HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

No ulterior motives for asking, just innocent curiosity.

What instrument(s) do you play?

I'm basically a guitarist but have performed on blues harp, keyboards, bass, and occasional vocals...which is a bit like an occasional table, and almost as musical.

My voice, I sang in choirs, amateur opera and in an amateur folk group, but not for a long time, wish I still did some. I can (could) sight read music for voice. I am (was) a baritone, but at a pinch I could do bass parts.

Sight reading is beyond me, although I can read music slowly and well enough to transpose arrangements. I could never perform opera, except perhaps some extreme form of Opera Buffa. I did help run, and play at, a local folk club back in the 70s though.

Our little folk group was called the freedom sons we were together from about 1965 to 1967. The only claim to fame was the other singer was Bernie Grant who became the first black MP.

The only opera lead I ever took was Kecal in The Bartered Bride http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bartered_Bride I still remember lots of it and I was only 16 at the time - O come here neighours, O come her neighbours, O come here worthy villagers, etc. Now that was a Bass part, I could handle most of it, I only had to pop up the scale a couple of times, though I burst a blood vessel in my cheek at the dress rehearsal, which added to the ruddy complexion for the performances

I was a folk soloist, which means there was nobody daft enough to want to appear on stage with me. I "did" everyone from Jake Thackray to Gordon Giltrap via Pete Seeger.
I'm almost impressed with myself in that I saw "Bartered Bride" and instantly thought "Smetana".
I suppose came to "appreciate" classical music in general fairly late in life...mostly courtesy of my wife. Unfortunately for her I did bring with me a love of Mahler and Wagner. To this day I will argue that the final movement of Mahler's 8th is the greatest piece of music ever written. Strangely enough I have found several people who disagree. Ah well, there's no accounting for taste.

I played the drums for 20 years or so, I was in a few bands. what we wrote was crap so we never performed it live. We did nothing but covers, from Pink Floyd, Dire Staits to Sting.
I probably haven't played in 10 years or so.

I can fiddle.

Piano, level mid-amateur. I can play some easy Mozart sonatas, Bach two-way inventions, and recently I've almost finished text-learning my favourite Chopin's Nocturne no. 14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01eTiCIAa3s

Have played Clarinet professionally for 29 years now.
Piano: sort-of (did Grade 8 many years ago, when still at school)
Tuba: very sort of (did Grade 7 many years ago)

You forgot saxamaphone as Homer calls it.