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

I’ve never found musicianship correlates to the audio hobby. I think people with extensive musical backgrounds hear music differently than ones that don’t. Even some musical background makes a difference. Musicians hear and understand chord changes and have a better appreciation and understanding  for say Brubecks complicated time  changes. They understand what tensions give blues it’s sound for example. I’m a guitar player, played piano a little,  and a variety of other instruments in my youth. I feel it has given me a very open ability to hear and understand music.  But most musicians I know couldn’t care less about our interest of great sound reproduction. I wouldn’t say  that it puts a person above any non musician audiophile in this hobby. These are two different things imo. 

One thing that has influenced my audio listening Is I’m very aware how a piano sounds in my house as I hear my daughter play it regularly. I really learn the sound of that instrument in the house. This is more important for our hobby than actually playing the instrument. Also I’m very in tune to hearing a guitar through an amp as I put my amp in between my speakers if I want to jam with a record. Invite over your musician friends to play their instruments in your audio room is even better than going out to live performances.

Mandolins are much more difficult to play than pretty much any ukulele (except maybe a Tiple, which is essentially a 10 steel stringed uke) ...I wouldn't recommend mandolins to anybody (and I have one). Also a note on Don Ho, I saw him play with his amazing band, The Aliis, in the mid 60s and he was great...also was in a jazz club when he walked in in the early 80s and he sang a few songs and blew everybody away...he was really good, and a nice guy. I sold him a Fender Twin in an Anvil road case in about 1980 or so, and his technical dude gave me a tour of his stage in the Hilton Hawaiian Village geodesic dome (Bucky Fuller's first large commercial version of one). Don came out to talk story and give me a check for the amp...cool guy, great musician.

I currently practice piano about 1 to 1.5 hours a day.  First 20 minutes of scales, circle of fifths, and pieces from Hanon.  Next 20 minutes of site read playing and playing those pieces to a metronome for timing.  Then the remaining time is divided into some jazz pieces (currently Gershwin brothers' The Man I Love playing  2 measures repeated 20 times at 60 BPM and then Tchaikovsky's Opus 23 and playing 3 measures played 20 times at 55 BPM).  As many said, it really takes self discipline and fortitude to be just an "ok" player.  I am barely an "ok" player.  

I have been taking lessons every week since 2010.  I took a 40 year piano hiatus. I am in software AI research.  My older son used to play piano and is now in the high school marching band and symphonic orchestra (percussion - marimba, xylophone, tympani, synthesizer, and other odd instruments like a Ford Mustang drum brake!).  My wife plays violin; she used to teach; I don't like playing with her...she is too smart.  She site reads like its no body's business and can also play by ear....drives me insane how fast she picks things up  (she is a physician).  Our younger son took 5 years of piano lessons; now he plays alto and tenor saxophone for middle school jazz band. He still plays piano everyday.  Wife and I don't push the kids to practice. They play because they like playing.

I don't consider myself an audiophile despite perhaps having a lot of equipment that might, at one time, have been audiophile grade equipment from ages back (Sota Saphire/ET2/Shelter 901, Wavestream Kinetics phono and line preamps, Moore Franklin - MFA 200C tube amps, the Siegfried Linkwtiz LX Mini speakers with the recent added woofers and the Linkwitz-Nelson pass crossover builds).  I don't A / B gear, recordings, cables, etc.  I "attempt" to listen to what "I" think sounds good to me, buy it, and that's that.  Never think about upgrades....maybe ever 10 years at best?  Look at my equipment list....

Our instruments and audio equipment are in our "music room".  The piano sits between the speakers, for example. There are music stands, Yamaha synth, saxes, violins, a large screen TV so we can watch youtube videos of people playing songs we want to play, a video camera so we can record ourselves and see how bad our timing is!  (BTW, it takes time to get over the cringe factor seeing and hearing yourself play - you think your playing pretty good (while your playing) and then you watch and hear yourself - yikes!)

Our audio equipment helps us play our instruments better. We listen to the songs, stop and play our instruments (if the song is the same as what we are playing).  We listen not for "air", depth, staging, speed, accuracy, bloom....words that characterize audiophile equipment.  On the contrary, we are listening for timing, added notes / passing notes, variations of how notes or chords are played (legato vs stoccato), and well then there is Bach in his own universe or Monk in his own universe,  dynamics (piano piano, forte forte) - crescendo / de-crescendo, etc.   This is not a better or worse....but just different reason why we use this equipment.  

My uncle was university professor in music and played in jazz bands / night clubs. He passed away from lung cancer (second hand smoke).  He did the same thing - had pretty nice audio gear but it served to help him be a better guitar player; I picked up his habits.

So when I listen to music systems....I am listening for a different reason. I think many of my musician friends do the same and care less about the audio equipment....and this answers some of the questions why musicians don't necessarily spend a lot on audio gear.  Notice a lot of musicians will just use their smartphone...and that's that; listening for a completely different reason; not better or worse...just different. 

I attribute buying tube gear, for example, because I am also an old ham radio operator who previously used tube gear; the tube gear is a visual time machine back to a different time in my life.  If I were to get some "new to me" used gear, I would probably buy Pass Labs gear.  (And that may happen as I find another amp to tri-amp the LX Mini + woofer. I only added the woofers to the LX Mini because i think the two lowest octaves on the piano don't sound so good with just the LX Mini...otherwise I would have skipped the woofer option)

So for me playing music is the first priority and audio equipment is just that, equipment, to help our family become better amateur players.

I was speaking with Donna at Sota recently -  I turned in my Sota to have upgrades done.  I purchased the Sota back in 1985 new.  We had a very nice conversation about our family playing instruments and where the Sota Saphire sits in the music room.  She laughed and said she would really enjoy seeing that.  Brian Hartsell from the Analog Room / co designer of the Wavestream Kinetics gear, said the same as Donna.  His shop was 4 miles from my house.

To the original poster's comment, yes,  I think playing an instrument makes you more appreciative of the audiophile hobby.  But I think what really happens is that if you really take up an instrument and practice regularly, the audio equipment serves a different purpose - not better or worse, just different.  My two cents.

-stu

stu -- As both a crazed audiophile and a crazed amateur musician I agree with a lot of what you say, but the bottom line for me is that the two passions largely remain separate pastimes despite the fact they allow me to worship at the same altar -- music.   Sure, the two pastimes do indeed interact on certain practical levels.  Music I relentlessly listen to on my stereo has indeed led me to buy a new instrument or attempt to play in a new style.  But I also graciously accept the fact that I'll never out-Clapton Clapton or out-Horowitz Vladimir Horowitz.