How Musicial is your Family?

[BigMoney]

I tend to assume many musicians have music elsewhere in their family. I was introduced by my father when I was 5. Unfortunately I was more into Mario Brothers at the time. When I turned 10 I actually become interested. I wish I was interested when I was 5 though. How musical are your families? Super musical or not at all?

 

Cheers

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, my Mom was actually a HS music teacher, so I grew up around music of all kinds. But AFAIK, we're the only musicians in the family.

[CEB]

Mom played guitar. Mostly Hawaiian Slide guitar. Dad was in a band before I was born. I'm a farm boy from a long line of hillbillys. Everybody plays something.

 

I'm the worst musician in my house. My wife was an excellent brass player. My son is a sax player and a bari sax specialist and my daughter plays many things but specializes in Euphonium. She was originally a Music Education major but decided the pay was too low and the headaches too many. Both kids play in symphony orchestras and university concert bands. My daughter was playing in a municipal concert band during summers for some extra spending money but no longer has time for that.

 

Thank God my kids never had any interest in gigging. They probably realize what the sleep deprivation has done to their old man. I might have amounted to something in life if I hadn't been a musician.

[CEB]

Accidental duplicate post.

[d halfnote]

My father was a classical buff & played kb insts.

I never really knew much of his family background but my mother played all sorts of string insts & keys.

As a young woman she was a performer with several members of her family.

She & one of her sisters were on the cusp of rocK & roll developing from country & blues.

My grandmother gave me my first lessons on slide.

One of my great aunts (Sarah Goodin) performed at the 1939 World's Fair & is detailed in this book...

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Her-Voice-Women-Country/dp/0517581140

[desertbluesman]

My dad could play a little guitar but we never had one around the house when I was growing up. So no music in my family before me, my oldest kiddo plays bass and guitar. I started in music singing in a doo wop a-capella group. I was the baritone in the background harmonies.

 

I became interested in guitar during my first hippy excursion, I was listening to Crossroads by the Cream, because my buddy came up behind me and clapped a set of headphones on me. I never heard music quite like that before that night, and it converted me. Soon after I quit The Soundmasters and bought several guitars and amps.

[whitefang]

My immediate family, no. I'm the only one that took to playing an instrument of any kind. My Mom tried to get me started on piano, but like Bigmoney, I too, was 5 and had interests elsewhere.

 

My brother was tried out on the clarinet, but only got as far as causing the dog to try to carry the case out to the backyard to bury it. (true story, Mom had a photo of the dog with the case clamped in his teeth, standing at the back door).

 

EXTENDED FAMILY-- I've told y'all before that my step sister was the one who first taught me anything on guitar. And SHE was the only one of the STEPS who bothered with playing music. My uncle on my "biodad's" side used to play the clarinet( the one my brother tried to learn on) in local "big bands" around the Detroit area in the '40's.

 

My musical INTERESTS were largely began with my Mom, who had several diverse 78s and LPs of music ranging from Big Band, some jazz, an old Bill Haley 45, and some old classical discs. So I was never lacking for anything GOOD to listen to.

Whitefang

[jimmac]

Amature musicians way back in my family both sides. Great grandfathers one fiddle one banjo. Maternal Grandparents and parents and uncle played a lot in 40's and 50's even build a dance hall at grandparents property. First memory I have is getting behind grandma's paino during a dance when I was about 3 or 4. Stepson and grandsons pretty good guitar players but so far no pro's.

[Danzilla]

My parents weren't very musical. My dad played trumpet in the school band, but that's it. When they played records around the house, it was either marches or Englebert Humperdink (not the classical composer). My one aunt was a nun who taught music, and played piano, organ and trumpet. One of my uncles was a keyboard player in several rock bands in the 70's and early 80's. My sister took piano lessons for probably 6 or 7 years and was pretty decent, but never pursued it. I'm the only one in my generation that did anything "serious" with music.

 

My wife will admit that she has no musical talent whatsoever. Our oldest son took piano lessons for several years, and a year or two of guitar, as well as being a good singer in high school chorus and musical theatre. But he didn't take it seriously after high school. Still has some talent, and can pick up a guitar and still play a few songs.

