# Muscial instruments that annoy you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557 "2016-05-01T00:13:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/41 "2016-05-02T01:10:26Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > I think it was a [perfect fit for Good Vibrations](https://youtu.be/d8rd53WuojE?t=52s), and that was it. It was the only song appropriate for theremin music. If you want to be technical about it, that was a [tannerin](http://www.tompolk.com/Tannerin/Tannerin.html). ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/42 "2016-05-02T01:12:29Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > If you want to be technical about it, that was a [tannerin](http://www.tompolk.com/Tannerin/Tannerin.html). Crap. I usually find nitpickers annoying and tedious, but this is not a nit pick, this is a correction of a great piece of misinformation I have been carrying around for decades. I guess it’s like when I marvel at the tone of a Rhodes piano in a song for years and someone tells me it was a Wurlitzer. Thank you! ETA: Who needs _two_ different instruments with that kind of sound? Wasn’t one enough? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/43 "2016-05-02T01:15:10Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > There’s no such thing as a limited repertoire if people are still writing the music! It’s limited in the sense that there are many tunes that simply cannot be played on the pipes: if the tune has a range greater than an octave + 1, it normally cannot be played on the pipes. For instance, unlike many wind instruments, there’s no such thing as over-blowing, which is one of the ways to get around the limited note range of an instrument like the penny whistle or the recorder. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/44 "2016-05-02T01:17:16Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Crap. > > I usually find nitpickers annoying and tedious, but this is not a nit pick, this is a correction of a great piece of misinformation I have been carrying around for decades. > > Thank you! > > ETA: Who needs _two_ different instruments with that kind of sound? Wasn’t one enough? Well, if you want to be extra nitpicky, the tannerin is also known as an “electro-theramin” for whatever reason (is not the regular theramin “electro” enough?) So you could claim its a subset of theramins. But it is played in a significantly different manner, which is why I mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/45 "2016-05-02T01:22:55Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > It’s limited in the sense that there are many tunes that simply cannot be played on the pipes: if the tune has a range greater than an octave + 1, it normally cannot be played on the pipes. For instance, unlike many wind instruments, there’s no such thing as over-blowing, which is one of the ways to get around the limited note range of an instrument like the penny whistle or the recorder. Now I understand your username. I’m probably the last one to figure that out. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, if you want to be extra nitpicky, the tannerin is also known as an “electro-theramin” for whatever reason (is not the regular theramin “electro” enough?) So you could claim its a subset of theramins. But it is played in a significantly different manner, which is why I mentioned it. You’re my kind of guy—you provided the extra bit of information while still allowing me to save face by saying it is in the theremin family. But honestly, I had never seen the word tannerin until this evening. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/46 "2016-05-02T01:26:45Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Now I understand your username. I’m probably the last one to figure that out. I’ve had people think I’m calling myself after a piping plover before… ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/47 "2016-05-02T01:44:43Z")
Here’s a song that went to No 1 in South Australia in the early 70s featuring at least 2 recorders. The lead singer (who plays one of the recorders, and later in the same song, a bassoon) is some soft, hippy, beard-wearing, psychadelic, delicate little flower called Bon Scott. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZY2nl2CwLc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZY2nl2CwLc) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/48 "2016-05-02T02:38:34Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Now I understand your username. I’m probably the last one to figure that out.You’re my kind of guy—you provided the extra bit of information while still allowing me to save face by saying it is in the theremin family. But honestly, I had never seen the word tannerin until this evening. Actually, it seem that the term “tannerin” was only used for the reissue of the instrument in the late 90s. It would have been called the [electro-theramin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro-Theremin) at the time of the Beach Boys recording. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/49 "2016-05-02T02:48:20Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > ETA: Who needs _two_ different instruments with that kind of sound? Wasn’t one enough? And, speaking of, are you familiar with the [ondes martenot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0aflcF0-ys)? It came out at around the same time as the theramin (from what I can tell, both hit the scene around 1928) and with a similar sound. Looks and plays more like an electro-theramin/tannerin, too. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/50 "2016-05-02T02:55:47Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > That’s called the “strike-in” - as the bag inflates . . . This is another effect that Shaun Davey uses well. In one of the movements of “The Pilgrim,” there is an extended sequence of drum-only music – extremely effective! – and the “strike-in” comes in behind the drums, until, with a blast and a flare, the pipes let go with all their might. The recording is before a live audience, and they holler like anything! Thank you for teaching us that term! Hooray the pipes! ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/51 "2016-05-02T03:25:08Z")
