to me that it isn’t an actual accomplishment but it just gives you a false sense of it.
Not sure why.
Anyway, cool post. Markham, you forgot the other 100 things. Nice try.