# Tell us your woodwind & brass story.



## Ingélou

Hi, there - I started a thread in the strings forum to ask people how they 'got into' playing their instrument.
But I love hearing other people's life experiences, so maybe you woodwind and brass players could tell us how you became 'hooked' on playing your instrument, and what sort of music you like to play best?
Thanks in advance for any replies. :tiphat:


----------



## Torkelburger

I was encouraged by the band director to pick the baritone/euphonium in 5th grade (age 11) so I started with that. I taught myself the trombone in seventh grade and added that for 2 years in the stage band. In 10th grade I was at a much larger school district and there was an opening in the top honor band for tuba and they let the euphonium players try out and I got the part, so I played tuba for the last 3 years of high school and got a scholarship to college for tuba. I bought my own professional model tuba for college, and played in the concert band, studio orchestra, brass choir, and many recording sessions. After college I was in the union.

The music I like to play best is
1) Brass choir and brass quintet: for example, what the Canadian Brass plays (my favorites are J.S. Bach and Gabrieli arrangements)
2) Marches by John P Sousa, Karl King
3) Concert Band pieces (too many to name, but a few examples are Giannini, Persichetti, Ticheli, Reed, Hindemith, Husa)
4) Solo pieces (Haddad sonata, Hindemith sonata, etc.)
5) Classical orchestral pieces (this gets mentioned last from all the measure-counting and boring parts, however, there is the occasional good, interesting part for tuba) Good composers for the tuba are Holst, Mahler, Respighi, Ravel, Wagner, Strauss, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Berlioz, Hindemith, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Bartok to name a few. Usually the more modern the better.


----------



## Guest

I think it is important to share with you the less than brilliant moments in my musical career. For the life of me, I will never understand why I was talked into having bassoon lessons, but I accepted in part because they were free at my school and I thought it would look good on my pre-college CV. I gave it my best shot (translation: I never practiced), and got horribly frustrated at being unable to produce anything resembling what may loosely be called 'a beautiful sound'. I gave up after 5 lessons (could have been four lessons, could have six; either way, me and that instrument were never going to have a crack at that opening passage in Igor's "Rite"). 
I have absolutely no regrets.


----------



## KirbyH

I played the clarinet from sixth grade all the way through my ninth grade year. Fun while it lasted, but all I ever managed was a control shriek - being a big fellow, I had way too much air to force through a rather small opening.

In tenth grade I asked my band director if I could switch to bass clarinet and he approved me (especially since we had no one else playing it) and played it all the way through college and continue to do so in my community band. 

The instrument itself is what led me to have such a fascination with classical music in the first place. I specifically remember listening to Strauss in 11th grade and trying to pick out the bass clarinet part from Ein Heldenleben!


----------



## Vasks

Maybe I can tell more "stories" later (oh yeah, there are "stories"), but for now, I started playing trumpet in the summer between 3rd & 4th grade and 50+ years later still play it (although I no longer truly practice; I just play enough before a rehearsal or gig to get through it).

Style-wise, there's nothing I won't play. But I've gotten to the age where I don't want to double on a part; so playing in a concert band is out unless I'm the only one playing that part.

Currently I play lead in a local dance band (and direct them too) and play in a quartet for Xmas & Easter services and do a few weddings each year.


----------



## Vasks

So while I'm reflecting on ancient stories to tell, I remember a good one that just happened 3 weeks ago. The dance band I direct was playing a charity gig in which our "pay" was a steak dinner to be eaten between our second and third sets. During the 2nd set, while I am literally playing with no rest in sight, a woman whispers in my ear (because I'm out in front of the band) "_Eighteen?_". So I'm thinking to myself "_WTF?_". She then rephrases "_18 total?_". So then while trying not to miss any notes I realize she's asking me are there 18 band members for the dinner coming up so they can set the table. Once I got to a quarter rest, I said "_about that_" and went back to playing.


----------



## breakup

I learned the cornet in school and continued in college, myself and several others made up the trumpet section of the orchestra. One of the pieces we did was Bolero and in this arrangement the trumpet section didn't come in till close to the end, we had a lot of rests that were the black rectangle on the middle line of the staff with a number above it. Most of the numbers were well over 10. The running joke was that we should bring a deck of cards, for something to do while we waited.


----------



## Vasks

One time I was playing in a recital a somewhat high range piece (probably a Torelli concerto or sonata) on my D trumpet. Early on, I suddenly blacked out for a second or two. In hindsight, I probably hyperventilated but that second or two of seeing nothing but black was scary. I didn't faint and I never stopped playing but after that incident, I gave up high range solo playing.


