The Shadow in the Moonlit Night (demonoflight) wrote in little_details,
The Shadow in the Moonlit Night
demonoflight
little_details
  • Mood: curious

The number of instruments a teenager can play

I have a character, a 16-year-old boy, who is considered a musical prodigy. At his young age, he can play a rather impressive number of musical instruments. The instruments are all rather conventional; stuff like the piano and the violin, not things like... say, the theremin, or stuff like the shamisen or the sitar. For the meantime, he mostly sticks to instruments used in typical symphony orchestras. And the harmonica.

The question is... how many instruments can a talented 16-year-old play well, realistically? For the record, the boy started with the piano at the age of 3. Personally, I knew a few kids who could play three instruments well, but that's about it. I tried to search a bit, and all I found was something in a Guinness World Records book about a guy who played 108 instruments at the same time, 19 of them being melodious instruments. I'm not sure it's entirely helpful, since I'm assuming this guy wasn't a teenager.

And if we're already at it... what's the world record for the number of records a single person can play? I don't intend for the boy to break this record when he grows up, but I'm interested in knowing what's the limit.
Tags: ~music
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