Learning Music in Canada: School Bands, Piano Lessons, and a Surprise Harp

Have you ever learned to play a musical instrument?

In this episode, Misha and Larissa talk about their musical journeys, from childhood piano lessons and middle-school music classes to guitars, flutes, cellos, and even a Celtic harp. Along the way, they share stories about school bands, learning to read music, borrowing instruments from the library, and the surprising things that stay in your muscle memory long after you've stopped practicing.

You'll also hear about a bird that got trapped inside a piano, a son who seems determined to learn every instrument in existence, and the unforgettable time a border guard asked for a harp performance during a vehicle inspection.

This episode is full of natural English conversation, personal stories, and useful vocabulary related to music, learning, and hobbies.

What instruments have you played? Let us know in the comments!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Oh, I can make the most beautiful open notes. And open notes means like when the strings are just like you're not touching with your left hand. You're making any chords. Nope. You're just moving the bow across and I can make a beautiful low C. Oh, that sound is just so lovely.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

That's all you needed. She doesn't even want to hear a song. She just wants to hear a ball.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Hello, Eepers. Welcome to another episode of Extra English Podcast with Misha and Larissa.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

We're two Canadian English teachers talking about life in Canada, our lives, and anything else that might interest us. And hopefully we'll interest you too. So join us for another conversation. Today we're going to talk about musical instruments that we have played or can play. Can I play any? I don't know, but we'll talk about it. We play with varying degrees of beauty.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Not skill. Oh, skill, I guess. No, no. Beauty. Degrees of beauty. The first instrument I learned to play was the piano. Uh, typical.

unknown 1:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

This is very common in Canadian culture. This is a common instrument to have in the home.

unknown 1:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Also very common in my cultural background. People play a lot of piano.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Did you have an actual piano, like a stand-up piano that needed tuning?

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. One of my uncles is a professional piano tuner. That's his child. Yeah. So he would tune it when he'd come to visit us. But also, my mom was quite proficient on the piano. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. So we had a real piano made of wood with all the pieces inside. Actually thinking about that, once a bird got into our house and got stuck in the piano. Oh. He didn't know how to play it. What was he doing there? Anyway, we got him out.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

And he was okay, uninjured. Uninjured. Yes, spacious in there. It is. As long as you don't play it.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

There's hammers and there's no we heard wrestling.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Okay. And we were like, what? Anyway. Why is the piano making that sound?

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Yeah. How did he get in the house? I don't know. I'm not a bird, and I did learn to play it. Which actually I never was very good at it. Um, but I learned how to read music. Right. Which I think is a nice basic skill that I could transfer if I ever wanted to. So were you playing with two hands? Yeah, playing with two hands. I I went up a little ways, you know, maybe you're familiar with this, but there was a very popular series of learning books for the piano in the 80s. And in fact, I think the same books, I don't know if the same books are produced now, but I know my cousin's kid is using the same books. Oh, it could be. They might be left. Yeah, curious. Anyway, the the levels were colors. Oh. So I stopped when I got to blue. Blue. Yes. And I very blue level piano player. I think it it started at red, pink, purple, blue. So I wasn't a total beginner, but uh, I wasn't excellent. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

You have any. I also took piano lessons as a kid. Yeah, and I didn't have the color books.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

What? How did you learn? Well, books. If not those books, it's impossible.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

I don't remember the series name. Interesting. Um, but yeah, I took piano lessons. We had a piano too. I don't know where it came from or where it went. Um, yeah. Pianos are really big and hard to move.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

Yeah, and actually, thrift stores don't really want them these days. True. Because they're so hard to move. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Lately, my son, so at home now we have an electronic keyboard, but like a full-size one that has 88 keys because he plays piano. He works. Nice. Um, but every now and then he says, Mom, can we get a piano, like a real piano? And I say, Well, just keep your eyes out because I'm not gonna buy one. Yeah. But sometimes you just see them for free. People just want to get rid of a piano.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

It's too bad because just a few years ago my parents got rid of theirs when they moved. And we didn't know where, I don't know where I do think it ended up finding a home, but it was a bit it's hard to find a home for a piano. Not everybody wants one anymore.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Yeah. I don't actually want one. I like the keyboard. I like that it's portable, but I mean a piano takes up a lot of room. It does, but if your kid asks for a piano, that's a nice thing to be able to say yes to. If they want to get off a screen and sit in an instrument, you want to encourage that for sure. For sure. Yeah, so I wouldn't say I'm very good on piano. I can there's a few songs that I still have as muscle memory.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Totally.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