----------



## Mahler

I was just lurking around the forums here and saw this thread - I made an account just so I could post a response. 

When I was seven or eight years old, I had an unhealthy obsession with Star Wars - I had watched all of the movies several times and enjoyed listening to the soundtrack. One day, when I was playing in my backyard, I heard our next door neighbor playing the main Star Wars theme on the trumpet. Of course, I didn't know what instrument it was. I just knew it was something I wanted to learn to do. So my mom went over to his house the next day and asked if he could give me lessons. Turned out that he was USC music graduate and he agreed to give me trumpet lessons, although before had only taught low-brass. So I was his only trumpet student. Eventually we moved away and I started taking lessons with someone else, but no doubt an interesting way to fall in love with the instrument. 
In 2013 I had the amazing opportunity to see John Williams live in concert. It was a magical experience. That event eventually led to me discovering classical music (before, I had only played in wind bands at school and whatnot). I remember listening to the beginning of Mahler's 5th symphony for the first time... it was intense to say the least. Now I'm 18 and more immersed into classical music than ever before.


----------



## Ingélou

Mahler said:


> I was just lurking around the forums here and saw this thread - I made an account just so I could post a response.
> 
> When I was seven or eight years old, I had an unhealthy obsession with Star Wars - I had watched all of the movies several times and enjoyed listening to the soundtrack. One day, when I was playing in my backyard, I heard our next door neighbor playing the main Star Wars theme on the trumpet. Of course, I didn't know what instrument it was. I just knew it was something I wanted to learn to do. So my mom went over to his house the next day and asked if he could give me lessons. Turned out that he was USC music graduate and he agreed to give me trumpet lessons, although before had only taught low-brass. So I was his only trumpet student. Eventually we moved away and I started taking lessons with someone else, but no doubt an interesting way to fall in love with the instrument.
> In 2013 I had the amazing opportunity to see John Williams live in concert. It was a magical experience. That event eventually led to me discovering classical music (before, I had only played in wind bands at school and whatnot). I remember listening to the beginning of Mahler's 5th symphony for the first time... it was intense to say the least. Now I'm 18 and more immersed into classical music than ever before.


What a lovely story! Thanks for joining TC and sharing it. I look forward to reading some more of your posts! :tiphat:


----------



## Manxfeeder

I picked up the saxophone because my dad played it when he was young, and I wanted to be like my dad. When he was young, he was in a big band that was serious enough about itself that it cut a demo record, which I still have.

What is amazing is, in my college jazz band where I was the lead alto, I sat next to the lead tenor sax player, who had the same name as one of my dad's bandmates. When I asked him about it, it turns out he was the son of the sax player who sat next to my dad in his jazz band. 

So now in addition to my dad's recording, I have a recording of us playing in our jazz band. We came full circle.


----------



## breakup

Mahler said:


> When I was seven or eight years old, I had an unhealthy obsession with Star Wars - I had watched all of the movies several times and enjoyed listening to the soundtrack.


I took my son to see the first movie if that series when he was just a few years older than you were in your story.

More recently I was playing Holst's "The Planets" - Mars the bringer of War, and my grandson heard it and recognized it as the source for Darth Vader's theme.

Listen to "Venus the bringer of Peace" and try to hear the similarities to Princess Leia's Theme.


----------



## Mahler

breakup said:


> I took my son to see the first movie if that series when he was just a few years older than you were in your story.
> 
> More recently I was playing Holst's "The Planets" - Mars the bringer of War, and my grandson heard it and recognized it as the source for Darth Vader's theme.
> 
> Listen to "Venus the bringer of Peace" and try to hear the similarities to Princess Leia's Theme.


Ah, yes, I have heard many similarities between The Planets and William's compositions. Seems like a major source of his inspiration for the music he composed for Star Wars.

I played Jupiter last year, it was extremely fun


----------



## Harmonie

This is a long story with multiple instruments... Let me see if I can narrow it down. That may not happen. xD

I think it starts with elementary school and seeing my cousin play the trumpet for my school district's high school marching band. I don't even remember what it was about this experience, but it really made me want to join the band, and play the trumpet, too. I want to look for something deeper, but I think that's really it. I went on to play the trumpet in sixth grade just because my cousin did.

