Simply difficult

Instruments which are reputed to be difficult, such as the fiddle, are taken up by relatively few people. Other instruments with a similar reputation for difficulty and with the added hurdle of high cost, such as the concertina, are even more self-selective.

And because it takes a lot of time and application to reach even modest competence on such instruments, they are not usually played in public until the player has gained a reasonably deserved degree of confidence.

There are exceptions, of course, and we've all heard the excruciating scrapings of people torturing both violin and audience. But on the whole players of instruments renowned for being 'difficult' are usually dedicated people who have the judgement not to over-stretch themselves in public.

But there are other instruments which are cheap and have an appearance of simplicity. So they are easy to obtain and tempting to try without any real commitment or serious self-assessment of talent. Consequently a great many people do just that and launch themselves onto the scene of open folk sessions, folk club floor-spots and even in bands doing pub bookings on the Irish bandwagon.

The bodhran and the tin whistle are two prime examples. In the right hands these are thrilling and delightfully expressive instruments. In the wrong hands they're a pain in the arse, or at least the ears (apt anagram?), and are responsible for the ruin of many a folk occasion.

The mistake is the assumption that these are easy instruments to play. OK, they are relatively easy to start on - so people with a natural aptitude for them can make fairly rapid progress in the very early stages.

But this should serve only as an encouragement to commit more time and effort in the hope of progressing to competent, intermediate and more advanced playing. Alas, too many people take that encouraging early start as an invitation to thrust themselves on the folk music scene long before they are ready.

And there's worse. Many people who have a go on these deceptively simple-looking instruments are incapable of recognising it when their early efforts clearly indicate that they're never going to master them. They just can't shake off the belief that "this is an easy instrument so I must be able to play it, at least adequately, mustn't I?"

The fact is there is no such thing as an easy instrument. Sure, some are easier to begin on than others, and some make a more pleasant sound initially, but all instruments are hard to play well. They take time and a lot of application - and that's after establishing that the beginner has a reasonable amount of natural flair for the instrument in question.

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