So I could sit down and I could impress you with like a song. The entertainer.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

That's my locked in there. Yeah, singing. Did I never took singing lessons and it shows? So I'm not gonna fall into that trap. Sorry. Okay, but did you have a piano teacher as well as the books? Yes. Yes, and you would go to someone's house. Yes. Yes, me too.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah, once a week, I think, probably for half an hour.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Okay, but I said my son plays piano. He and my daughter both learned with an app.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah, it was during the pandemic.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Modern days.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

It was amazing. They got this app and it was it was gamified. Yeah. So it was very fun, very motivating. And they both like learned, actually learned how to read music. And yeah, my son has um a natural aptitude for music, and so he really just went far with it. Yeah, but it was it was surprisingly effective.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Yeah. Your daughter has lost interest, she hasn't kept it up.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Well, now she's trying again a little bit. Um, yeah, but she was also younger and yeah, she did she did great. Yeah, yeah. If you're watching Honey, you did great.

SPEAKER_03 6:00

I would always expect that from her.

unknown 6:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Interesting. But I did go to a piano teacher. And then yeah. So I I I agree. It's a nice skill to have.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

Did you get kind of intermediate? What would you say?

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Maybe.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

Yeah. Yeah. Do you do it anymore? Like, do you use it at the keyboard?

SPEAKER_01 6:19

No, not really. I did recently um my son left his music out, and I was like, oh, I wonder. Yeah. So I sat down to try, and it was slow. It was a slog. Yeah. There's a word. It was a slog to get through it. Um, yeah. Not not my not my strength. Same. We had that in common.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Do you know? I also had an piano teacher, and when I went to school to do my teacher training, she was in my class.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

Isn't that a funny coincidence? Yes. And it was so strange because I knew her when I was a young child and she was an adult.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

And then here we were peers. Wow. Yeah. It was nice to see her again.

SPEAKER_04 7:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Do I know her? I don't think so. I haven't worked with her. Okay. So I don't know. Maybe she took it another direction, I'm not sure. But yeah.

unknown 7:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Small world. It is. In a lot of ways, music and language are connected, I think. Yeah. Or they can be. They can be considered similar because you're reading music the way you read words or a story.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

So it's a method of communication, also, you could say.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah. I wonder if if a language brain and a music brain overlap in a lot of ways.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Okay, but when you say your son has a natural aptitude, I feel like I've always loved the idea of making music and I'm just bad at it. I don't like whatever it is that works for me with language is not working for me with music.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Okay, yep. Very good example. I am wrong. Well, maybe I'm the outlier.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

Maybe. So in school, did you learn any instruments? Yes. In middle school, which for me, this will shock you again, was grades six, seven, and eight. Every time. I'm so surprised. She's surprised because, as we've mentioned in another episode, most schools here go kindergarten to grade six. Yes. But uh mine was K to five. So in six, seven, and eight, I learned cello. What? Yeah, but I really don't. I learned it because we had a cello at home. Yes. Um, but I don't I really have almost no memory. Like it didn't really make an impression on me, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

It made an impression on me just now.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

More than it did on me in three years.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

So I have so much respect for that teacher. Oh yeah. Who would who would intentionally teach grade sixes how to play a cello?

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Well, also, he didn't, it was a room full of kids playing different stringed instruments. Okay. So I played the cello and a number of others. Yeah. Some people were playing viola, some were playing violin. Amazing. I think that was it. I think it was all strings.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Okay, I guess I shouldn't be so surprised because in grade seven, my son did learn strings also. His school had a string, strings and band. Yeah. And some kids took strings and some took band. Um but they didn't play for months. Like they were only allowed to hold it for months.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

I can't imagine what's happening. It's just a room full of kids holding instruments.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

They had to learn how to hold it properly and uh take it in, like take it out and put it back in there for months. It felt like months. It was months where they made a noise. But also, like when you're learning a stringed instrument, yeah, it sounds terrible.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Oh, yeah, yeah. I sounded awful. Probably for most of those three years. Yeah, but if you hit it wrong, yeah, it's really wrong. Oh, I can feel I can feel that bow hitting wrong. Yeah, it's not good. That's true. But but there's months of holding it. There's some sort of bond that forms. Yeah. You make an imprint on the instrument.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

