As a kid, I had the opportunity to learn the recorder in school. Though I never got to hear them, a great uncle and a cousin of my Mom had both played the flute in the Montreal symphonic orchestra, so there was a bit of musical precedent in the family. I was very excited when my Mom offered to pay for half of a flute, and subsequent flute lessons, I came up with the other half of the money (I was delivering newspapers, I was 12-13). That was so great!
In the following years, I also learned some guitar in high school plus a tiny bit of piano. I was also lucky that my young brother went to a special program music school: I got to try his violin.
From all these trials with different instrument types, wind, strings and tones, I figured that if I had the money, I would want to play either tenor saxophone or the cello. I also think in a perfect world, everyone should have easy access to a piano.
Today, I still want to learn the cello. I have not idea how much money is involved, thought I suppose I could plan for that. The biggest hurdle for now is that I do not have the time to engage in this, but I expect I will within the next few years.
