Siblings Who Play Instruments

Have you ever lived in a family with multiple people who play instruments? If you haven't, let me tell you right now, you're really missing out. On a lot of fun AND a lot of headaches!

With 5 siblings who play instruments - 1 pianist, 2 violinists, & 2 guitarists - and practice daily, I've listened to my share of musical cacophonies. It seems that no matter what we do, two or three people always end up practicing at exactly the same time. That's why my family owns about 4 orchestral music stands and 2 folding ones.

We used to make up a schedule of practice times but it never worked. Inevitably something would come up that would prevent one person from playing at their scheduled time, forcing them to practice at the same time as another sibling. It was worse when the violinists were just starting out.

Talk about fingernails on a chalkboard! I think there must be no worse sound than that of a beginning violinist, beginning to practice. Not only is every note out of tune, each one screeches. And how many times can a person listen to variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" without going insane? I think I might have reached that number.

And then there was the time when my older sister - the pianist - was learning her audition pieces for college. Her teacher at the time had the wonderful idea that she should play Bartok. I think Bartok could easily win the prize for ugliest piano compositions ever. Anyways, she had to practice 3+ hours a day and on one particular day she was having trouble with a 3-measure passage of Bartok and played it over and over and over and over and over and over again. It was torture!

But then there are the fun times too. Like playing our instruments at our neighbors, who respond by blasting on their trombone. Or having rythm contests on family roadtrips, trying to guess the meter of whatever song we're listening to. Or just playing all at once and trying to be the loudest. And, of course, purposely singing off-key at the top of our lungs!