I'm gonna have to ask more follow-up questions.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

What did you do in that time? Maybe they were learning theory. Do you know when I I studied art in university and one day my teacher said I wasn't allowed to touch my paper anymore? And he made me sit in a chair and look at my drawing for like two hours. Why? Um yeah, good question. I mean, that's a whole other topic, I suppose. I think he wanted me to do more thinking. Okay. Like really think about it. Okay. Change your perspective, really look at it critically. Got it. Yeah, he was actually an excellent teacher, so I do think it was helpful.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

But I mean it wasn't months. I think this teacher was teaching them respect for the instrument. Yeah, okay. Maybe. Okay. What about you in middle school? Middle school, my my middle school had guitars.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Oh, guitars.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

We had a class set of classical guitars. Um, and so we all learned to play like Yankee Doodle and Ode to Joy. Nice. Yeah, it was it was great. Um, I actually I I took a real liking to it, and I was able to join a couple different groups of instrumentalists or musicians. One was um a small classical guitar ensemble. So we were all only playing one note at a time, but because there were like six of us, yeah, we made beautiful harmony. So a real classical guitarist would play all those notes on his one guitar. You were like a group of people combined into one guitarist. Yes. Oh, yes, somewhere. It was really like them, the music was beautiful. We were playing simple but classical, nice pieces, and I like that. Yeah. We also had a rock band at school. Oh unexpected. And I played electric rhythm guitar. Wow. Great. Isn't that a shock?

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Yeah, uh a hundred percent a shock. It's just not her style, guys. I mean, apparently it is. Apparently it is. Or it was. It was, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

And you had fun. I I had fun. Um, we played mostly older classic rock because it was the teacher's teacher's choice, I think. And it's kind of simple.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Um, and my job was really just like rhythm chords in the background. And I had to do a little shuffle. So I had to like move this way, oh this way, and this way. Like the beginnings of dance. The beginnings of dance.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

This is about how much Canadians learn to dance as children. It's the top.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

It was great. Like we had a drummer and we had a keyboardist and a few guitars, a couple lead guitarists who did solos. Oh. But they had talent. Like I just did the strumming. And you did it well, I'm sure. I'm sure. Some talent. And some vocalists. It was yeah, it was pretty fun. Are there recordings of this? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

Oh, I wish. You should ask your parents.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

I don't think they would have one. Oh. It was just at school.

SPEAKER_03 12:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

But um, yeah. But now whenever I hear one of those songs on the radio, I always think, I used to play that. Can't do it now. I can't play the guitar anymore. I remember the G chord and the D chord.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Therefore, you can. I'm sure there's gotta be a song that's just G and D.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

So I did. We recently borrowed a guitar from the library because the library is amazing. And if you don't believe me, we have a whole episode about it. And so I thought, well, let's see. Let's see what I can do. And it's surprising how many things I forgot and how many things I really can't. Like I can't make an F. I can't.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

I remember nothing from the cello. So you're doing well from my perspective. An F, no.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

No, I can't do it. So then I was looking for songs that only use the chords that I could play well. Yes. And they are very limited.

SPEAKER_03 13:42

Two chords, does it? Maybe if you threw in, I mean, is F the one that would tip you over into Maybe.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

I could do an A, I could do an E minor. Oh.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Yeah, there's Look. The more we talk, the more she tells us what skill remains. I'm actually really amazing. I've just literally in how many years of knowing you have never heard about it, but a secret guitarist. Secret.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

I got some secret talents. Yep. Fun. E person.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

If you are watching our video on YouTube, a harp just appeared. A harp appeared. Magic. The other instrument I once, I mean, I can't even really say I once played it. I own an instrument currently. This is where we're going. And it is a harp. It's called a lap harp or a Celtic harp. It only has, I think, 26 strings. And if you're watching us, you might be able to see that one of those strings is currently broken. So it has 25. Also, I'm pretty sure my child has put some duplo blocks in here. Of course. You can hear something. That's not the sound of a harp. Oh, that's not. Anyway, I'm not gonna bother taking them out. They're in there. Also, it's not in tune. But it's beautiful. It is gorgeous. Yes. And the story of how this harp came to be is that my when I graduated from university, my parents gifted me a harp. Why? Not entirely clear. You say a harp. You mean this particular. Yes. And it's a handmade harp. And my the man who made it, who's like a craftsperson, that's what he does. And we had seen his work actually. That's why uh they had this idea, because I had seen his booth at a music festival and shown interest. Um, anyway, he made the pieces, and then my dad assembled it solely for the purpose of like giving it a little more sentimental value, meaning, you know. Um, and it's beautiful. So I love it even just as a decorative object in my home. Yeah. But I did learn when I first got it a little bit. I'm gonna set it down.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

You're not gonna play as a little song?

