I am starting a forum where everyone is invited to share their stories. Why did you choose the instrument you did? From the mandolin to the oboe, start rolling in the stories! Since instrument forums are dead, start typin and we can have fun just talking and sharing experiences!

thats for responding music girl, hopefully others will soon enough

I started clarinet in 5th grade because two of my friends already played it. I tried trumpet and oboe for a while, but wanted to play bassoon really bad so I switched to bassoon last year.

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Just curious, is that Condoleeza Rice in the picture or do I have really bad vision?

lol, it is condileeza rice! thanks for asking!

The elementary school I went to allowed you to start music in 4th grade. My mother played a record (a vinyl version of a CD) that had the sounds of all the orchestra instruments. My mother wanted us to pick an instrument we liked the sound of rather than the looks of. She thought we would practice more if we liked the sound. If we only liked the looks and then didn't like the sound, then we probably wouldn't practice at all.

So I picked the French Horn.
My other brothers picked the Oboe, Flute, and percussion.

i've always liked piano a lot. When junior high came, we had to have music credit, so it was band(our junior highs band is top in the nation) orchestra(which has like five kids), or general music/choir(i can't sing well outside of my shower). So i chose band, cuz i liked it, and a girl who played oboe played at our church once and i luved the sound. so there you go:D

Clarinet in 6th grade. Also played cello.
Tuba(unwillingly) in 7th. Also saxophone.
Learned violin and viola and the Saxophone in 8th(thought I loved this instrument, until I picked up the flute, which I absolutely fell in love with).

I play around on piano a bit, but I truly suck at it.

The violin is the only instrument I have ever been able to stick with so far. In middle school, we borrowed instruments that belonged to the school for band, and we were allowed to switch instruments whenever we wanted! I was never satisfied with my instrument lol, so my playing history goes something like this: flute, clarinet, flute, tenor sax, alto sax, percussion, french horn, flute. No, I never really got good at playing any of them. Probably not very wise, but you can't change the past! Finally near the end of eighth grade I decided just to stick with the flute, since it was the one I had played for the longest time. I started violin in eighth grade, too, and have been playing it ever since. I think the fact that I paid for it has to do with it .

I also played piano from age 6-12 (yes, I'm such a quitter); and I sing.

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In high school, I haven't taken band. Ok, I'm done talking now!

I am choosing bassoon shortly becuase of it's sound and shape... Plus T-sax is getting too easy, and the bassoon will be a welcoming challenge to have, not to metntion I'll be the principal bassoon in our school orchestra (I'll be the only bassoonist ) I chose the tenor becuase for one I recieved a professional one for free, and I like the sound of the tenor sax... If I had recieved a free pro alto, I would have litteraly ran to ebay and sold it. I also had experience on Clarinet as well, so I chose the tenor. I have only been playing the tenor for about a year and a half, and (not to brag) I'm really good at it...
I'm confident I could make all state and then some. I am just beggining Clarinet again after recieving my great grandfathers pro model, but Tenor just comes easliy to me. I have big hands, so clarinet can sometimes be a pain in the keys near the southern end, but I will have to get down on the clarinet becuase If i go to college for instrument performance, then I will go for clarinet because It has more options orchestra wise

I have also been considering the oboe a tad, but I want to stick with bassoon so i can at least get decent on it! I think I may try out for all state on tenor soon, but that would be a tad easy, If I practice, I would love to make it on clarinet (my non primary instrument), but I must get it repaired first (it has some leaks)...

I have also played the alto sax and alto clarinet, but enough ramblin' from me!

Thanks for sharin so far, hopefully more will join in!

Lastly, I own a mandolin, but it's collecting dust right now, Its actually really tricky to grasp!

Well, I have a short(ish) history:

It all started back in grade 4. We were all forced to play our lovely $8 plastic Yamaha recorders. I learnt how to read music this way, but the sound of 30 recorders amongst someone trying to teach, always gave me a headache. I joined our honours choir that year, and the year after I think.

In grade 5 I didn't do much music wise. But in grade 6 I started playing the piano. I'd always want to play it but I just got around to begging enough. Hehehe.

In grade 7 (lucky us) we got to play the recorder again! It was horrible, we had to compose music for the recorder, in fact it was blues. We had to do presentations, the whole she-bang. I joined band in grade 7 which helped me a lot. I started off on my grandfathers old Alto Sax, but I didn't like that.. So durring that summer I switched to oboe. I was always interested in oboe from grade 7. It was all because of some small lines in a song we sung in choir: You play the oboe, and I'll play the drum and then we'll play them together, and hum hum hum! OR something along those lines.

Then came highschool for me. Which is a very long story xD.

keep the stories rollin!

I kind of look up to my dad, so I became determined to try anything that he had, like fencing and the violin I had lessons on the recorder in Primary, but those stopped when I entered Middle so I convinced my parents to let me take up the violin class offered.
Unfortunately it was expensive, about £25 for 30 mins I think, and I was already dancing so I was told to choose.. I had been doing the dancing since I was really young so I kept on with that.

Years later, I ended up regretting my decision more and more so when I was working and spotted a violin on ebay I thought why not? Looked up lessons (£22 for an hour lesson, and unlike in school these are private), recently taken my Grade 1 and haven't looked back since :D

"we 'learned' guitar"

is it me, or do most guitar "players" just sit around on them and strike the strings? if your going to learn an "instrument", you need to actually devote and learn, so you don't sound stupid!

Well my mom played flute in highschool.. so once in a while I would go and try to play it (which didn't usually work very well, lol)

Then in 5th grade is when we start instruments (you pick near the end of 4th) and I couldn't decide what isntrument I really wanted to play.. flute, saxaphone, trumpet, clarinet.. I just couldn't decide. Well my sister decided she wanted to play violin. I had never really thought of this, but when I went the meeting I decided that I wanted to play violin.. not any band instrument! My mom said that we should still go to the band meeting just in case.. and i really just couldn't decide.. so I decided to play two instruments! BUT my mom said I had to play flute if i also wanted to do violin because we already had a flute so she wouldn't have to buy/rent another instrument.

So I played both flute and violin (both very well, I might add) from 5th grade until 10th grade (last year) but I recently decided to quit violin (just wasn't fun anymore..) and to focus on flute for my two years of highschool left, especially since I might major in Music (Music Therapy, possibly) so I'm still very happy with my choice If I dont major in music.. just makes my life easier, if I do, I think I will be better prepared on one instrument and it will also make my life a lot easier, now lol.

So now I just play flute. And I just started piano lessons this summer as well!

I started music in 1st grade, I was in the school/church kid choir until 6th grade. I also (like many people) learned xylophone and recorder in primary school, which was a horrible experience.

My sister played bass clarinet in the concert bands at her secondary school(which is I believe the equivalent of middle and high school, it's five years, from 7th grade to 11th grade), and I went to her concerts, and when she was in 8th grade they played Henry Fillmore's Lassus Trombone, with their trombonists playing from the balcony.

From that moment I knew I wanted to play trombone. 3 years later I entered secondary school and started learning trombone. After only one year, I had decided I wanted to pursue a career in music performance.

Now it's been 5 years since I first played trombone, and I'll be studying my instrument in college as of september. I could have chosen practically any career (I get pretty solid grades at school), but I really couldn't see myself doing something else than music (my friends say it's a waste of intellectual capacities).

Now, 'nough said, time to go practice