Hi!

Just interestd to know what instrument people find hardest to learn/play?!
If ive missed any feel free to add a reply!!!!!


Nat

Oboe and French horn are regarded as the most difficult.

QUOTE

Just interestd to know what instrument people find hardest to learn/play?!

Possibly the organ - you have to read from three staves ??

Maggie

I'd have to say, although I voted piano, I feel that any of the brass instruments must be incredibly difficult to play. Also stringed instruments seem quite difficult to play! I play piano and clarinet and have recently taken up guitar and in comparison with the guitar the clarinet seems very easy!!

I would imagine harp comes somewhere near the top... and the organ has got to be harder than the piano with all those pedals....!

What about the organ - 3 staves, at least 2 manuals, playing with your feet, all those stops etc. Although I don't play it sounds pretty difficult.

I voted violin but I think piano would be hard, too, because you have to play it using both hands!!!! I tried it in music class and I found it really confusing! I can only play easy songs on the piano like When The Saints Go Marching In or The Entertainer (without the backing).

Replying to Tenorclef:

Since when was the oboe regarded as difficult? I thought that it was among the easier woodwind instruments because there's no problem with running out of breath (rather the opposite) and, unlike the clarinet, the fingering is the same in each octave. Please correct me if I'm wrong because I don't actually play a wind instrument but someone I know who does says that if you are already good at music you can get to grade 8 standard in a couple of years. Is that right? Oh, and I'm sorry if I've offended any oboeists whose intrument I have just disparaged.

while you may not have to worry about fingering problems with the oboe, everything else is difficult! have you ever tried to get a noise out of an oboe that doesn't sound like a strangled duck! Tenorclef is right- whether it's strictly true or not, the oboe and the french horn have always been regarded as the most difficult orchestral instruments to play.

I agree with you hornygirl, the oboe is hard, but so beautiful and so rewarding....

QUOTE

although I voted piano, I feel that any of the brass instruments must be incredibly difficult to play

I play both and i definatly find Piano the more difficult of the two to play.

hi.louise here. i think it depends entirely on the person. i have an oboist friend who plays really well and finds it easy, but my cheek muscles just explode trying to get a note out of it and its the same for her on my clarinet! i also always fancied playing the guitar but find it really hard whenever i have a go.

I play Clarinet sax and violin and am learning the double bass. But I'm not really sure which I would say was the hardest but I reckon the violin is the hardest. Even though when I had to play the bass drum at orchestra and got totally lost in in the hall of the mountain king - it was really hard!!!!!!!!!! Well we all have our own opinions don't we!!!!!
Bye Bye
Dizzzzzzzzy!!!!!!

A lot of people say the oboe but I play it and don't think its that hard compared to some instruments especially brass, and thats probably why there arn't many oboeists because one person says its hard and then everybody believes them and gos for the clarinet or flute instead!

I play the piano and oboe . Out of the two the oboe is the hardest to play. In general it is regarded as one of the most difficult instruments to play apart from the french horn. At early grades you do sound like a duck but it is really about grade 6 and above until you start to make a decent sound.

Breathing control is probably what makes the oboe hard to play and trying to blow through a double reed with a small opening with a steady airflow is hard to start with especially for beginners.

It is very rewarding when you get to grade 8 level thats when you can start to sound really good. I find that playing the oboe you have to imagine you are singing.

I voted piano ages ago but I have SO changed my mind. I've recently started to learn the harp and it kills your fingers if you play for more than 1/2 and hr... well it does for me! Does anyone else on here play harp?

xx L xx

French horn is diffelicaut!!! i play french horn (pretty obvious bi mi name)
i have loads of turoble with pitchen. i think its bcause if the tubeing. I ONLY HAVE A SINGLE HORN (3 vavles and quiet small) IM GONNA HAVE TONNES OF TROBLE WHEN I GET A DUBBLE HORN! (4 vavles and about twice the size of a single)

i did vote horn but i think piano is hard as you use 2 habds. ive tried but i cant! :blink:

Bassoon can be quite hard especially with the top octaves! Also you need a lot of puff. Also it is VERY heavy.

the breton bombard is hard. (it is like an oboe)

But i voted piano because it is one instrument that i stuggle on.



Ceri

I find the violin quite difficult, even though I play the viola and find it easy, its something thats different between the viola and violin that makes it difficult.

QUOTE (hgirl @ Mar 24 2004, 11:14 AM)

Tenorclef is right- whether it's strictly true or not, the oboe and the french horn have always been regarded as the most difficult orchestral instruments to play.