SPEAKER_03 15:48

Oh no, I don't remember any songs. But I keep meaning to get back to it. But oh first, I have to find a place I can buy harp strings. Oh, yeah, to replace that one. Well, you can play with 25. Could I? I could. Anyway, when I first got it, I didn't know that it's like me without the abs chord. I'll Google what songs can I play? Missing the bottom D. What harp songs exist? I'll get AI to write me a song. Anyway, when I first got it, I did get some songs. And luckily I could read music from my earlier piano education. So I learned, I mean, it's obviously very different, but the music looks the same. And my harp, you probably can't see, but it has some red strings and blue, and the rest are white. So the red is C and the blue is F. Yep. So it helps you locate your hands on the strings. So I learned a couple of very, very basic songs. But the funny thing is, we went to visit my family in the United States. Yes. Larissa and I are Canadian. So we were crossing the border, and for some reason, long complicated story, we got pulled to the side for them to look through our car. But when they opened the trunk, the first thing on top of all the luggage in the trunk was my harp. So the border guard asked me to come out and pick up the harp so they wouldn't damage it, which was very nice. Yes, I like that. So then while they're digging through our belongings, I'm holding my harp, and he says, No, another border guard comes over and says, Hey, do you play that thing? And I said, Well, I know a song. So this is the story of how I ended up serenading the border guards who were rifling through our belongings with a rudimentary, very basic, poorly played herp song. And when they were all done, they put it back in the trunk, and I got in the car and they said, Have a good day. And I said, You too, because I just had this nice. And my mom said, Don't tell them about the good day. They'd taken some of our things and she was annoyed about it.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

They're my audience, my first audience, mom. First and only.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

So, my my only ever harp concert. Play it at the border under duress. Not really.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

I think it looks lovely in the background. Maybe it should be part of the decor.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

No, maybe it should.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

What do you think, keepers? Magic. There's so much magic in this house today.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

We'll make another episode about that. The magic. Um that's that's all my instruments. I'm out. My very non-impressive musical career.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

No, listen. You pull out a f a harp. That is impressive. I mean, the visual, I've got the actual. I think it would be not a bad idea to just re-practice that one song again. I should learn more.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Keep it in your back pocket. Like that's a that's a party trick. Also, listen, here's the thing with a harp. If it's in tune, you don't even have to sing a song. You just up those strings.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

It sounds gorgeous. All right. Does your friend the piano tuner also tune harps? My uncle. No. Your uncle, yeah, uncle.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

I know how to tune it. It's not hard. I broke that string because I had my tuner on the string above it, but I thought I had it on that string. And it wasn't changing. So I wasn't changing. I kept tightening it and then it snapped. Classic. I think it's a common experience for anyone with a stringed instrument. But anyway, you, besides your uh rock star career, yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Did you play any other instruments? In high school, I learned the flute. Oh the flute, the long, thin, silver. This one instrument that goes like that. Uh I played it all through high school. I took music classes. Music class. A long time. Yeah, because I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Ipros, you know, this podcast is really helping me learn about my friend. Things I've never heard about.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Four years of your life. Continue. Um, so my son actually, the son who is adept at music, yes, he started learning the flute as well in grade 10. Nice. And so he brought one home from school and I still had one from high school. And I was like, let's do a duet. Can I still play a duet? Can I still do this? And I can. I love that. Not it's like, it's not beautiful, right?

