Do you ever think about why you are compelled to learn and play an instrument?

(Maybe it’s best not to question your motives and just do it )

But what do you think? Do you agree or disagree with any of the following assertions about why someone may want to learn to play an instrument?

Do you think any of them apply to you?

- They just love music and want to do it too!
- They want to make money by playing music.
- They want to have fun and believe that playing music is fun.
- They want to be popular.
- They have a need to validate themselves through music.
- They enjoy the social connections.
- They believe that playing music makes you smarter.
- They believe that playing music is a prestigious endeavor.
- They believe that it keeps your brain active and prevents aging.
- They believe that creating and promoting their band is a challenging and rewarding experience.
- They enjoy learning.

Can you come up with any additional reasons?

Merci,

--BN

For some, it exists as a family legacy and is an intrinsic and genetic motivation. Also, some musicians are creative in other endeavors in their life, and music is another creative vehicle for expression. Another reason is environmental. If you live in an area in which a proliferation of music exists as a part -- or way of life -- practically everyone is influenced to be a musician. And lastly, for some, it's a need to contribute to cultural preservation.

For the money!

Big, for me it was a combination of reasons.
I love to listen to the cajun accordion music and wanted to learn to play it.
I also felt for me it keeps my brain active because it's a challenge to learn and it gives a sence of accomplishment when your able to learn to play a song regardless of wether you become a great player.We all want to get better at it as time goes on.

My mum always said once we came across one of these contraptions, when i was 3 years old, she couldn't even drag me away by my ears ... :


Nout

... to impress the ladies maybe ?
I'm too old for that - no hope, I'm afraid - and all the better ...

But maybe also: because they are all over my place: two fiddles, a 5 string banjo (my darling at the moment) , a mandolin, half a dozen gittars, a dozen piano-accordions, one Cajun accordion, two 2row Castagnaris, one Hohner 114, an English concertina, and I must have forgotten something, seen my above mentioned old age. I play (almost) all of them because it's such a shame NOT to play em! And that's why I'll never be REALLY good on any of them. But it's just such fun! That must be the main reason.

And, for the rest: for all the reasons you mentioned.

Because it beats working for a living?

Having grown up in a Croatian-American community, I have always had an appreciation for traditional music, but never motivated enough to put out the energy to play an instrument, even though I always thought I'd like to play something. I bought my first Cajun album in the early sixties and loved to listen and dance to the music during many visits to SWLA.

About a year-and-a-half ago my wife and I were at a club near Lafayette and a band was playing traditional Cajun music. Then, I swear, the instrument chose me. All of a sudden the magic happened. I turned to Susan and said, "I could play that", meaning the accordion. She just rolled her eyes, again....

So what was that all about? I think it filled a long-standing void in my life. The little box made me want to pick it up and learn to play it, despite the fact that I was well up in my 60's. It has a magical allure all its own.

I've stayed with it because of the attachment to the instrument and the rewards it's provided, to include an outlet for musical self-expression. And besides, it's just plain fun!

Nice story, John.

people kept asking 'why is there no zydeco band in atlanta?'
i would have played bass but no one i knew, wanted to play the accordion so it sounded right
so i learned
i didn;t want to
i;d rather have played bass
i already played bass
i like bass
i like accordion too now
but still
just saying

wle

johnny cash is alleged to have said:

anyone who plays guitar, and says it isn;t for the p***y, is lying!

:)

wle

Like I said!

another common reason:

their kids left home so now they need some kind of hobby

wle

I have been singing Cajun music since I was in my early teens. I love the music. I bought my first accordian in 1982. I tried to find somebody to teach me to play and I got the same response from everybody I asked "you can't teach that you have to have it in you head." I moved to the Pacific Northwest for 18 years, when I came back to Louisina things had changed dramatically. There were jam sessions and musicians were giving lessons and then there was Balfa. So, I started to take lesson just to play at home and maybe at some jams. Then I needed to learn to sing better, started taking voice and piano lessons. Still just because I loved the music and wanted to be more involved. Now I have a little group we call a band and the name is Les Deux Familles. Starting to make a little money and all the while having a great time. My mother told me last week after playing for her at her house that she never thought I would learn to sing and play french music. I told I didn't either.

Love the sound, love the people surrounded by it, and love the challenge to be able to play like the old timers. Would never consider making money at it just presents so much fun to be able to make a wooden box sound so nice I do it just for my entertainment but dont mind showing off to others

Yeah.as Ganey said..it's the fabulous money you can make....!!!...I suspect Ganey and I don't need to open a secret Swiss bank account yet but, hey..ya never know. LOL.


For me..I 'd always been in and out of music over he years with gittar based stuff, but at a Breaux Bridge Festival many years ago I got up close to stage looking at people like Zydeco Joe, Chris Ardoin,Steve Riley, ..even a young Hunter Hayes...and I thought..hey, it can't be that difficult..that young Hayes kid doesn't seem to have any problems with playing a Cajun box...I'm gonna get me one of those accordions and have a go.

Now been playing regularly in a band for 5 years or more and put out a half decent CD.

Then of course there's the GREAT people you meet while going down that learning road...lifetime friendships...now perhaps that's what it's all about really..the instrument is just a vehicle to carry you down that road.

