Musical Instruments

This extract is from a Boy's Own Paper of 1922.

Musical Instruments for Boys

So many boys who play any instrument at all play either the pianoforte or the violin or both. Unless a boy shows precocious talent at either he had better not persevere, for pianists and violinists are a "glut in the market."

Brass may be dismissed in a few words. A player on any brass instrument will be of great service in any orchestra, but, with the exception of the French horn, they are all harsh and crude in tone, more adapted to out-door than indoor work. They had better be left to the professionals.

The oboe, which is a baby-bassoon, resembling it, not in shape, but in construction, is an easier and less cumbersome instrument, but it is rather a strain on the lungs, and one public school certainly (perhaps others too) forbids any boy to learn it, on this account.

Boys Own Paper 1923