But about ten and a half-years ago (10th grade), I began to really see that maybe the trumpet wasn't actually the instrument for me. By this time I had really fallen in love with the clarinet, from listening to music with it, like some big band songs I recall having heard (although I discovered last year that my love for the clarinet went back much further, back to sixth grade, actually). So, in hopes that this was my instrument, I asked my parents for one, and they spoiled me, bought me one and got me lessons. However, before long my lessons instructor got sick and couldn't teach anymore. My enthusiasm for the instrument dropped off sometime around there, as I struggled with anything in the high register. It also really made my mouth hurt.

I wasn't thinking of giving up, but over time it looks like that's exactly what happened. 

But where does my interest in the bassoon start? That's where this gets complicated. It had to have began to happen almost simultaneously with the clarinet (ten and a half years ago). You wouldn't believe this if you knew me today, but back then I wasn't super observant over the instruments I played with in band. This is very embarrassing for me to admit, because I've come to love and be so fascinated with every woodwind/brass instrument so much. But back then, being on the trumpet, the low woodwinds were just a _blur_ to me. I didn't know what a bass clarinet was, I didn't know what a baritone saxophone was, I didn't know what a bassoon was, etc. What finally caught my eye to the bassoon was... a crush. xD

I'll spare a lot of the details I could go into here, because they just aren't relevant. But yes, that's where it began... a crush. >.< But a crush alone could not create my love for the bassoon, it only helped me became consciously aware of the instrument's existence. It blossomed from there, as I began to actually here the instrument and band and other places (classical music). On a summer visit to my grandparents' house, my grandma lent me a set of tapes to listen to while I was there, and there was one piece (not a bassoon piece, really, so don't get that idea. I fall in love with instruments in strange ways) on there that just sounded really neat, and guess which instrument caught my mind? The bassoon! It was this piece (very same recording). It was then that I REALLY fell in love. I don't know why, but something about the use of the bassoon there just really got me!

Unlike the clarinet, getting a bassoon wasn't easy at all. And in fact, it looked impossible for me... Seeing as I was just wanting to play it from a vague interest in the sound. My school, of course, had no interest in letting a trumpet player try a bassoon. Lol. But... My family somehow could see that my interest in the instrument was for real, they supported me. Almost nine years ago, my grandparents spoiled the heck out of me and actually bought me one!

It's all kind of history from there with the bassoon. I got lessons from a local teacher immediately, and, unlike the clarinet, they continued. The thing I find the neatest is that the bassoon perhaps really was my instrument. I found out about it from a crush, and wanted to play it for pretty much the same reasons I wanted to play the clarinet ("It sounds neat! It has to be the one!"). To be fair, my interest in playing the bassoon was somehow multiplied as opposed to the clarinet, and this paid off in the end. As opposed to any woodwind I've tried to play since, the bassoon came out being the most natural for me. Not to say it's an easy instrument, but, for example, nothing about the fingerings is awkward to me like it is for the clarinet, oboe, saxophone...

I have stories for the tenor saxophone and oboe, too... But I feel like I've already gone on too long with this. xD I'll just say that, to further complicate things, I fell in love with them almost simultaneously with the bassoon. Yeah...


----------



## Ingélou

A very interesting read. :tiphat:
You can tell us about the tenor saxophone and the oboe on another post!


----------



## Harmonie

Ingélou said:


> A very interesting read. :tiphat:
> You can tell us about the tenor saxophone and the oboe on another post!


What, you'd actually be interested in hearing that? Here I thought I rambled far too long already. Lol.

Me coming to be interested in the saxophone is another somewhat long story, but not as long as the above one!

When I asked for a clarinet, my parents brought up the fact that my dad has a saxophone in the house, and I should probably try that first. I didn't want that, and said no, and that I for sure want a clarinet. This is pretty ironic, in the end, isn't it? I have no idea why, but back then I didn't even particularly like the saxophone, and had convinced myself I'd never ever want to play it.

Probably just about exactly a year after I got the clarinet, I had the random idea to get out my dad's alto saxophone using my clarinet mouthpiece... Oddly enough, while playing a broken alto saxophone with a clarinet mouthpiece, I fell in love with the instrument. I found that I actually really liked the sound! Nevertheless, it was a broken instrument, and it would be several years before I'd have a saxophone of my own... Gotten for me by none other than my grandma, again. She got it for me so I could have an instrument to march with again.

...I was really spoiled by my grandparents. They supported me so much musically!

Sadly, that's pretty much where that story ends so far. Things in life got rockier and rockier, and I had to put my full focus on the bassoon, because it is my main instrument. I hate to say it, but I probably need lessons to actually learn the tenor saxophone, because it's just so weird to me. The fingerings and everything do not fall so naturally for me as the bassoon did.

