Musical heritage

[Cruznolfart]

With respect:

 

My Father fancied himself a musician and, unlike myself, applied himself to gaining a formal education in music. He was a music major in college when WWII came along and changed his life. He spent the next 36 years as an officer in the US Army and never resumed his musical education or other music-related pursuits.

 

When I first picked up a drum and some sticks at about 5 years of age I knew I wanted to play. And I had always loved singing. I took such music courses as were offered in public schools; choir, marching band, orchestra. I was a percussionist, or rather a student of percussion. By high school I was starting to play out in a few garage bands and continued to play as much as I wanted over the next 16 or 17 years. Club, corporate and private gigs were the bulk of my experience with a couple of warm-up gigs for some better-known folks than I'd ever be. By the time I was 30 I was ready to hang it up, at least for awhile. Since then I've been nothing more than what I call a hobbyist musician; jamming with friends, taking a years guitar lessons and learning a few new musical styles just for the sake of having fun.

 

Of our 4 children, all grown, one is musical. And his Sons are both interested in music; one plays (at) guitar, the other drums. They're still young enough that it's not clear whether their interest in music will continue to develop but we do what we can to encourage and facilitate. And, although my collection of musical instruments and equipment is modest, particularly by the standards of this august group, it is all of a quality that it will be appreciated when it's passed down to the next generations.

 

Since the passing of my Father 10 years ago, we have started 2 scholarships for music students, one at Southern Oregon University in Ashland and the other at my Sons' high school. Each year a university music major is awarded $1000.00 and one local high-school grad is awarded $500.00. It's not a lot but any help at all is appreciated by students. We've managed to help quite a few young musicians on their way at this point and it feels good. On my demise the scholarships, named in honor of my Parents, will become fully endowed, allowing them to remain in effect permanently. Funny how the things we take comfort in change over the years. I owe my Parents big-time. This is a drop in the bucket.

 

What's your musical heritage?

[cvansickle]

My paternal grandfather was a big band drummer. In the early 1930s, he played for the Herbie Kay Orchestara. The Herbie Kay Orchestra attracted a large following during the 1930s and 1940s featuring popular college numbers played in sweet dance tempo. Though the group was initially based in the Chicago area it later toured nationally. Vocalists were Wynne Fair, Ellen Conner, and future screen legend Dorothy Lamour.

 

 

(How that group ever got anything done is beyond me!)

 

In later years, Grandpa played in various casual outfits. He passed away in 2000. I have his drum throne on my stage in my home music room as a tribute to him.

[Flight959]

Great story fella...

 

Regards

Flight959

[RichCI]

My mother was an elementary school band teacher before she retired after 35 years of teaching. My father started out as a music teacher until he decided he didn't like teaching (took about two years). Both have their Master's degrees in music; my father's main instrument is saxophone and my mother's is bassoon. But, what really got me into music was all the records they had in tons of musical genres, not least of which included The Beatles, Bill Chase, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Lemonpipers and The Association (I never did take a liking to my mother's Sousa recordings).

[Thundergod]

My great grandfather wrote the music for Ecuadors' national anthem... but no other individual in my family has cared for music, in fact most of my family doesn't think I should be a musician and stuff... so it's just him and me.

[Cruznolfart]

My great grandfather wrote the music for Ecuadors' national anthem... but no other individual in my family has cared for music' date=' in fact most of my family doesn't think I should be a musician and stuff... so it's just him and me.[/quote']

 

Being unfamiliar as I am with that anthem, I took the liberty of posting what I hope is not a poor rendition of it from youtube. Nice piece. You're in good company.

 

I get the feeling your family is fairly traditional. My Dad didn't like the idea of me starting to play out with no formal musical education. He thought the training should come first, then the performing. He was probably right.

[Homz]

My father was a jazz/dixieland band trumpet player. I remember as a child when he would still make my mom come to tears with that certain song that I can't remember the name of (I'm ashamed to say). I have been told by friends of my dad that he was the best they ever herd. I never herd him play professionally he quit that before I was born. It seems when you start having babies (my brother) you have to get a job.

 

I had been playing trumpet for about two weeks when the music teacher at my junior high school yelled at me and I told her to get bent and was kicked out of the band. Turns out not to be a bad thing. Dad got me a guitar that year. It was a Crestline electric Asian import and a Yamaha G-5 amp. Soon there after my aunt (Dad's sister) gave me an Applause acoustic. I still have the Applause 31 years later.

 

I found the woman of my dreams at the age of 30. She is a classically trained pianist. One of the best musicians I have ever met and or jammed with. We now have a garage band. It's great to have your wife and best friend playing music with you.

 

My son (age 9) is now the budding musician. He has an awesome ear for pitch. He is currently taking classical violin classes with a very formal teacher. A bit on the stuffy side for my taste, but my wife believes it's the way to go. On the side when mom isn't watching my son and I work on guitar lead lines in what I call classical. Classic Rock. The little guy is playing stuff from Claypton, Page and SRV. He is going to be amazing. He knows some day he will have my LP Standard. He knows what that means to me and is very respectful of his future guitar.

