h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I also learned to play the melodica. If I have no instruments with me, I sing or whistle. There's always some way to make music even if it's just chanting the Geographical Fugue

Air-guitar is one of the ultimate play acting instruments.

I know from my own experience that pianos are heavy. (we lifted / dragged ours up the stairs with muscle power and an improvised pulley system alone).

I used to play with the harmonium when I still lived with my parents. Pull out as many stops, pump a lot and see if the neighbours were home. (I still love VOX DEI). There were some tunes I could reproduce, but I mostly improvised with chords. I can do the same thing on the piano. Apart from that, my main skills lie in singing and whistling. I taught myself to whistle both ways (inflow and outflow) so I can do long tunes without interruptions for breathing. Singing and whistling are very portable.

The fake it till you make it way of working is recognisable from my choir practice. As long as someone else knows and sings the actual lyrics, you can usually get away with creating the right notes. Unless nobody knows them and you have several people looking at one another in an embarassed way.

I played a kazoo in a college production of "The roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd." Natalie Cole was also in the cast