Yes, i would agree with this. i dont play the horn, but my mum does and there are soooo many different notes you can get with one valve down, it is very difficult to hit the right one! the oboe is vey difficult to.

evrything is difficult for whoever finds it difficult!
i find grade 8 recorder relatively easy, flute a bit harder and and im teaching myself piano which is quite hard but really fun

Definitely piano is not the most difficult instrument for us to learn.
Personally, I am learning some Chinese instruments that are far more difficult. About the wind instrument I am learning, for every note, you need to adjust your lips and the force you exert very accurately. Once they are not steady enough, the note easily rises or falls.
However, because of this reason, this instrument is really a very virtuoso instrument.

i play both the organ and piano...i also sing.... after all i've achieved my grade 8s un piano and singing... there's still a lot of difficult stuff lying in front of me...

i think i will achieve grade 8 for organ in 2 years time....tough...hardest instrument at all times..

QUOTE (leasalonga @ Mar 25 2004, 08:14 PM)

I've recently started to learn the harp and it kills your fingers if you play for more than 1/2 and hr... well it does for me! Does anyone else on here play harp?

I play harp!! I have played for 5 years and your fingers will get much tougher the more you practice! I think harp is definintly one of the harder ones!

I think piano is the hardies i also gituar but piano is hardest althought i have played it for sum while i have struggled a bit for most things so i fink it is rly hard.

Some songs i find easy but after a while its all hard n looks impossible for me to do n all..

ive tried to play the oboe but i can't even get a sound out of it!!

I personally feel that the oboe is the hardest instrument to play, as it needs a lot of strength and stamina etc. But the piano is also hard because you have to read two lines and co-ordinate your hands. I also feel that although many people don't recognise it percussion is a lot harder than it looks because it isn't just hitting something there is a lot of technique required to play well.

If you think that oboe is the hardest instrument to play, then I think that the instrument I play, nicknamed 'Chinese oboe' is more difficult to play.
I agree that percussion sometimes can be difficult, e.g. in Ravel's Bolero, the snare drum player needs to play a fixed rhythm for a long long time. It needs a lot of effort!

the organ does sound hard to play, however as it wasnt on there i voted violn, you have to think about two things at once, witht hew pressing down the right strings and using the bow as well, the same goes for the guitar however i feel any instrument looks very difficult to those who have never played it before. to an expert organ player, playing the french horn might seem difficult and playing the piano very easy. however to someone who pays the trumpet, the horn might seem easy and the piano way too complicated!

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Mar 4 2004, 04:30 PM)

If ive missed any feel free to add a reply!!!!!

you missed the harp! although not many people play it. I play the piano, cello and harp, and I find the harp the hardest, but that's proberly because I haven't been playing consistently since I started. I'm playing it alot at the moment though and really enjoying it so yey!

hey
i think that the hardest instruments to play are hard for two reasons; pitching (horn and brass), and then co ordination (organ - pedals AND stop changes without pistons!)

i play both along with piano and theory, but i still find organ the most difficult, not only the co ordination of stop changes (for one of my exams i had to use my nose to push the 8" pedal stop in!) but the reading of three staves for pieces, but two staves for hymns (you have to split the two part bass clef part into left hand and feet), and the whole "no touch sensivity" and articulation differs so much from one organ to another, plus some organs have up to a whole ONE SECOND delay on pressing the pedals down and then the note sounding, which can drive you crazy cos your feet have to "think ahead" of your hands!

hopes this adds a bit of organ knowledge to the discussion!

hornplayer xx

I play the piano, viola, bass and Bb clarinet and I think none of them are all too difficult once you learn it!

QUOTE (leasalonga @ Mar 25 2004, 08:14 PM)

I voted piano ages ago but I have SO changed my mind. I've recently started to learn the harp and it kills your fingers if you play for more than 1/2 and hr... well it does for me! Does anyone else on here play harp? xx L xx

heya I play the harp too! It really does kill your fingers doesn't it, and I have to cut my nails almost every week. How old are you and what type of harp do you play? I'm having to teach myself now so it's going at bit iffy at the moment.

organ is really confusing, i couldn't play it i don't think,and oboe takes mucho stamina, its sooo much harder than clarinet!

i was told on saturday by a teacher at a music school consert i was playing in (ill shut up about my llife now) that french horn is offically THE most diffluclt insterment in the orchrestra!

Hi there!
Anyone thought of Basoon? Or even Conta-Basson? Though I have only tried playing double reeded instruments a little, I have heard that they are rather difficult. They are however, (in my opinion) some of the most interesting instruments.

(Note, piano and violin are not that difficult, they just take practice, like everything else )


Maestro

my friend plays basson, she said its not that hard just the fingering and it HEAVY so she done her grade 1 without the top part on