Comments on: Instrument-Switching: A Good Idea?

By: Saul Davis Zlatkovski

Saul Davis Zlatkovski — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:58:38 +0000

Many of the finest harpists have switched from other instruments to harp, especially piano. For this reason, it is very important that harp be available as a secondary instrument in music schools as well as a primary instrument, and that students should be required to have a primary instrument. Pianists should have either harp or wind instruments/voice available or required, and other instrumentalists should have piano and/or harp as well as voice.
But then, musicians should also study dance, to have basic ballet, folk dance, and all the dance forms found in music from Pavane to Rumba.

By: Amy Nathan

Amy Nathan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:48:45 +0000

I also asked Paula Robison if she has taken up any “secondary instruments.” Here’s what she had to say:

From Paula Robison: ” I guess I’ve always been an ‘instrument switcher’ because I love the piccolo so much and it has a distinctly different personality from the flute, so I’ve been faced with the challenges of learning how to play it well and letting it sing in its own voice.
I also play percussion as I cook. I really do. Pots and pans, scrapers, pepper grinders…my dream is to play backup percussion in Cyro Baptista’s band.
But the most exciting thing for me right now is that I’m learning how to sing……I’m not sure if that’s a secondary instrument…it’s probably our basic human primary instrument!! Working at the voice production and having a lot of fun with it has helped my flute playing a lot! And it’s good for me to have to play chords on the piano and keep track of things with just my hands as I sing scales. “

By: Amy Nathan

Amy Nathan — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:46:57 +0000

Eugene Cantera asks an interesting question and so I asked Sherry Sylar, the New York Philharmonic oboist who is one of the musicians in the little quiz in the original blog enter, Here’s what she said :

From Sherry Sylar: “Yes, I played both the piano and flute before starting the oboe. I continue playing the piano now and enjoy this ‘other’ musical experience very much. It’s odd that the music I choose to play on the piano now leans more toward jazz and show music rather than classical music! (I suppose playing in the New York Philharmonic gives me plenty of exposure to the classical genre!) But practically speaking, I am not as accomplished on the piano and find that I am very critical of my attempts to play the classics. When I play jazz and show music it seems to help me turn that critical ear off and just enjoy the experience of playing the piano. I doubt I would ever play piano in public!
BTW: starting on the piano as a very young person was the best thing I could have done for my musical career!”

By: Eugene Cantera

Eugene Cantera — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:17:29 +0000

Nice post!

I always tell my students (and parents) that a musicians’ natural voice will come out. I have had many students begin on one instrument and find a year or two into it that they would like to try another or that the original just wasn’t what they had thought it would be. A good teacher teaches musical concepts that carry over regardless of the instrument.

I played everything I could get my hands on but saxophone stuck. And here’s a twist…after years of playing and teaching professionally I decided to learn guitar. It would be interesting to learn how many musicians in the list above actually enjoy playing secondary instruments.