5 is...

This one's tough, because actually playing the harmonica takes real skill. But toy harmonicas seem like a common thing, a step or two above kazoos, which have to be a 1 here.

Separating my musical background from this (you ****ing clowns have no idea how skilled you have to be to play cymbals, triangle, and gongs well - and xylophone making the list is objectively wrong), this has a good chance of being lower.

I can't imagine Ervin ranking this in the high single digits. So lower feels right to me.

One of the most difficult orchestral excerpts, which makes virtually every audition list, is the xylophone part from the overture of Porgy and Bess. I don't expect non-musicians to know that, but come on. Give what's basically a piano that you strike with mallets instead of fingers some credit ffs.

In post-game, I'm going to need to know more about how difficult playing the triangle and gong are.

No need to wait for post-game imo. As with most classical percussion instruments, it's about technique. You taking a mallet and hitting a gong would create a very different sound than the principal percussionist of the Vienna Philharmonic doing the same. With a gong (or tam tam, which is what most people think of when they think gong), you have to prep it before striking, so it's already vibrating before you play your note. You also have to know where to strike it to get the proper sound. Smashing it in the very center will create a pretty terrible result.

When played well, a triangle creates a multitude of timbres, dependent on where you strike, what you use to strike, what your non-striking hand is doing (muting for precise articulation, muffling to deaden the shimmer, etc.). It's not all "dinner's ready" on the farm.

A proper cymbal crash is super tough. Do it wrong, and you create a pocket of air between the cymbals that is incredibly unpleasant (and embarrassing). There are also tons of excerpts out there that require a ridiculous amount of control and precision to get the desired sound. Even if we're talking a crash cymbal at a drum set, there's more to it than just slamming it with a stick.

There's a reason why these instruments are staples of the great orchestral masterpieces, and why do many auditions require excerpts displaying mastery of them. It ain't because they're easy.

All that to say, I understand that isn't the exercise here. I was more reacting to the xylophone comment, which still has me fired up.

Of course, the category isn't easy/hard instrument to play well, which is why I can forgive those suggestions. But not xylophone. That cut me deep.

If it's an instrument they give to babies.... lol

what about cowbell

Feel like you're at max 2 more snarky comments before IBD drives to Vegas and smashes you in the nuts with a xylophone mallet.

And you would say a baby banging on a toy version of an instrument means that the instrument is easy to play? I had a composition professor who wrote a piece for "cello and prepared chicken," where the instructions were to spread dried corn into the inside of a piano and have the chicken play the piano part by pecking at the corn. Who knew piano was so easy? A ****ing chicken can play it!

IBD couldn't stay mad at me once he got here <3

I got ponied! Or chickened, as it were.

Appreciate the insight.

Still on lower

I'm on board with lower. Any instrument that doesn't require hands to play has to be on the low end of the spectrum.

lower

It was...

But now for the post game cause I was itching to comment the whole game

I interpreted this scale as how easy is it to get a decent sound out of the instrument/play a song or something convincingly to where your friend/family may believe you play this thing OK.

So with that, Triangle woulda been my meme 1(yes takes skill to get the absolute best sound but 90% of people can't tell the difference and you just ding something), something like Bongo Drums 2(again plenty of rhythmic complexity and skill but a novice could just pick up a set and do a decent background at poetry night or whatever). Went harmonica for 4 as even a kid can blow into it and get an OK sound - could learn a tune or have friends convinced that it's "decent harmonica playing". Once again obviously pro musicians can do wild stuff on the harmonica and it's very very difficult but I was going off 'how difficult is it to play a tune/not get a total ass sound'.

I wasn't gonna mess with cymbals or snare drums as those can be interpreted all over, but then xylophone was mentioned...and I had a very similar reaction to IBD. Have any of you ever tried to PLAY A SONG ON THE XYLOPHONE??? I woulda clued piano for 11(as it's quite easy to press a key and make a sound, but proper playing and multihand coordination is difficult) - the xylophone is waaaaaay harder to play a tune on. You can teach something easy like Silent Night on piano pretty quick, do you know how difficult it is to coordinatingly hit 2 mallets precisely in various spots? Yea a toddler can make some ding ding noises but this thing is tough! Put some respect on the xylophone!!!

I grew up playing the sax so woulda put that probably at 13 or so, brass instruments like trumpet and trombone above that, then lastly string stuff like viola, violin(20) and my 21 woulda been the theremin.

Anyway good guessing by all, just a PSA to not go accepting bets that you're about to jam out jingle bells on a marimba

Good man, Ervin

Watch the first 45 seconds - with a special appearance by the triangle!

Looks tricky...but it's no harmonica

Beeeeeeess youuu is my woooman noooow

Xylophone part from Porgy and Bess looks legit.

IBD, do you have a clip of the chicken+piano piece?

I wish. I’m not sure it was ever even performed. “Prepared chicken” is a nod to prepared piano, something John Cage pioneered, which meant altering the inside of a piano with various things (nuts, screws, forks, whatever) to create different sounds when played.

The instructions called for playing recordings of Beethoven piano sonatas for 24 hours in the same room as the chicken so, once the chicken was set loose in the piano, it would clearly be drawing inspiration from Beethoven.

Modern composers are weird.

Did this professor do drugs by any chance?

Distinct possibility!

Decided to look at some theremin stuff. Just look at this madness - you arbitrarily put your fingers in some random space in the middle of nowhere - at least with a violin you have strings so you know it's somewhere along there, this is just wild