Why a multi-instrumentalist?

A lot of people ask me why do I play all the instruments I play and so often they say things like “Are you trying to show off? Who are you trying to impress?”

All my journey to be in the place I am right now started just for the contact of a very young Elio with the music. As a child I didn’t need any encouragement from anyone to make me play and practice, it was all I wanted to do, I can’t tell you why but that was my reality, I just wanted to play. My mum had to take the instrument off me to make me finish my school work saying “if you don’t finish your homework you won’t play” and there was me, rushing to finish my homework to be able to play a bit more. 

Playing instruments was just a fun experience for me and that makes me want to play more and more and experiment with new instruments not knowing at that point music will be my future. 

But being able to play many instruments becomes something else, it gave me more listening skills. Listening sounds like something basic all musicians do, which is true, but when you play different instruments you can understand more deeply what is happening around you and instead of playing with people you start playing for the music. 

But what is playing for the music? Well, we love to be the soloist, the important part of the band, the leader and when you have to play something repetitive like a groove or a riff that repeats a lot in the song a lot of musicians would say that is “boring” not taking in consideration the impact that the repetitive phrase has in the overall song, that is what I call play for the music, playing whatever the music requires more than just play to be a soloist. 

Another positive thing to add from being a multi-instrumentalist is that you will put into your playing elements of the instruments you play, rhythm ideas, techniques, etc, as well as being able to help the other members of your band to improve and understand what is happening.

I think every musician should have good knowledge and experience on a rhythmic instrument, a melodic instrument and a harmonic instrument, one of these three being the main instrument. For example if you play the flute you will never be able to play two notes at the same time with your instrument, would be good for you to play a bit of piano, guitar or any other harmonic instrument and believe me, it will help you to improve your playing and the way you visualise chords. You should get a percussive instrument as well, rhythm and independence will give you a lot of good tools to improve the musicality on your main instrument. And this apply for all the instruments. 

Working in a studio environment is very useful as you can imagine, being able to record a line needed for a song without having to call and wait. In a live setting having a multi-instrumentalist is very handy as in some concerts you will need one instrument for one song and having someone that is already playing more instruments save the band some problems and in cases some money as well. 

In my case, I’m very fortunate of being able to record a whole production on my own, and, all along my career I have being very useful for many people and different bands playing and recording.

But everything has a downside. To play very well one instrument is already hard, imagine trying keeping up with 10 -total madness. Being a multi-instrumentalist is not about being a specialist in all the instruments or being able to show off, it is more about to do what the music and the moment requires, is understanding to play to make music more than show how talented you are and this part is hard for a lot of other people to understand. 

I hope these humble lines can help you to see another side of someone like me. No matter if you are a musician or you just like to read these lines, understanding is a powerful tool and it helps you to value the effort of others.

Have a wonderful day.