This excellent piece on the choosing a musical instrument was written by Carolyn Grant, the Executive Director of the Museum of Making Music.

Carolyn Grant

I’m totally down with Carolyn’s adept interpretation of the bond between musician and instrument. Taken from the Spring 2009 issue of InTune, the newsletter of the Museum of Making Music: 

Last week a young man interviewed me as part of a school project which required that he learn about the guitar. The discussion was moving along swimmingly until he asked, “Is it better to play acoustic or electric guitar?” I paused. While my interviewer may have thought I was simply taking some extra time to carefully express my choice of one instrument over another, in reality my mind was racing to digest/interpret/ define/situate one particular word… better. The choice of a musical instrument is deeply personal: when you play an instrument, you are in essence extending your own voice—the voice with which you were born. So, the concept of better really has no place unless you are asking yourself, “which one is better for me?” For anyone wanting—or needing—to express themselves through music, this is a key question. Some people intuitively know the answer before they can even walk or talk. Others may not solve the riddle until later in life, having spent many years enjoying the quest. So how did I answer the young man? It is better to play the instrument that intrigues you. It is better to play the instrument whose sound takes your breath away. It is better to play the instrument that fills you up until you believe you could fill the sky and beyond. That instrument is much, much better.