The oboe is a bit shorter and simpler story. There was no point at which I disliked it, although much like the bassoon at first, I did not know what it was. I do not remember the point at which I recognized what one was. I do know I had a couple of friends who played it by the end of tenth grade. How I fell in love with it, it was listening. At first, I could not tell the difference between an oboe and an English horn, so I really lumped them together in my mind... Thus, I fell in love with both of them. Lol. However, obviously the oboe is the most practical one to get and learn, then you can also double on the English horn. So I went after the oboe.

It's been almost two years, I had gotten a job and made some money, and I actually bought the oboe myself. But like the tenor saxophone, I haven't really learned it... You know if I couldn't learn the tenor saxophone by myself, it wasn't going to happen with the oboe, either. The issue I run into with both instruments are those little side keys, which are really awkward for me to maneuver to. But like the saxophone, I really enjoy what little I can play of it. In fact, I've even got my pet bird singing when I've played the oboe. Something he never has done for any instrument I've played (and I've had him since I got my first trumpet!)... I suppose that means he likes it? Lol.


----------



## leegary

I started off with a baritone in 8th grade, but I was a tiny boy and found it too big, so I picked the clarinet because I liked the way it looked. I played that all the way up until 12th grade marching season and Christmas, also played the bass clarinet a few times. Was almost bigger than me LOL . I haven't played since 1999. I probably forgot how. I am buying a new clarinet to start over.


----------



## Harmonie

A little extension to my story recently!:

I got the inspiration to play the oboe again about a month ago. When playing it I found it clicking a little better for me this time, but was still having some issues. So I asked the first oboist that I play with in community orchestra how I could improve upon the issues I'm having. She told me it is actually a reed issue... Should have known. Anyway, she recommended I purchase reeds from her step-daughter, because that's where she gets them from.

When I went to her step-daughter's house to get some reeds, it turns out that she's a professional (who would have imagined that? [the family connection, I mean]) and she offered to teach me lessons. So I start lessons in a few days. I'm excited! =D


----------



## Gordontrek

I was always particularly drawn to the trumpet. I attended my first orchestra concerts before I was 10, and each time I focused my attention on the trumpets more than any other section. My sister had rather prodigious talent on the violin, and was playing with advanced high school orchestras while barely into middle school. I saw those trumpet players, and thought they were the coolest dudes around. Also, there were certain pieces that I would listen to over and over again because the trumpet was a featured instrument- my favorite was the March from The Nutcracker. I made my family sick of that piece because I blared it in my room all the time. Then I heard the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky's 4th...rinse and repeat. 
The best birthday gift I ever received was my first trumpet- my mom bought me a Yamaha student trumpet off eBay for a few hundred bucks for my 10th birthday. Within a few months I had my first lessons, and I've never stopped. 
I started playing with bands and orchestras about a year after I got my first horn. Loved it. I joined the local youth orchestra as soon as I felt I was ready. I spent seven years with them, and absolutely ate up every minute of it. My final year with them ended in May when I graduated. Since I was homeschooled, I didn't play in bands very much, though I spent a couple years with the band of a local homeschool group. I also enjoyed that very much, although I DESPISED marching!!
I'm still getting through one major setback, though. January 2015: I get out my horn for the first time this year to practice. I find my embouchure in shambles- can't tongue a note to save my life without facial muscles jerking every which way and completely cutting off my air and buzz. I thought it was just that I had taken time off over Christmas and my lips were cold. But then days, then weeks, then months went by and I was still just as bad. In July, I went to see a neurologist and Vanderbilt University, and they diagnosed me with embouchure dystonia, and basically told me my career was over. I've had better summers; in June, I lost my dog and my grandfather, and in July, this. That's a summer I want to forget. I was told I was a special case; they had diagnosed many musicians with dystonia in the past, and I was the second youngest they'd ever encountered. 
Fortunately, I started college trumpet lessons with a fantastic teacher in August, and I feel like I'm already over 50% recovered from dystonia. I was told that most people either never recover and quit music altogether, or take years to recover. If I keep progressing at my current pace, I believe I could have it licked in another year if not sooner. I feel that when I do, I'll come out of it a better trumpet player than I was before.

For those who took the time to read, I hope I didn't bore you...


----------



## Ingélou

^^^^^ Bore me? No way! 
It was very interesting, and I hope that you do indeed lick dystonia & go on to have many years of happiness playing your trumpet.