My daughter plays flute and a little bit of guitar and piano, and is a very good singer. She is pursuing a degree in theatre, so still puts it to use.

My youngest son has a great ear for music. He can usually pick things up very easily. He had a great sense of rhythm as a child and we got him a lot of percussion instruments (but not a full drum set - we're not THAT crazy!). He's had 6 years of piano (wish he could keep taking as he's reached a new level, and is quite good; but other activities don't allow it now), played trumpet in the grade school band for several years, and trombone for one year. He is also a good singer and very involved in his high school choirs (including hand bells now, too!). We just got him a guitar for his birthday. We'll see how well he takes to that. Like most of us at one point, the only thing holding him back is a lack of desire to practice.

[Winston Psmith]

My father was always a Music fan, but it wasn't until I'd been playing the Guitar for a few years that he told me he'd briefly played Tenor Guitar in a band, back in the 30's.

 

He never picked up one of my Guitars, or ever told me any more about his time in the band? It's like it was a part of his life that he'd set aside and never went back to. I never pressed him about it either; if you knew my father, you'd understand.

 

None of my aunts & uncles played Music, or seemed to have much interest in it, so I don't where my Music comes from.

[BigMoney]

Great to see most people having some element of musicality in the ol roots

[JuJu Kwan]

My mom plays piano. We have a piano and collection of old folk instruments in our music room. Nobody plays the folk instruments, my dad is collector. I'd like to play them, but I'm afraid to even touch them. Some are very, very old.

[Larryz]

Me, my two brothers and my dad played guitar. My mom and I played piano. I also played drums in the drum corps and clarinet in the grade school through grammar school bands...my granddaughter plays violin and my son-n-law plays guitar, bass, drums, mandolin and a little banjo...that's about it.

 

ps. and my cousin Joey won a music scholarship to Harvard for his piano playing (that would be the most talented musician in the family history).

[whitefang]

Wow! Larry, you state "that's about it" as if you feel it's not that much!

 

But in comparison to others who replied, it's quite a BIT!

 

So, if we're extending past the IMMEDIATE family, I have a nephew who plays guitar in a death metal/punk band, and a niece who moved from drums to clarinet and flute and is now a nurse with no time for learning OR playing any instruments.

 

And I've mentioned a few years ago about another nephew who got some kind of electric guitar as a gift one Christmas, and his mother was taking him for ELECTRIC guitar lessons, which she told me COST more than just "regular" guitar lessons at the place she was taking him to.

Whitefang

[Larryz]

I guess "that's about it" would be downplaying it a little. We are so fortunate to have had music in the family all these years, at our family get togethers. I only threw my cousin in, as I am so proud of him. It is funny though at my uncles house, my cousin got so jealous of me playing my stupid little 3 bangers on the piano and singing Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc., and my uncle rocking out. My cousin is a super talented pianist and I'm just a bottom feeder. But, he can't play without his music sheets in front of him LOL! Joey and I still laugh about it!

[p90jr]

Music is my parent's lives.

 

There's lots of other musicians spread out in the family. My siblings are naturals but don't have the personalities that made them ever immerse themselves in music at the expense of all else for a bit. My brother has a larger stash of guitars and amps than I do (he's wealthier... was a professional skateboarder) but is just a hobbyist noodler. My sister (whose guitar I swiped to teach myself) will go through phases where she borrows an acoustic from me and it comes together fairly quickly, then she gets bored of frustrated and stops. My niece played piano and guitar, but was more interested in dance (she does it professionally, teaches and is about to go off to a graduate school program) and the French language (dual degree in dance and French, she taught English and a few other subjects for a year at a boarding school in Nantes, outside of Paris). When my kid calms down enough we'll start with whatever lessons... she says she wants to play the violin, my mom will probably teach her piano, too.

