Archive for November 11th, 2007

Music personality

Posted on November 11, 2007. Filed under: Music, Spirituality |

Serendipity strikes again. Yesterday’s post was about responding to a meme in which I was to name seven weird or random facts about myself. One of those was the following: “I play several musical instruments, but none of them would be welcome in a standard orchestra or band.” A couple of my generous responders wanted to know what musical instruments they could be?

I was already planning to put up a “light” post for a Sunday, regarding one of those online quizzes many of us take. This quiz is called “What Musical Instrument Should You Play?” Although this is still “post light”, the results of the quiz astounded me for reasons which shall become clear if you care to read further. First, the instruments, in the order I learned them:

Recorder This is a medieval-to-Baroque instrument still very popular today. While used in small chamber groups, it is not used in the modern orchestra.

Bagpipes, specifically The Great Highland Bagpipe. I learned this when very young as part of my multicultural upbringing.

Ocarina Popular in South America, there are versions of this instrument in cultures throughout the world, and it predates written history.

Native American Flute Became interested in this after making my home in the desert of the Southwest of the U.S.

And, finally, my first string instrument since the guitar, the Lyre. I’m in the process of acquiring one of these. The one in the picture is known as “King David’s Lyre”, but variations on this kind of harp go back to ancient Egyptian and Sumerian times. It was popular in ancient Greece, and became associated with Euterpe and Eratō, the muses of the lyre and lyric poetry. Since my blog persona is a Muse, I chose a lyre as my avatar (the symbol or picture that goes with me when I leave comments on blogs). The more I researched the nine Greek muses, and the Celtic Harp, and other kinds of harps, the more I wanted to play the lyre myself.

Then, a few days ago, I came across the quiz. “What’s your instrument?” –Of course I had to take it! I declare I gave honest answers. Imagine my goosebumps when I got these results:
You Should Play the Harp

You are a sensitive soul, with a great admiration for beauty.
You definitely have what it takes to make beautiful music, but most instruments are too harsh for you.

You are subtle, shy, and even a bit spoiled. You’re very picky about most aspects of your life.
It’s just your style to play an eccentric, hard to transport instrument like the harp that few people consider.

Overall, you have the relaxed demeanor of a leisurely upper class person, and your music would reflect that.
Your calm yet soulful harp playing would be sure to help people forget their troubles for a while.

Your dominant personality characteristic: your zen-ness

Your secondary personality characteristic: your quiet independence

What Musical Instrument Should You Play?