----------



## Vasks

Gordontrek said:


> I'm still getting through one major setback, though. January 2015: I get out my horn for the first time this year to practice. I find my embouchure in shambles- can't tongue a note to save my life without facial muscles jerking every which way and completely cutting off my air and buzz. I thought it was just that I had taken time off over Christmas and my lips were cold. But then days, then weeks, then months went by and I was still just as bad. In July, I went to see a neurologist and Vanderbilt University, and they diagnosed me with embouchure dystonia, and basically told me my career was over. I've had better summers; in June, I lost my dog and my grandfather, and in July, this. That's a summer I want to forget. I was told I was a special case; they had diagnosed many musicians with dystonia in the past, and I was the second youngest they'd ever encountered.
> Fortunately, I started college trumpet lessons with a fantastic teacher in August, and I feel like I'm already over 50% recovered from dystonia. I was told that most people either never recover and quit music altogether, or take years to recover. If I keep progressing at my current pace, I believe I could have it licked in another year if not sooner. I feel that when I do, I'll come out of it a better trumpet player than I was before.
> 
> For those who took the time to read, I hope I didn't bore you...


I didn't have that problem but in my final semester of undergrad music majoring I had my wisdom teeth come out the sides of my gums. It really messed up my embouchure and I had no money for them to be pulled for the rest of the term. My playing suffered terribly even after they were pulled and it took years for my embouchure to improve enough to play decently. To this day (40 years later) my range isn't as good as it was at the start of my senior year. But at least I can play many things again. Best of luck. Time is on your side.


----------



## corndogshuffle

I started on trumpet in sixth grade because I wanted to get out of class and my best friend was also starting trumpet. Family moved to Charleston, SC after seventh grade, and I almost quit band but decided not to when I learned that the band trip was to Universal Studios. I had to practice to earn my way on to the trip, and I made it happen. Along the way it turned out to be really fun. 

I kept playing trumpet and my family moved back home (Fairfax County, VA) after my freshmen year of high school. Spent a year in the second band, which I only made because I told the band director I was going to do marching band no matter what (top two bands had to do marching band, bottom three didn't, I was on the line from 2nd band to 3rd). 

After another year of practicing a ton and not making top band, my director asked if I would consider switching to tuba. The band needed a tuba player and there was a spot open in top band if I could earn it by practicing over break. So I got lessons with a President's Own tuba player, came back after summer, and had done enough work to become the best tuba player at my school. After a year and a half on tuba I was 1st chair all-state with an offer to attend college free of charge. And to think I nearly quit in middle school.


----------



## EarthBoundRules

I first started playing the trumpet in 5th grade. Unfortunately I didn't like it so I stopped playing. In seventh grade we had to pick instruments for music class and I tried the trumpet again. I ended up picking percussion instead. Then in high school I chose to play the saxophone, but since so many people picked it I ended up having to play the trumpet. I was disappointed then, but now I'm so glad I got to play this wonderful instrument! Unfortunately I've had to take a 9 month break so I'm basically starting from the beginning again, but I plan to get better soon with lots of practice.


----------



## arpeggio

I started out on trumpet in the fifth grade and switched to alto sax in the seventh. Why? I can not remember.

How I became a bassoonist I mentioned in an earlier post: http://www.talkclassical.com/614-bassoon.html?highlight=army#post379454


----------



## arpeggio

Yeah! It appears that there may be some band guys who know more that I do. We need more band junkies.

Torkelburger, I am jealous. I have never had the opportunity to play anything by Giannini or Husa.


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund

My woodwind & brass story is short...First played alto horn for a bit when I was 8 and then clarinet for a bit when I was 10. Guitar is my thing!


----------



## hpowders

I played violin as a 9 year old and clarinet as an adult. My neighbors have semi-retired me.


----------



## Minor Sixthist

Torkelburger said:


> I was encouraged by the band director to pick the baritone/euphonium in 5th grade (age 11) so I started with that. I taught myself the trombone in seventh grade and added that for 2 years in the stage band. In 10th grade I was at a much larger school district and there was an opening in the top honor band for tuba and they let the euphonium players try out and I got the part, so I played tuba for the last 3 years of high school and got a scholarship to college for tuba. I bought my own professional model tuba for college, and played in the concert band, studio orchestra, brass choir, and many recording sessions. After college I was in the union.
> 
> The music I like to play best is
> 1) Brass choir and brass quintet: for example, what the Canadian Brass plays (my favorites are J.S. Bach and Gabrieli arrangements)
> 2) Marches by John P Sousa, Karl King
> 3) Concert Band pieces (too many to name, but a few examples are Giannini, Persichetti, Ticheli, Reed, Hindemith, Husa)
> 4) Solo pieces (Haddad sonata, Hindemith sonata, etc.)
> 5) Classical orchestral pieces (this gets mentioned last from all the measure-counting and boring parts, however, there is the occasional good, interesting part for tuba) Good composers for the tuba are Holst, Mahler, Respighi, Ravel, Wagner, Strauss, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Berlioz, Hindemith, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Bartok to name a few. Usually the more modern the better.


