Bushwalk Australia

In another thread a walker mentioned carryng a backpacker guitar (and know I want one). The most I have carried is a tin whstle but I have heard flutes in far away places. Do many people carry an instrument with them and if so what?

Ive carried a few different things- my favs are the hamonica and ocarina. Mostly on solo walks as I cant actualy make them work properly.

I'm no muscian but I might think about lugging something if I could play. If it wasn't a burden and was lite.

I thought thsi thread was about music whilst walking ??
Came across a couple in NZ last month and the guy had his iphone playing tunes all day while he walked.
Drove me nuts, I'm out there to enjoy the peace and quite of nature. Not listen to Black Eye'd Pea's all day long.

Lucky I walk faster than most so the expereince wasn't a long one when we crossed paths.

I am a little envious of people who have a musical talent. And I enjoy music - at a civilised time of the day. I don't carry a musical instrument. I carry a tent. It allows me to set up camp a long, long, lllllloooooonnnnnnnggggg, way away from people who make a noise after dark.

Things you do at end of day & before night fall: pitch tent, ablutions & laundry, socialise (not compulsory), prepare & eat dinner.
Things you do after dark: sleep, cook & eat breakfast, full- *&%$#! -stop.
Things you do after break-fast: take photos, pack, walk, take photos, walk, hydrate, ....play your tin whistle/harmonica/whatever if you like...., walk, take photos, enjoy the peace and quiet of nature, walk, take photos ....

Playing music falls under the heading socialise. ...A very acceptable day-time practice enjoyed by many in the bushwalking community. However, just by way of a friendly warning - Pitch your tent beside me, play your tin whistle/harmonica after dark and you are going to need surgery, or a bowel movement, before the encore.

PS: I am not gregarious.

Note to self - if I ever go hiking with walkinTas I must leave my flugelhorn at home.

(note to self: add value oil to first aid kit)

Not musical, envy those that are. Would be happy to camp with those that are.
Agree with WalkingTas except that "after dark" extends a couple of hours for me and I'll take music over cigarette (or similar) smoke anyday.

Pan pipes would be my choice if I knew how to play. Guess the relative solitude of the bush is as good a place to learn as any.
I have listened to bagpipes being played at sunrise on top of Kosciuszko. Very moving.
I love that moment, out snowshoeing, when you finally get beyond the horrible racket of the ski resorts. The crunch of snow under my feet is music to my ears

On Mt Gillen (Central Aust) a few years back, watching a lunar eclipse.... someone with another group in the distance was playing a pan pipe. It was eerie and lovely, the sounds drifting to us on the breeze, and distant enough to be non-intrusive.
I'd be happy to listen to someone play after dinner while camping. But only for an hour or so.
Certainly don't need headphones while walking - this always strikes me as odd.
Just don't watch Sound of Music before a hike. On our last little walk I couldn't get The Lonely Goatherd to stop playing in my head although it does provide good motivation for uphill stretches.

My boyfriend takes his bagpipes on all our walks. Ben Lomond, Hanging Rock (Victoria), Mount Arthur, Mount Victoria, Stacks Bluff, Mount Claude, Mount Van Dyke, Mount Roland, and today, he played the tune 'Mist Covered Mountains' while the cloud rolled across us at the trig point on Quamby Bluff. See this thread http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5521&p=97917&hilit=stacks+bluff#p97917 for a photo from the day we went to Stacks Bluff.

Although I'm a huge music fan and have INXS of over 1000 CD's, albums ect I reckon It has it's time and place and out in the scrub is definitely NOT the place. Particulary that tinny rattle of the escaped noise of a headphone wearing walker on a track...I loathe it and really wonder what motivates a person to fill their head with noise when the sounds of the bush are a symphony in themselves?

UNLESS! It's the inro music to Malcom Douglas...To me that music is the sound of the Aussie bush.

puredingo wrote:Particulary that tinny rattle of the escaped noise of a headphone wearing walker on a track...I loathe it and really wonder what motivates a person to fill their head with noise when the sounds of the bush are a symphony in themselves?

^^ This ^^ in spades!

Yes I agree, far better to hear the sounds of your footsteps and the 'everything else', however.... I carry an ipod for a bit of music in the tent and every so often on the track when I have a long trudge to do getting out of an area, such as the Narcissus-Cynthia Bay walk or the Arm River track when already fatigued, it helps get you over the line after a very long day.

My climbing partner regularly carts in a collapsible didgeridoo made from polypipe. It is an experience to hear this played on the top of a ridge at dusk and have the sound carry across the mountains.

The only music I ever have in the bush is me 'singing' to myself.
Another reason why I walk alone . . .

Bird calls and the breeze through the Trees ,music to my ears
corvus

Gippsmick wrote:My climbing partner regularly carts in a collapsible didgeridoo made from polypipe. It is an experience to hear this played on the top of a ridge at dusk and have the sound carry across the mountains.

^^^That sounds awesome, I had the pleasure of hearing a didgeridoo played in the middle of a massive gorge up in the Kimberlys. The gorge was virtually closed in on it's self besides a little opening and the sound reverberated like crazy and rattled my body, it was amazing. But I agree, after a long days walk when your set for bed it could get a tiny bit tedious.

Music in the huts...

Earwig wrote:Do many people carry an instrument with them and if so what?

I have always carried a harmonica when bushwalking, since starting to teaching myself on the beach of Lake Pedder in 1971. When the track conditions sometimes allow it, I play as I walk as well - why waste all that huffing and puffing going uphill when you can turn it into music In days long ago when camp fires and song books were part of the essential bushwalking experience, my harmonica got a lot of use, but these days is more for my own pleasure generally when walking alone.

Hey, if you want a sweet sounding travel guitar, check this out first

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veo-cdiSt4o