How Long Does it Take..[Instrument related]

Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:10 pm

How long would it take a person to learn a band instrument well enough to play in [none other than..] an average High School band? I've decided that my strings class is a waste of time and want to switch to band next year. My concern is if I could learn the basics of the instrument over the summer, given a qualified teacher and an instrument.

I'd prefer to play either the bassoon or oboe. I've never played a double reed instrument before, but I can spot a F# half-diminished seventh on three clefs (restatement: I can read music) and have a fairly good ear.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:40 pm

I'd have thought it depends how determined they are to learn to play and how much practice they put in to learning.

Sat Feb 19, 2005 11:17 pm

You're obviously a musician, it'll just take you a while (depending on how long you practice) to get a physical sense of your instrument.

Sun Feb 20, 2005 9:58 am

Couple of months to play to a standard where you could play a part in band.

I mean, I'm assuming there are different abilities parts..

Sun Feb 20, 2005 10:42 pm

If you started practising now and practised a lot, you'd be well good enough by september. oboe and basson you have to be real good at since they're quite rare and there's a good chance you'll be the only one in the band

Wed Feb 23, 2005 2:59 am

matchbow wrote:If you started practising now and practised a lot, you'd be well good enough by september. oboe and basson you have to be real good at since they're quite rare and there's a good chance you'll be the only one in the band

There's only one oboe player and two bassoons in the Band of my Grade... anyways, I play the baritone, and I started playing it about two months ago. Now, even though my tone's not that good yet, I've gotten breathing and tongueing and can play C Major Concert Scale and keep up with the rest of the band.

My band teacher gave me private lessons, and he says that I've been greatly improving in only two months. However, I had to keep it at school because it was so big and hard to carry and I have to take a bus, I missed two weeks of practicing during Christmas holidays (vacation

), so you could probably do better if you play something small. However, if you want, you can play the baritone/euphonium like me.

There are only 3 in my band. Oh, and my band teacher said that I managed to join in the middle of the year *ahem* is because I have a piano background. Since your ear is pretty good, and you can read music, I think that'd be pretty good. I'm in Level 9 Piano.

Wed Feb 23, 2005 3:37 am

Well, obviously you have a jump start since you already play an instrument and have gotten past all the basics, like music reading, tuning, etc. I was able to play my flute competently after maybe 6 months, and now I've been playing for maybe six years. It all depends on how committed you are, some people take longer because they don't practice as much or maybe it's the wrong instrument for them.

(I originally wanted to play the oboe, but on the day we went to try different instruments, the guy helping there told me I had "flute lips".

So I went with that and it was a whole lot easier to progress.)

Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:52 pm

I'd say a few months, maybe more if you want to be really good...It took me a few years to learn to play flute competently, but I started when I was 7 and had teensy, wimp lungs, so that probably had something to do with it x)

Of course, if you want to play in my school band, 5 minutes is probably all you need...