[p90jr]

I guess "that's about it" would be downplaying it a little. We are so fortunate to have had music in the family all these years, at our family get togethers. I only threw my cousin in, as I am so proud of him. It is funny though at my uncles house, my cousin got so jealous of me playing my stupid little 3 bangers on the piano and singing Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc., and my uncle rocking out. My cousin is a super talented pianist and I'm just a bottom feeder. But, he can't play without his music sheets in front of him LOL! Joey and I still laugh about it!

 

My mother is a classical pianist... she can tear through that stuff like nothing. Take away the sheet music and... not a clue what to do. My dad got his extracurricular improv lessons on jazz gigs in his teens so he could improvise and solo on his sax, which is what he often did... just wailed away for hours at the end of the day. My stepdad is a trombonist and, after giving me gruff forever for not keeping up with reading music and all of that, has me help him work out improvising.

[whitefang]

I guess "that's about it" would be downplaying it a little. We are so fortunate to have had music in the family all these years, at our family get togethers. I only threw my cousin in, as I am so proud of him. It is funny though at my uncles house, my cousin got so jealous of me playing my stupid little 3 bangers on the piano and singing Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc., and my uncle rocking out. My cousin is a super talented pianist and I'm just a bottom feeder. But, he can't play without his music sheets in front of him LOL! Joey and I still laugh about it!

 

I'd LOVE that instead of MY family's get togethers where the guys all stand around and swill beer and tak about what stupid stuff they did last time they got drunk at some bar, and the women gather in some other place and gripe about their husbands or who in the family is acting like a b**ch. Or like now, where all the millennials gather 'round a table NOT talking to each other but just bow their heads as if in prayer just

"nosediving" into their tablets and devices.

 

I'd give my right nut for a good jam session!

 

And my ex had a work friend who became a good family friend who back in the '70's we saw a lot of and was taking guitar lessons. When she told us this, I offered to bring out my Epi and let her show us some stuff. but she too, begged off saying she couldn't play a note without her music in front of her. I wound up taking it out anyway and since the woman was a long time country/western fan, wound up playing and singing them that old Hank Williams tune I said was the first one I learned to play and sing all the way through, "Move It On Over". And then regaled all with a few Dylan tunes.

Whitefang

[Larryz]

+1 Fang and P90, on being able to play guitar and sing without sheet music. Learning to play by ear and learning to improvise makes things and get togethers a lot more fun IMHO. There is nothing wrong with being a super player with music sheets in front of you though, if you know how to read. I have buddies that cannot read music, but still have to have their music stands with words and lyrics in front of them or they can't play. I was getting forgetful because I too started site reading with lyrics and chords on the stand, and got dependent on them. I decided to force myself to go back and memorize the tunes I wanted to play in front of an audience without the music stand. You have to smile, joke and make eye contact with an audience IMHO (i.e. and, not just bury your head in a music book LOL!)

 

[d halfnote]

Here's a great trick for improving yer ear: sing everything that you play.

Not only does it gradually expand yer vocal skill & range but it instills pitches in yer brain more deeply than simply hearing them.

 

 

[skipclone 1]

Hi

I am kind of in hibernation but, I suppose my family would rate as `very`. I am not even so high on the totem pole-my brother is in several bands. He is a Wall Street type-great gear is not exactly a problem. For a long time, ignorance was-I spent a long time getting him past what guitar shop guys were telling him. His music teacher is a PhD in music. My dad played clarinet, was friends with Johnny Hartman (who recorded with Miles D.), and rest his soul, he knew jazz better than I ever will. My mom was taking piano lessons until she injured her hand recently. She`s okay now, I don`t know if she plans to resume study but there`s a keyboard in her townhouse.

One of my uncles before he left us, always talked about getting a (professional) family band together. He used to tell us stories-he auditioned for Herbie Hancock`s band but, Herbie has always had a strict no-partying policy-well that didn`t work out. Another uncle is currently in two bands in the Minneapolis area. One of my cousins was music director for a play in Seoul, he now has an installation at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He plays trumpet and keys and one of his tracks is on my soundclick page.

Ya, like I said-`very`.

Happy USA birthday and be well everyone.