Ever played Symphonic Metamorphosis by Hindy on tuba? I am currently, and that my sir, is really great stuff. The jazz during the II. Scherzo is something you don't wanna miss out on, you'd agree?
The Copland Rodeo dances are pretty cool for us too, especially Buckaroo Holiday.
Haddad Suite got real old, real fast, just in my opinion. Not a fan. 
Strauss Nocturno was nice as solo. As for concert band, like you said, too much to name. Holst's Second Suite in F will always have a special place in my heart. LOVE that suite. Among other memorable ones of all kinds, there was Pageant by Persichetti, A Longford Legend by Sheldon (tribute to Grainger, Vaughan Williams, and Holst,) Oblivion by Piazzolla (ever tried that solo on tuba? because it's awesome.), And La Gazza Ladra, and like you said anything by Ticheli is wonderful.


----------



## Minor Sixthist

I was given three choices in third grade along with all the other kids. You could pick any three, in order of most to least desired. You were guaranteed to get one of your choices.

My choices were percussion, flute, then trumpet. 
Didn't get one of my choices, surprise surprise. Teacher needed to fill spots for French horn or tuba.

My only impression of our school's horns were that they ALWAYS had spit in them. That stayed with me, and tuba it was.


----------



## Pugg

Well Ingélou, your topic is brought up, look at that names from the past.


----------



## Jacred

I started playing the flute in sixth grade to mess with the guy sitting on my right. I am now thankful for my immaturity.


----------



## fluteman

A close friend of my grandparents played the flute in Toscanini's NBC Symphony. When my parents were newly married, my mother decided to take flute lessons and he took her on as a student even though she was a complete beginner (but a pretty one). He had a large flute collection and sold her a circa 1900 French flute for $50. When my parents moved from NY to Boston, he referred her to one of his former students - a flutist in the BSO - who listened to her, laughed, and referred her to one of his students.
When I was a 10 year old piano student, I wanted a band instrument to play in my 5th grade music teacher's band. My parents gave me the antique French flute, and off I went. I still have that flute.


----------



## Totenfeier

I started on clarinet in 7th & 8th grade (after piano lessons), marched & concerted with it in the ninth. In the 10th grade, my band director gave me a cassette tape and a book and told me to learn how to play the bassoon, so I did, and got put in the symphonic band; still marched with clarinet that year. Just before my junior year, he gave me a tape and a book and told me to learn baritone horn, so I did. So my junior and senior years were marching w/baritone and concert with bassoon. I also used to go to all-county and regional bands on bass clarinet. So I was a welter of embouchures - single-reed, double reed, and brass. My favorite was bassoon, so I played on through college in the wind ensemble.

I don't play anything now except for occasional noodling on a hammered dulcimer. No tape and book yet!


----------



## classicalexburns

Although there is nobody in my family who plays an instrument, I was offered trumpet lessons at high school at age 11. On my birthday (Dec 13th) I began playing. I fell in love with the sound and power of the trumpet and have since worked very hard to build my repertoire and reputation as a session musician. 

I love playing all sorts of genres, but my favourites are jazz and musical theater as, for me, they offer a lot to work with as a trumpeter (range, technical playing, stamina). For me, my instrument gave me the confidence to become a much more outgoing and confident person as it represented how I felt on the inside. As somebody who has been badly bullied in my youth, music was a way that I could work on overcoming these hurdles. 

Reading these stories are very heart warming and remind me of why I study and enjoy music!


----------



## Digger

I started on third cornet in our local brass band aged 9 -my father who could play many valved instruments introduced me to music
I eventually moved up to Trombone aged 13 but sadly stopped playing aged 17 to my regret.
The chap who taught me died a few years ago and by chance in 2005 I happened to see his widow who asked me would I like the Trombone --I have it here and it is polished and oiled regular--it is here for my g/son.


----------

