I have played music for years, mostly as a 'Big Band' member. My instructor played with "the greats". He was 60 some years older and was my band leader for over 10 years. We had a great thing going (the band). He also played sax and clarinet. I was, very, very fortunate to have a full-time dedicated teacher.
District, Regional, States, yada-yada... Swing, dance, concert, orchestra, marching bands... I stayed busy and it not only kept me out of trouble, but gave me purpose. I had been playing in various school bands along with other external bands (not school bands), and moved onto variety bands when I graduated.
I played in a club once for about a month and a half playing all of the top 40 hits from the 60's through the 70's (before disco). I couldn't stomach watching others; the excess drinking, womanizing, etc., it just wasn't my 'scene'.
I started playing at the age of 7, was in at least 3 bands all of my life while in school. At the age of 27, I moved on to become a Sr. Systems Programmer/Analyst. I'm retired over 10 years with my wife and our focus is music.
I play sax and clarinet, and my wife is blond and plays guitar -- Zoot and Janice. We own and play flute, alto recorder, guitar, mandolin, and keys. I also own and play a Yamaha WX5 Wind synth MIDI controller.
We own a recording studio comprised of various gear. The main items being a VS-2480 24-track mixer/recorder, MOTU 896mk3Hy 32 channel i/o interface, 8 port MOTU MTP/AV Timepiece, Axon guitar midi, TC-Helicon VoiceLive Rack harmonizer, GSP-1101 guitar processor, Mackie studio monitors, various microphones, software DAWs and VSTs, and keyboards; Casio Workstation, Korg Triton, Roland FA-08, and now the Yamaha Genos.
We're here, mostly, to get the most out of our new purchase 1 week ago today, the Genos. I'm finding that it's complicated and easy to use; both, at the same time (if that makes sense). We pulled the trigger on getting a Genos mainly because of its somewhat realistic sound, to add to the studio.
We have one Mackie SRM215 V-Class Powered Loudspeaker on the way and will order a second one, so it's possible that we may start doing concerts in the future but right now it isn't our focus. We write music, arrange, play, mix and master, print and produce our own CDs, and print and assemble our own jackets.
We're in the south, so it's not too surprising that our best selling CD has been American Hymns, Bluegrass, Soggy-Bottom Style. My wife transliterates the Psalms into songs, and they are also very popular.