Why Don't More People Into Music Reproduction At Home Play Around With Musical Instruments

Playing around with instruments may be "interesting", but the interest fades too fast when one realizes that music is not coming out.  I've been playing violin since I was 6 and have been lucky enough to have made a good living from it....  Its hard, and you have to be lucky enough to have been born with the talent gene.  Its not just getting a decent tone from the instrument, or the application of scales, or this or that......its the art form of making music.  What may be more rewarding than trying your hand at a particular instrument, is taking a college music history or music appreciation coarse.  You will be awed at the genius lying in the grooves.

Stringreen offers good advice re the value in taking a music history or appreciation course as an alternative; although not everyone will “lose interest“ in playing around with a musical instrument. Doing so may lead to a more in depth commitment to the instrument; and the value of a more causal acquaintance, as the OP suggests, is still very real. One does not have to preclude the other.

Like Stringreen I have been playing musical instruments since very young. Since age five in my case and professionally and exclusively as a profession for over forty years. I would like to offer some thoughts on the musician/audiophile issue as there are some misconceptions that get bandied about frequently.

The idea that musicians don’t care about the quality of reproduced sound is mistaken. Of course there are musicians that don’t particular care to devote the time or energy into assembling and maintaining an audiophile quality audio system. As has been pointed out, some musicians don’t have the means to do so. More importantly, many don’t (and I believe this may be an important reminder for SOME audiophiles) because when musicians listen to music the focus of their attention is usually on musical performance matters and not on matters of “sound”. Of course, sound is an important aspect of performance; but, only one aspect and there are more important considerations in music performance. Additionally, and this is why I don’t agree with a single one of Geoffkait’s assertions, musicians are usually too busy with not only performance considerations, but also musical instrument setup and “tweaking”. As a result there is little inclination, or time, to add one more thing (audio) to the list of things to obsess about. More on that momentarily.

Having said all that and to debunk the “musicians don’t care about audio” myth, based on my experience and that of many other colleagues, I can state unequivocally that as a percentage of the population of professional musicians, there are infinitely more musician/audiophiles out there than the percentage of audiophiles within the population of what could rightfully be called music lovers; never mind the general population.

Contrary to Geoff’s assertion there are, in fact, many parallels between being a musician and being an audiophile. Moreover, the idea that being a musician does not “in any way help when it comes to high end audio” is misguided and actually defies logic. Of course, this assumes that the goal of the audiophile is to achieve sound that best approximates the actual sound of live music and not simply sound that “sounds good” without the use of a reference other than that audiophile’s tastes and preferences.

Having been an audiophile almost as long as I have been a professional musician my experience has been that the level of changes and improvement in sound that we as audiophiles chase by way of the many tweaks, cables, vacuum tube changes, etc. are often far more obvious than the extremely subtle changes in sound (timbre, texture, speed, definition, etc.) that professional musicians concern themselves with when choosing equipment and its setup and tweaking. You think power cords make a difference? The very real difference they make is huge compared to the important difference resulting from whether a saxophone’s ligature (that little metal clamp that holds the reed in place) is plated with 14 vs 18 karat gold; or silver, or brass. Just one of the countless tweaks that an instrumentalist has to be sensitive to when setting up an instrument. Metal or plastic resonators on the pads? Metal or rubber mouthpiece? Which reed cut style? Was the cane for the reed grown in France or in Argentina? How tight or loose does the neck fit on the horn? Even the strap used to hang the horn from one’s neck can have a subtle effect on one’s tone; and these are the things that cause the more obvious differences in sound. Then you have the more ephemeral ones, like which mouthpiece causes one’s sound to project more than another. Two of the same model mouthpiece from the same manufacturer can sound identical heard up close, but heard twenty feet away may sound quite different with one sounding much more (or less) present or more focused. Same principles apply to all families of instruments in one way or another.

Then, you have performance related issues on a minuscule level that a musician has to have the ear for and be sensitive to. Intonation, timbral blend with other players, accuracy and flexibility with rhythm; just a few of countless considerations. You think it’s tricky setting up and correctly placing a subwoofer? Try having to take into account and adjust one’s playing on a moment’s notice to compensate for the time delay heard when having to play a unison line with a bass section situated forty feet away on the stage. The parallels are many.

And some wonder why some musicians don’t want to deal with audio?! Me? I guess I’m a glutton for punishment 😱

Best to all.

@lloydc Dead on with your note regarding recorded music never being the same as live. Recorded music is tweaked to "sound" like the artist/producer intended. Not to be a true representation of what instruments sound like. Take my drums for example. I've got a great kit... Raw, in just about about any room with no mic'ing etc. they sound really good. However, set those bad boys up with a great mic set, put some effects in the mix and eq them for the space... they are an entirely different animal. Any "acoustic" instrument will be the same. Anytime something has been recorded the "instrument sound" is altered one way or another. This includes pretty much any instrument. So, in some ways, the "audiophile" pursuit of "perfect reproduction" really is impossible. But, it's still a fun pursuit and makes me happy, and I'm endlessly amazed at how little things can make such a difference in end product listening.

frogman -- great post!

When I was about twelve, I sat down one lazy afternoon and picked my way through more than 250 pop songs, all without sheet music.  It was exciting and gratifying to be able to do this, and those around me recognized many songs and were pleased.  Gradually, however, I became more aware of the missing notes, the transitions I couldn't play, and all the rest of my limitations.  Eventually, I found myself up against a wall of frustration that could be overcome only by working much harder at this.  It was the steady improvement in my ability to hear and understand the music that undermined my interest in playing it.