 

I love the endowment story and have made some small contributions to support future musicians too. In my case; that is my wife and I have donated a handful of inexpensive acoustic guitars to an orphanage in Viet Nam.

[Cruznolfart]

My paternal grandfather was a big band drummer. In the early 1930s' date=' he played for the Herbie Kay Orchestara. The Herbie Kay Orchestra attracted a large following during the 1930s and 1940s featuring popular college numbers played in sweet dance tempo. Though the group was initially based in the Chicago area it later toured nationally. Vocalists were Wynne Fair, Ellen Conner, and future screen legend [b']Dorothy Lamour[/b].

 

 

(How that group ever got anything done is beyond me!)

 

LOL! Good point.

 

In later years' date=' Grandpa played in various casual outfits. He passed away in 2000. I have his drum throne on my stage in my home music room as a tribute to him.[/quote']

 

Very nice.

[Cruznolfart]

My mother was an elementary school band teacher before she retired after 35 years of teaching. My father started out as a music teacher until he decided he didn't like teaching (took about two years). Both have their Master's degrees in music; my father's main instrument is saxophone and my mother's is bassoon. But' date=' what really got me into music was all the records they had in tons of musical genres, not least of which included The Beatles, Bill Chase, [i']Jesus Christ Superstar[/i], The Lemonpipers and The Association (I never did take a liking to my mother's Sousa recordings).

 

Glad to hear you underline something I've always felt strongly about; exposing kids to all kinds of music and musical instruments. I love my Parent's collection, too, lots of swing stuff. How did your folks feel about your musical aspirations? Did they offer any particular opinions?

[RichCI]

They never pushed me in any particular direction as far as genres go (they both have differing tastes themselves) but definitely supported me in my musical ambitions which is how they were with all of my interests. All they asked is that I not slack in school and have something to fall back on during my "I wanna be a rock star" period. All in all, very supportive.

[ninety1vee]

my maternal grandfather played piano and guitar, i only got to see him play once (cancer) at the age of 7. he was a mean blues guitarist and after i saw him play muddy waters, i knew i wanted to play. at 8 i got a crapola silvertone acoustic for christmas (love that guitar, made my hands strong) and tried to learn from books (hal leanord etc.) but i hated it. i would badger my father and mother to play their old records and i taught myself to black sabbath and grand funk railroad (his 2 favorite bands) and my mother's zeppelin and the who albums. at age 10 i got a yamaha electric at a garage sale and a fender frontman 15 watt amp, and the rest is history. my uncle chris (also a mean blues guitarist) who owns a music shop in santa barbara has been my musical guide through the years. his 58' black beauty was the first electric i ever played, ever since then i've wanted one. some day, some day:-({|=

[Cruznolfart]

My father was a jazz/dixieland band trumpet player. I remember as a child when he would still make my mom come to tears with that certain song that I can't remember the name of (I'm ashamed to say).

 

Wish you could remember it' date=' too. There's an old one by Al Hirt called "Eli, Eli" that I can't find anywhere (on the 'net) that is like that for me...haunting.

 

I have been told by friends of my dad that he was the best they ever herd. I never herd him play professionally he quit that before I was born. It seems when you start having babies (my brother) you have to get a job.

 

LOL! The wisdom of the Ages.

 

I had been playing trumpet for about two weeks when the music teacher at my junior high school yelled at me and I told her to get bent and was kicked out of the band. Turns out not to be a bad thing. Dad got me a guitar that year. It was a Crestline electric Asian import and a Yamaha G-5 amp. Soon there after my aunt (Dad's sister) gave me an Applause acoustic. I still have the Applause 31 years later.

 

I found the woman of my dreams at the age of 30. She is a classically trained pianist. One of the best musicians I have ever met and or jammed with. We now have a garage band. It's great to have your wife and best friend playing music with you.

 

My son (age 9) is now the budding musician. He has an awesome ear for pitch. He is currently taking classical violin classes with a very formal teacher. A bit on the stuffy side for my taste' date=' but my wife believes it's the way to go. On the side when mom isn't watching my son and I work on guitar lead lines in what I call classical. Classic Rock. The little guy is playing stuff from Claypton, Page and SRV. He is going to be amazing. He knows some day he will have my LP Standard. He knows what that means to me and is very respectful of his future guitar. [/quote']

 

Nice stuff, Homz. Sounds like a good family with good standards. (sorry, I could resist)

 

I love the endowment story and have made some small contributions to support future musicians too. In my case; that is my wife and I have donated a handful of inexpensive acoustic guitars to an orphanage in Viet Nam.

 

Thanks. Every little bit helps, I'm certain. And it feels good; doesn't it? Way to go, mon.