I’m not fond of the lute/recorder/flute instruments. Whatever it was that Cain played on Kung Fu. Didn’t hate it but I’d never intentionally seek that music out. kazoo is that even considered a real musical instrument? A lot of percussion instruments are meant to be used sparingly. Adding just a bit of flavor to the music. Too much can be annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/52 "2016-05-02T04:15:45Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > . . . kazoo is that even considered a real musical instrument? . . . Like the Oscar Meyer Wiener Whistle…kinda yeah. (Heck, look at the Toy Symphony by Leopold Mozart, long and mistakenly attributed to Haydn. All of the toys are now “real” musical instruments, if only because of their inclusion in this work!) (And the cannons from the 1812 Overture!) ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/53 "2016-05-02T04:17:18Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > That glockenspiel sound that Bruce Springsteen’s keyboard player seemed to add to every song for a while in the 1980s. That was the '70s. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/54 "2016-05-02T04:18:28Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m not fond of the lute/recorder/flute instruments… The lute is a stringed instrument. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/55 "2016-05-02T04:27:57Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Slide Trombone can be the worst. See Hard Headed Woman. I used to work at a clinic that had piped-in Muzak. My absolute favorite song was their version of Jethro Tull’s “Living In The Past” with the melody played on a trombone. :eek: 🆒 I have never been able to find it online or elsewhere. I played the clarinet when I was a kid and am generally not fond of its sound. Really. However, some of you Canadian Dopers may remember this song, by the band Saga, that has a clarinet solo and in this case, it’s appropriate. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-bYA6ZXjkow/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgYShaMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCgcnsEeIX5HwIITJcIPgafTmaTJg "Saga - No Regrets (Chapter Five)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYA6ZXjkow) ---
**Author:** ![Moris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moris/32/2846_2.png) [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/56 "2016-05-02T04:28:06Z")
[“FM” or “DX” piano.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1xEJccP6Zw) The digital piano sound of the 80’s: too tacky, too artificial, too glassy, not bold as real Fender Rhodes, not raspy as Wurlitzer. Smooth, abrasive yet dull and overly “precious”. I hate it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/57 "2016-05-02T07:00:24Z")
Yikes! That electronic piano raised the same icky vibes that I get from too much of that “Hawaiian” effect – the slide-guitar thing that stereotypically ends a Hawaiian love-song. (“[Pedal Steel Guitar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrbSL92Kz1Y).” Hadda look it up.) A little of that is okay, but too much very quickly becomes way damned stinking too much. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/58 "2016-05-02T07:36:50Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Theremin > > I can see it being used to make some special effects sounds, but as music it just doesn’t have a particularly pleasant sound and the slide from one note to another is annoying. It’s also nearly impossible to control the pitch - I know, because we have one. It’s a great toy. But although you can find examples of it being played as a serious instrument, it always sounds awful to me. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/59 "2016-05-02T12:19:58Z")
> [@Moris](#): > > [“FM” or “DX” piano.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1xEJccP6Zw) > > The digital piano sound of the 80’s: too tacky, too artificial, too glassy, not bold as real Fender Rhodes, not raspy as Wurlitzer. Smooth, abrasive yet dull and overly “precious”. I hate it. “digital piano sound of the 80’s” immediately brought to mind the DX-7 sound. Ugh. Every song from that era has the same sound, along with the plate reverb sound on the drums. Not terrible, but dated. > [@Trinopus](#): > > Yikes! That electronic piano raised the same icky vibes that I get from too much of that “Hawaiian” effect – the slide-guitar thing that stereotypically ends a Hawaiian love-song. > > (“[Pedal Steel Guitar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrbSL92Kz1Y).” Hadda look it up.) > > A little of that is okay, but too much very quickly becomes way damned stinking too much. I grew up listening to Elvis and Country & Western, both inflicted on me by my mom. I can only take either in small doses. I have identified the pedal steel guitar as the most annoying element of C&W music to me–it gives me a headache. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557/60 "2016-05-02T12:24:29Z")
I’ve never liked the clarinet, especially as used in classical music\*. Even when the performer is obviously very good, it’s an annoying reedy-sounding thing. Same for the recorder. It sounds like something kids would’ve bought at the corner novelty store, and tends to make compositions in which it’s used resemble P.D.Q. Bach parodies. \*not a whole lot better in jazz/swing, but barely tolerable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muscial-instruments-that-annoy-you/753557.md?page=4)