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 did many things. He boxed against Sugar Ray Robinson. He tried his hand as a high wire circus performer. But he said the scariest thing he ever did was play the triangle with the New York Philharmonic.
Eric Hopkins, a percussionist with the Utah Symphony, recently 

 on the symphony's website to explain why playing something that seems as simple as ringing a dinner bell could be so difficult.


"The triangle is such a simple instrument," he tells NPR's Tamara Keith. "I mean it doesn't even have a name. Its name is its shape. But it's that simplicity that can exacerbate the details in one's playing."


In the post he laid out a 17-point tutorial for playing triangle in 

Of course, that last one on the list is the hardest and most important.

"It's actually really awkward when you're in a rehearsal," Hopkins says, "and you mess up a triangle part, because then people really think you're kind of like dumb or something because it can seem so simple."


Hopkins says he didn't just write his post for non-musicians. He wrote it for all those oboe and flugelhorn players who look back at the percussion section and scoff a little, too.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Arts and Culture

Sure, anyone can play the triangle -- but can you play it well?

How to be a professional triangle player in 17 easy steps

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