"Easy" Instruments

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The recorder was my first instrument, and it was easy for me

I recall seeing a short scale 3 string instrument called the Sturm-stick, tuned open and there were no bad notes to be played. Harmonicas have always been a first instrument of choice so there must be a reason. To play anything at a moderate to master level its going to be really hard and take a lot of practice though, there are no short cuts really other then to keep to easier songs.

Okay, I reread the thread question, and I agree non-musicians think recorders are easy to play, probably because they are often taught to children as they are cheap and can still play melodies.

I'm learning to play the Japanese Shakuhachi (bamboo) flute. It took me a few days to even get a sound out of it! Unlike western wind instruments there is no reed, the notes are generated by blowing a fine jet of air against a sharp edge in the mouthpiece so that some of the air goes inside the instrument and some goes outside. The octave is changed by directing the air slightly differently. The fingering of the holes is also complex with varying degrees of open/closed for certain notes. They do make a beautiful haunting sound in the hand of an expert (I'm just a four note foghorn at the moment).

Well, I'm not a non-musician, and I still say that the recorder is a fairly simple instrument in comparison to others. There are plenty of instruments that have complex fingerings in addition to other difficulties, while complex fingerings is really the only difficulty on recorder.

Hi Serena, I hope you're feeling better today.

Thank you; I'm starting to come out of my hyper/joyous episode right now, and I'm starting to feel a little worse again, but I've been well for the time in between a day after I posted that thread and yesterday.

There really are no "easy" instruments. Each instrument has it's own unique characteristics, and to play any instrument well you need to practice diligently to hone it's unique characteristics. Attention to detail and loads of practice = success, so nothing easy about it.

Aside from fingerings, it has all the problems inherent with a woodwind instrument. Woodwinds are probably the hardest instruments to actually make a sound on.

There's no reed on a recorder. There's no "only some of the air goes in so you pass out" on recorder. You don't need to build up much lung strength at all, as you hardly have to breathe into it. What difficulties are there besides the fingerings? I really don't know.

Because of the lack of reed it has the opposite problem of other woodwind instruments, if you blow too hard it doesn't work.

Much cheaper for a professional level trumpet, too. Developing the embouchere and using tongue level rather than pressure on the mouthpiece to play in the upper register takes time and practice, though.

I've always assumed all instruments were easy once you know how to play them with proficiency. It wouldn't be that impressive to watch a virtuoso struggle and hoof around on their instrument like a farmyard animal... unless the point was in comedic effect, such really shouldn't be the case.

Yes, the shakuhachi is a very difficult instrument to learn. I still can't get more than a single open note out of mine after countless attempts. I think what makes it even harder is that there's so little information available to learn on your own. I think it's traditionally been a mentor passed to student type trade for the longest time, and it seems to want to be kept that way.

I went thoughtlessly with an 8 hole in G thinking it couldn't be that hard to figure out how to play a bamboo stick with a few holes *facepalm* >_>

I typically learn very well by watching people play stringed instruments... but when it comes to watching someone instruct playing shakuhachi over youtube (the only available public resource for learning it seems)... there's really nothing helpful to watch in seeing lips placed against the behind of the flute or usefully said in verbal instruction to apply to how to blow proper, so I find myself infinitely perplexed and haven't further pursued actually learning it.

These are all problems HOW, exactly? Learn to voice upper-register notes in the mouth cavity and the throat and intonation is as flexible as a trombone (see "Rhapsody in Blue," any Dixieland player). I can do portamentos as wide as a perfect 5th in some places. Simple solution to intonation problems: Tune slightly sharp and/or use a harder reed. Adjust voicing to bend notes down as you go. And, come on guys, this is the 21st century. Catch up with the rest of the orchestra and start using vibrato! Incidentally, I typically use lip vibrato and adjust intonation in the throat. Technically you could do both in the throat, but I also like the timbre variation you get when changing pressure on the reed. Just my $.02.

TIN PENNY WHISTLE

Its a bit like a recorder. But I personally like it more. Its easy and fun. I play other difficult instruments, but still sometimes its fun to play music with little thought.

Just my opinion.