do you play any musical instruments? what do you play?

       many of you who have read this blog in the past know that i play a few instruments. the whole "mercurialmusic" screen name thing might also be a clue, but you never know. anyway, i'll admit that in a way i'm whoring myself out with this post because i'm trying to increase my post count for the reason that that tiny little "true" badge would look damn good next to my name. anyway, on with the answer: yes, i play musical instruments. i've had formal training with the piano on and off since i was around five years old, with teachers ranging from my grandmother to a semiprofessional teacher during high school to performance courses during my freshman year in college for work toward my music minor. whilst i was still in high school, my little brother was coerced by my parents to learn an instrument; he chose the guitar. when he began to give up after a handful of lessons i happily relieved him of his musical burden and proceeded (extremely slowly) to learn on my own. being busy and having sensitive fingertips i also postponed my guitar study until a year ago when my parents purchased a beautiful new fender acoustic/electric for my christmas present. progress has remained slow, but the fingertips are no longer a problem because i have wicked callouses from picking up the violin during my freshman year in college (and let me tell you, violin strings are much worse). i'd always wanted to learn violin and a girl in my dorm (who played violin) had always wanted to learn piano, so we exchanged lessons. that didn't go very far (i've since taught others with varying success), but during my sophomore year (now at a different college) i purchased a violin (the loan on which was greater than the loan on my car ) and completed two semesters of study at the music/arts institute of independence under marc abelson, a violinist for both the trans-siberian orchestra and (def leppard? i'll have to check this, but i'm too tired now to remember which band it was -- for some reason pink floyd also comes to mind). during my junior year in college i received some lessons on the drums (didn't take too well to the set but i was killer on the practice pad ) from a former university of missouri drum major. less traditionally considered an instrument, but my most favorite of all of them, is voice. i'd always been in choirs throughout school and even sang in the church choir (with a few solos, i might add), but i finally worked up the nerve to ask for formal training during high school. i began under a qualified teacher at the school, but he didn't quite understand my voice (once upon a time i had a three octave range -- my keyboard has five) so i was referred to dr. ican'trememberhisname at william jewell college (fine arts college in the kansas city area), and at $60 a pop his lessons were well worth it. i've sung in six different languages (that i can think of), but my favorite song that i did for him (and the best, in my opinion) was "music of the night." no, tasty, i won't sing it for you. from there i received a full-ride scholarship for voice and academics to columbia college (you're thinking of columbia university), a private school about 4 blocks away from where i'm sitting now. and in my rambling and much-too-long way, i believe i've just answered that question.   

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