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Aeolienne

Any other Aspie amateur musicians here?

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Chances are there are other people on this forum who play at least one musical instrument. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced similar problems to me in finding other musicians to play with.

 

When people ask me if I'm musical, and I tell them I play the recorder, that invariably prompts two questions: "Which one do you play?" and "Do you play in a group?". The answer to the first is: descant, treble, tenor and sopranino. The second is less easy to answer, as it all depends on what you mean by a group.

 

When I lived in Exeter between 2003 and 2010 I belonged to the Devon Society of Recorder Players (since then I haven't lived in any other part of the country long enough to warrant paying an annual subscription to another local SRP branch) . What that means in practice is that I went along to their monthly meetings whenever I could and sightread one part of a piece of music. After a while Devon SRP set up a separate "Exeter Recorder Orchestra". It was supposed to be distinct from the main SRP in that its stated aim was to practise (not just sightread) a selection of pieces with a view to performing them. But in the event we only gave concerts at a rate of about one or two per year, pretty poorly attended at that. And we only met once a month, so on the face of it it wasn't that different from Devon SRP. Most of the other members of Devon SRP and/or ERO played in smaller groups, some with other instrumentalists. At the very least this meant meeting up in other people's houses, but some of these smaller groups also gave performances. I once spoke to someone who'd played in a group in mediaeval costume who provided background music at Buckland Abbey. Unfortunately groups like these don't have auditions as such. It's more about playing with friends, or friends of friends. Indeed this person's advice to me was to make myself known, invite people back to my flat to play ensembles and maybe this just might lead to greater things. I objected, saying that my flat was far too small and untidy, and besides I only had a very limited collection of consort music. Another issue is that I hardly knew the names of anyone in the SRP and/or recorder orchestra; I was probably told any number of names but it was difficult to retain the information if I didn't see the other person for another month at least.

 

There was a lady at the Quaker meeting I attended in Exeter who told me she'd had recorder lessons. When I once suggested that we should play together some time (emphasis on play, not perform) she was totally against the idea, saying that "You're far too good for me - you play in a group?" Eh?! This despite the fact she had never heard me play a note. There were people like that lady among my office colleagues (and indeed people I encounter today on internet dating forums), people who'd never bothered to attend my once-in-a-blue-moon concerts and yet who still thought I was really good. Maybe I should have taken it as a compliment and left it at that, but I was a tad tempted to grab them by the shoulders and say "If you think I'm so bl00dy marvellous why have you never come to hear me play?"

 

Not all my colleagues in Exeter were like that. My closest colleagues (as in my team mates, not close in any social sense) knew nothing about my life as an amateur musician. Well I can only suppose they knew nothing. In all the time I worked with them I could have counted on the fingers of one hand the number of times they asked me how my weekend was.

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:band:

 

Sorry, love that emoticon :P

 

Yeah, I'm technically an amateur aspie musician... although I am not as good as I used to be due to a LONG break...

 

I used to play recorder - soprano and descant, but I stopped that cuz everyone in my family felt it was the most annoying sound in the world - I used to contest that attempting to learn violin would have been worse.

 

I also play keyboard - up to grade 5 - which my music teacher at the time said was as far as I could go... this was in the 90's, I did piano grade 1 for a laugh at that time too, but I'm really out of practice on that :D

 

I think the biggest skill I have let go, is that of being able to put a new piece of music in front of me and being able to play it fluently and perfectly with ease - this is what I lost due to not practising - I can still play every piece I saw before, but I have mistakes where years ago there would be hardly any.

 

And yes I struggled to find people to perform with when I played regularly.

Edited by darkshine

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I used to play recorder - soprano and descant, but I stopped that cuz everyone in my family felt it was the most annoying sound in the world - I used to contest that attempting to learn violin would have been worse.

Do you mean sopranino?

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Just decided to add this.....

 

I have been contemplating this for some time now.... I fancy getting hold of a set of bagpipes and trying to learn how to play them.

 

Or alternatively the clarinet....

 

And I still have an acoustic guitar to learn but I can't play that at the moment unless I strum and I just can't be bothered with that as I prefer classical guitar and I haven't enough movement in my hand for that.

