Sharing the love of music with your family.

[chris loeffler]

I think everyone with a heart loves music, but how do you, as musicians, share the love of music creation with your family? My wife is an incredibly talented vocalist with no aspirations to learn gear nor theory, so arguably she is the perfect bandmate!

 

That said, what are opportunities you have created for your children to carry forth the music mantle?

[Anderton]

Good question!!! I didn't want to influence my daughter and push her in "Dad's direction," so she had a whole variety of musical instruments growing up.

 

And of course...she ended up with guitar. But here's the weird part.

 

When I was 10 years old, I saw Segovia in concert and it blew my mind. As we walked out of the concert hall, I said to my father "I want to be able to sound like that." So I started learning guitar.

 

Fast forward. My daughter was 10 years old. I was in the studio, with a Variax and a ton of processors, and playing away. She opened the door and came in to tell me it was time for dinner, but she stopped, listened, and her jaw dropped. She said "I want to be able to sound like that."

 

Blew my mind...again.

[KuruPrionz]

Good question!!! I didn't want to influence my daughter and push her in "Dad's direction," so she had a whole variety of musical instruments growing up.

 

And of course...she ended up with guitar. But here's the weird part.

 

When I was 10 years old, I saw Segovia in concert and it blew my mind. As we walked out of the concert hall, I said to my father "I want to be able to sound like that." So I started learning guitar.

 

Fast forward. My daughter was 10 years old. I was in the studio, with a Variax and a ton of processors, and playing away. She opened the door and came in to tell me it was time for dinner, but she stopped, listened, and her jaw dropped. She said "I want to be able to sound like that."

 

Blew my mind...again.

 

My "moments" were first when I was 5 and Uncle Ralph (left handed) put an ukulele in my hands (also left handed), right handed. It seemed right and I still play right handed but I am certainly left handed.

 

When I was 7 or 8, Mom took us to see Carlos Montoya and he blew the roof off the joint. Standing ovation on his first piece. Then he stood up, was about 4 feet tall or so, and said in a high pitched voice "Thank you very much."

I realized then and there that the guitar could make me a giant.

 

As to family, no kids. Somehow, I've found a talented and lovely young lady who I now consider as a "daughter" since there are no other options. I've passed some things along, there is more to come since we are fast friends.

Family does not have to be blood, it is everyone who is open to what you might pass down.

[chris loeffler]

Agreed. There is a shared spark that happens with some people. I have had more than one neighbor say 'Hey, that looks like nice guitar you gave my kid... what do I owe you!' and my response is always the same. 'You owe me nothing, and take that money and buy your kid lessons'. I now have many young men and women that can play circles around me and It fills my heart with joy.

 

My path would have been very different if I didn"t have a young dad who always had an instrument (late 70"s Les Paul) around and didn"t insist on music lessons as part of earning my keep. I am nowhere near where aspirations are, but I wouldn"t be me without music.

 

Keep on paying it forward. Just tonight my kids circled round the amp for some synth madness, and while I wouldn"t say they necessarily cared about what I was playing, they all had inspiration afterward to one-up me. And they will. And it will be the proudest day of my life.

[SteveCoscia]

... what are opportunities you have created for your children to carry forth the music mantle?

Our son was born in 1993, and I played the piano for him when he was an infant - he was not crawling yet - after work most nights. He enjoyed the time with dad and the music, and I noticed he'd light up, smile and start kicking during a turnaround in When Sunny Gets Blue. Each night, he'd react the same way during that tune's turnaround. It seemed clear that his infant ears discerned something likable during a specific song. That's when I thought that he'd probably be musical.

 

Fast forward three years. My wife is driving him to day care and she'd play a cassette tape for Michael during the trek. One day, she comes back home after leaving for day care. "What did you forget?", I asked. She nonchalantly says, "Michael wants to hear the Jeff Beck tape." So I grab Jeff Beck's, "There And Back" tape and she departs again. At three years old, he was listening to a wide breadth of music.

 

Fast forward 25 years. Michael is an accomplished musician. He's got a day job, but he also composes music under his own brand/banner. It's been fun watching his musical development.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Our son was born in 1993 . . . Fast forward 25 years. Michael is an accomplished musician. He's got a day job, but he also composes music under his own brand/banner. It's been fun watching his musical development.

Steve, I'd love to check out some of your son's music if you're willing to share. He's, uh, not that much younger than me (my brother was born in '93). If he is also in the Philly area, I have a lot of friends and family there and I'm in town fairly often (well, at least, I was, pre-covid).

[Notes_Norton]

My father played trumpet, violin, ukulele and later in life organ. He wasn't a pro, he supported the family with a day job, but as a musician he was quite talented.

 

When I was a kid, my dad would take out the uke, open music books to those corny but wonderful old songs and we'd sing along. That was the spark.

 

My favorite toys were the ones you could make music with, and I'd pick out songs by ear on them. I learned a few chords on the uke, but at that time I was more interested in melody.

 

In the 6th grade we moved to Florida, too late to get in the band, so I got in one of those plastic recorder classes (the tonette). In 7th i wanted in the band but all the instruments were rented, so like all the new guys, I got a pair of drum sticks and a practice pad. When the tenor sax player's family moved, the band director asked who wanted to play the sax, I guess I was more enthusiastic than the rest. The band director fanned the flames.

 

My big sister was not interested in making music, my younger sister played clarinet in school but put it away when she graduated. I'm still playing.

 

My wife is a musician and the joy of having two musicians in the house that can play together, and gig together is sublime. We have no children, a music career that used to involve a lot of traveling didn't make room for that (Like a roadside inn: no kids, no pool, no pets, no regrets).

 

So how do you share the love with your family? Doing what my dad did when we were very young is one good answer. Bring out the uke (guitar, piano or whatever), play and have the kids sing along with you. Don't preach, don't teach unless asked then only as much as the child can handle at the time, and most of all, keep it all fun. After all, that's why they call it PLAYing music.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[SteveCoscia]

Our son was born in 1993 . . . Fast forward 25 years. Michael is an accomplished musician. He's got a day job, but he also composes music under his own brand/banner. It's been fun watching his musical development.

Steve, I'd love to check out some of your son's music if you're willing to share. He's, uh, not that much younger than me (my brother was born in '93). If he is also in the Philly area, I have a lot of friends and family there and I'm in town fairly often (well, at least, I was, pre-covid).

SamuelBLupowitz - Here is a YT of one of his songs. He knows the Philly scene well.

 

[video:youtube]