SPEAKER_03 20:08

Well, but if you played for four years.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yeah. I can still again, it's still muscle memory. Like I can find the my starting note and then I just go from there. I have a hard time. I would have a hard time identifying notes. Sure. Like I have to count up every good boy deserves fudge.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

Yep. That's how we learn that the notes on the scale.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

And um, what are the spaces? Face. Oh, I think the spaces are face and the the lines are every good boy deserves fudge. Anyway, I can't. So so can I read music? I guess. If you give me the starting point, but I have to count.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

I can place a couple of them and then I count the others from there. I hear you. Yeah. We're not sight readers.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

We're not. No. No. But you got to play a harp, a flute. A flute, yeah. Sounds so sweet. He had fun. And he he just blows me away. He also learned, he's like, you know, I think I want to play the trombone. So he asked the teacher, can I take a trombone home? So he did. And he learned how to play that. Because brass is very different from Woodwind. The way to make the sound is very different. So he wanted to give that a shot. Um, and then he's like, you know, there aren't any oboes. I think that's a pretty hard one. I'm gonna try it. So he's a little bit more. It has a piece that moves? That's the trombone.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

That maybe an oboe. So it's like the cousin. Trombone cousin.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

No, no, they're not related. Not at all. Oboe looks like a clarinet. It's it goes down like this, but it has a double read, a skinny little read. Okay. So that's what makes it challenging. It's that the double-readed instruments are harder to make a sound with.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

We're learning together.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Um, and if we can just go back for a moment to my favorite public building, the library. The beloved library. Um, I did so I said that um my son learned to hold and then play stringed instruments. He played the viola in grade seven and eight. Um I really wanted him to play cello. Oh, did you? Why? Cello is the most beautiful instrument on the face of the earth, the sound of it. I think it's gorgeous. I just love it. And so I was like, play the cello, play the cello. No, mom, I want to play the viola. Oh, come on. The viola is arguably the hardest string instrument, I would say, because it has its own clef. It has an alto clef. It doesn't play on like the piano has a treble and a bass clef. Uh-huh. Like the lines.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

It has its own. A viola just because I think that one's not super popular. My understanding, correct me if I'm wrong. It's a violin tuned differently. Well, it's bigger. Also. Oh, it's its own shape. Yeah. E pers. I know very little about music. The trombone and the ovo are not related. And the violin and the viola are not the same body. But here we go. Carry on. Anyways, good to know. So it's similar to a violin.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

It is very similar, but a little bit harder.

SPEAKER_03 23:08

Own clef, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

Anyway, great, fine. Learn the viola. Do your thing, but you're breaking your mama's heart because all I want is to hear the cello being played. And at one point he says, You could just learn the cello, mom.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

Very logical response. Take notes.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Oh, yeah, I guess I could. Yeah. So I got a I got a cello from the library. Yeah. Because you can do that at the library. Um, and I got it home. And oh, I can make the most beautiful open notes. And open notes means like when the strings are just like you're not touching with your left hand. You're a magnetic chords. Nope. You're just moving the bow across, and I can make a beautiful low C. Oh, that sound is just so lovely.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

That's all you needed. You know, she doesn't even want to hear a song, she just wants to hear a ball.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Because as soon as I started using fingers, and he he was in the class for two years, so he heard what the teacher was saying to the cellist, so he could give me a bit of instruction. I I couldn't reach that far. I couldn't do it. It really hurt my hand to make like I wasn't all good. And I didn't love it. I didn't like the process of it. So I decided, first of all, if you ever need a low C, I'm your girl.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

Next time I'm living life and thinking this scene needs a low C on the cello. I'm gonna ring you up. You should. You better answer the phone. No promises. I'll message beforehand, cello emergency. Pick up.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

So I learned that. And I also learned I can hear cello music. I don't have to play it.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

You don't.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

I can hear it.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

You could even go to a concert if you want to. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yes. And and I can just appreciate I can still appreciate it just as much if it's coming from someone else. Maybe more, because it's coming from someone who plays it expertly.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

More than you enjoy your own low C, probably.

unknown 24:58

Probably.

SPEAKER_03 24:58

Although that was a beautiful C. Yo-Yo mom would be jealous. E person, as always, we love to learn about you also. I learned so many things about instruments today and about this person I thought I knew well, who apparently I don't. So tell us a little bit about your musical journey if you have one. Have you played instruments? What do you want to learn to play? Do you want to hear Larissa's low C? Let us know.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

You can join the conversation on Instagram or Facebook or YouTube, wherever you, whichever one makes you happy.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

And check out our website for transcripts, vocabulary lists, and extra information about each episode.