Edited by darkshine

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How a lot of musicians meet other musicians is by hanging out where the music is played, alternatively advertisements in music shops.

 

And now there is the internet, find and join a related forum and see what unfolds, maybe even request yourself.

Edited by Sa Skimrande

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How a lot of musicians meet other musicians is by hanging out where the music is played, alternatively advertisements in music shops.

 

And now there is the internet, find and join a related forum and see what unfolds, maybe even request yourself.

I've been a member (and poster) of the ABRSM forums for five years now, and all that has unfolded was that I took part in a playing day at Dyrham Park in late 2009, prior to my move to Skipton. Other than that I've met people who are already lucky enough to play in groups and aren't looking for new members.

 

Darkshine - this page about learning the clarinet may be of interest: Link

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Just decided to add this.....

 

I have been contemplating this for some time now.... I fancy getting hold of a set of bagpipes and trying to learn how to play them.

 

Or alternatively the clarinet....

 

And I still have an acoustic guitar to learn but I can't play that at the moment unless I strum and I just can't be bothered with that as I prefer classical guitar and I haven't enough movement in my hand for that.

 

So, your a bagpipe, clarinet, guitar player? If you can multitask, you have it made. not many one man scottish/classical/rocker bands out there.

Edited by A-S warrior

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Darkshine - this page about learning the clarinet may be of interest: Link

 

Thank you, it was of interest :)

 

So, your a bagpipe, clarinet, guitar player?

 

Nope, I'm an aspiring bagpipe, clarinet and guitar player who has only one functioning hand and no money to buy a clarinet or bagpipes - but regarding the bagpipes, if I did have money - I'm gonna make one sound and be murdered by everyone within at least a 2 mile radius, I reckon learning to play - or playing - the bagpipes could be a seriously risky business to my health!

 

If you can multitask, you have it made. not many one man scottish/classical/rocker bands out there.

 

Now I can visualise having a guitar and a clarinet and attempting some sort of alternating thing going on there - but where the hell would I put the bagpipes? (clean answers only people) :lol:

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I used to be quite musical as a youngster, playing electric organ and multiple recorders. I seemed to be better at playing by ear than reading music. Although I could read it, I think I used to prefer learning by ear... somehow seemed more natural to me.

 

I've not played anything since being in school though...

 

I used to think I'd love to learn playing guitar or something 'boring' like that ;)

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I believe that it isn't what is 'boring' as an instrument - its what you can do with it that makes the difference between interesting and boring, I can think of some examples of guitar players that most definitely are not boring to listen to (in my opinion of course) ;)

Edited by darkshine

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Darkshine, I don't actually think guitar is boring and am constantly impressed by guitar players out there who make awesome music. I just think, if you were to ask people what was an interesting instrument, guitar wouldn't be up there at the top.

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Some guitars are a little more interesting that others :)

 

http://www.otheroom....07/guitars.html

 

http://www.stevesgif..._Guitar_Set.htm

 

http://www.toxel.com...eative-guitars/

 

http://www.slipperyb...ruments/page/4/

 

Still gotta be able to play em though :lol:

 

Or if you fancy something really unusual you could install a sea organ or a aeolian wind harp - let nature do the playing

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How a lot of musicians meet other musicians is by hanging out where the music is played, alternatively advertisements in music shops.

Unfortunately the Early Music Shop's London branch doesn't have a noticeboard. I don't know whether it would be worth traipsing around the sheet music shops (Chappells, Schotts, Boosey & Hawkes) to see if they do - assuming they haven't gone the way of HMV et al.

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Currently and determined not to fail this time, I am learning the doumbek and the sagat.

 

My issue is where there is no personal instruction and there is not for these although they go hand in hand, I am left with audio visual aids and how others think is not the way I think and so there comes a point with every audio/visual aid where learning cannot progress.

 

I did try to learn the djembe as an aid to understanding the tuition but the tutor, one experienced with ASD issues through her job had no idea how to translate her method of teaching into a system I could work with, so another thing failed.

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