For me, my family has always been in music, my dad played guitar, my oldest brother sang in a band, little brother learned guitar and I started playing bass as a teen. I have fond memories when my dad would go to family houses to play the old music. I got interested in Louisiana music late in my life,late 40's. My oldest brother meet a Cajun in Arkansas, they found out they lived in the same neighborhood in Arkansas and became good friends. In a few years my brother friend moved back to Kinder,LA. My brother always made several trip to Louisiana, one time he ask me to go and I did. The first night we went to DI's, the very first time I heard live Cajun music and I fell in love with it. A couple years later I bought my first accordion. Accordion was an instrument you can make music with and that was new to me, I still love playing bass, but I like squeezing that box! I play mostly for enjoyment, I play with a small community band, and I do get the opportunity to play a few songs on my box for them, a lot of folks in Arkansas loves to hear Cajun music, we do have a handful of Arkansas folks that plays the Cajun accordion, at least 6 of them that I know. But the best part of being a Cajun accordion player is the new friends I have made from all over the world through a little box.

I thought Nick was looking for bullet points for a DVD box set and not personal accounts.

A'ight den... For me, I got caught up with some musicians after deejaying this Louisiana stuff on the FM airwaves for a few years back in '92. That's when I started drinking heavily and cooking chicken gumbo. I noticed that these musicians would linger around, bust out their instruments, and play zydeco when this happened. I thought it looked like fun so I found an accordion and spent 2 years in a bathroom learning riffs and chords while starting bands. I then started writing songs and firing musicians (upgrading) and found myself in a recording studio. I like a lot of C/Z artists but am not directly influenced by any one in particular. Travis Matte is about as close of an influence I have, I don't think I sound like him at all, but had I not met him and become mutual friends, I might be doing something different musically -- He inspired me to start my current band back in '05. After 4 CDs and people mispronouncing my name, I decided I didn't need to conform to any protocols and played the way I wanted to, when I wanted, and what I wanted. I don't have a tradition to keep alive, my family doesn't play music, and I don't have any cultural affiliation other than I create sound to keep my soul satisfied. Seems to make others happy, so after a hard day's thankless work at the grind, it's nice to play rockstar and have folks want to shake my hand. Beats playing in the bathroom and spinning CDs. Snap!

After giving this more thought, the reason most folks play an instrument and call themselves "a musician" is because of ego -- Ego merged with an object of desire. A musical instrument is more affordable than a Hummer or Lamborghini and can possess the same status and prowess (OMG!, a Martin, Acadian, or Falcon!) IF faith, ambition and talent can back it. Having the personal competence and motivation to coax the instrument to express your unspoken language is the key to unlock your psyche and converse it to ears that envy it. Snap! Read it again... and repeat.

HA !..I keep thinking about the book I'm reading right now...called " Life "...the autobiographical story of Keith Richards..ya know.. Rolling Stones 'n all that.

Man..it's really good read...

So..what bought KR to music and playing..

....basically, Keith couldn't much do anything else properly ..and we all know what happened when he found his niche..

Yes ..there were a few 'transgressions' along the way..but...it's interesting that at the height of the Stones early popularity Keith discovered Open Tuning and use 5 only strings for his guitar ...GDGBD..remove the bottom E string and away you go.
A huge number of the Stones recordings are played with KR on that tuning.

Anyway..I digress...yep, by his own admission..the thing that brought Keith to music was the fact that he was pretty hopeless at everything else....I'm sure that doesn't apply to any of us Braves !!

Darryl.

Is in that biography too that he kind of stole that open tuning thing from Ry Cooder, without ever giving credits ??
If so, it's a good book.

Yeah..he confessed that ( and a whole lotta other stuff..VERY revealing )....he says " Ry Cooder was the first cat I actually saw play the open G...I have to say I tip my hat to Ry ".

...he also declares open tuning stuff that Don Everly of the Everly Bros. showed him..also Muddy Waters...think he mentions Gram Parsons also...

No probs with that...just goes to show that there's more than one way to make a squillion bucks !!

Not sure anyone taught him to use 5 string open though..think that was his idea.

Speaking of variations..is there such a thing as a minor key Cajun Accordion..eg Am?? ..I have an Am Blues Harp and it's GREAT !!( oops,,should start a new thread i guess ).

ry cooder is great but he didn;t invent open tunings for guitar

as far as 'minor key accordion' - sure if you have $2000 for something you will play 2-3 songs on, go ahead, someone could surely build it

harmonicas are cheaper though

wle

Man, BN, that was a great idea for a topic!
I love all these stories.

- They just love music and want to do it too!
Yes
- They want to make money by playing music.
Worth trying it
- They want to have fun and believe that playing music is fun.
Yes
- They want to be popular.
That will never happen
- They have a need to validate themselves through music.
No way.
- They enjoy the social connections.
Yes
- They believe that playing music makes you smarter.
Smarter than I am now is impossible
- They believe that playing music is a prestigious endeavor.
No
- They believe that it keeps your brain active and prevents aging.
I'm lazy and i hate activities
- They believe that creating and promoting their band is a challenging and rewarding experience.
Hope to let more people know Cajun music
- They enjoy learning.
Yes

The pleasure is the most important thing in making music.

I remember reading some where that Ray Charles said you can learn to play music at any age. I play accordion because I love the sound and I'm hoping that learning new tunes will keep my brain synapses firing. The accordion is alive, it breathes. It makes me happy.

"The accordion is alive, it breathes. It makes me happy."

+1