[Taylor Player]

My music ability has come from 4 parents.... yes that is correct. I was adopted at the ripe age of 3 months old by my parents (the ones who raised me). My mother was a vocal music major in college and taught singing lessons in my hometown. My father was a Surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN but had always been a trumpet player who played in the Salvation Army Band during medical school and after. Music was important to them so I was raised taking piano, cello and vocal lessons for years as a youth. My sister (also adopted) could never understand how music came so easy to me as she struggled to learn piano and flute. I always made my piano teachers mad because I basically never learned how to read music but would play effortlessly by ear. I did manage to learn how to read music in the Orchastra for cello. At the ripe age of 15 I decided I wanted to play guitar. My parents were against it due to the "Drugs/Sex/Rock & Roll image so I was on my own. I mowed lawns and shoveled snow to raise money for a guitar and finally bought a used "Hondo" guitar a few months later. I have always played guitar by ear (until I discovered tab in my late 20's.) but it is the only instrument I still play today.

 

Now on to the other two parents... knowing I was adopted, I always wondered who my "Birth-parents" were. I was born in Buffalo, NY and lived in MN and birth records are sealed for adoptee's in NY. After 6 years of searching (way pre-internet) I was able to track down my birth mother and her family. I came to find out that she and my Birth-father had met while playing in a band in Rochester, NY back in the early 1960's after she finished High School. He was married but separated and she was just out of High School. He was a keyboard player and she the singer/guitar player in the band. According to her, I was conceived one night behind the drum rack!!!

 

Well birth father went back to his wife when he found out she was pregnant and she put me up for adoption....

 

The interesting part is, she played guitar, her brother played guitar and her father played guitar... my birth father was a piano player who still plays in piano bars in New Jersey and his father is a drummer still today and he is well over 90 years old! Piano and guitar always came easy to me growing up. My 4 kids all wanted to take drum lessons in school band and my oldest boy who is now 21 is actually a very good marching band snare drummer and plays a mean set as does my 13 year old son. My daughter is an aspiring vocalist who is now learning some guitar from her vocal teacher and me. I have one son who has no interest in playing or singing but loves to listen to music...

 

I firmly believe that music is both a Nature and Nurture thing. Without either part of the connection between my 4 parents, I wonder if I would be a guitar player today or not??????

[Homz]

Great story Taylor. My kids are also adopted. Both are from Viet Nam. My very musical son (9) must have the gene as you do. Very similar in that he also has musical adopted parents. I suspect one day we will find out his biological parents are also musical.

[solacematt]

My great grandfather wrote the music for Ecuadors' national anthem... but no other individual in my family has cared for music' date=' in fact most of my family doesn't think I should be a musician and stuff... so it's just him and me.[/quote']

 

Took a listen, that was actually pretty good. Kudos to your grandfather.

 

Most of the people on my fathers side of the family were athletes. My dad apparently tried out for a band that would eventually become Boston, haha. Now he tries to play piano. He sucks at it, so he says it's jazz (assuming you know the joke ;) )

My grandfather was a guitar player and, along with my brother were the only one's encouraging with music for me. My uncle is a piano player.

[Taylor Player]

Great story Taylor. My kids are also adopted. Both are from Viet Nam. My very musical son (9) must have the gene as you do. Very similar in that he also has musical adopted parents. I suspect one day we will find out his biological parents are also musical.

 

I hope you support him in his musical endevors as music has always been "stress relief" for me. I rarely gig anymore' date=' I still play some weddings and funeral event's and once a year play in a band of hockey dad's at our annual parents only party, but every day I pull out my guitars, sit down and have some quality time. I am not sure if my parents reaction to my playing guitar pushed me more into it or not, but I found I could practice for hours and it was fun... unlike practicing my piano or cello lessons. It was definatly an instrument that I gravitated towards. Today, my music room has everything from a piano, drum set, bongos, shakers, trumpets, Banjo/Uke from an Uncle that played in the 1920's, a Classical guitar, 2 Acoustic steel string guitars, 2 electric guitars, a microphone, my Genz Benz Acoustic amp, my Delta Blues electric amp and anything else I can find to encourage the kids to find something they like to play on. I won't force any of them to pick up an instrument, but I do encourage them daily!

 

It would be interesting to me as a parent to help out in a birth family search. You may very well find that his birth parents were musical or at least one of them. I certainly believe it is something that you are born with to some degree.

 

My parents were not so thirlled that I wanted to do it, but it was at a time my wife was pregnant with my now 21 year old son. I hated not being able to answer any questions about my heritage, medical history or anything.... While I always was interested in finding out information about my birth family, it was those questions as a soon to be parent that drove me to find out some answers. I was able to go to Arizona to meet my birth mother, her mother, a 1/2 brother and 2 1/2 sisters shortly after finding my birth mother and then about a year later I had tracked my birth father down and met him while I was at a business convention in New York for my Real Estate Appraisal business. My birth mother gave me a great 60's Vintage guitar strap that she had kept from back then and I also have a couple cassett tapes of my birth father playing piano at a piano bar in New Jersey he entertains at.

 

My folks got over it when after hearing about all the troubles my birth parents had and continue to have, I went back to my parents and told them "Thank you" for adopting me and giving me the life I had growing up! I don't think I ever realized how good I had it or how tough it would have been to be raised by my birth mother and her revolving door of husbands. I don't fault her, but I really am thankful for the life I had from my adoptive family.

 

Here is a shot of the cherished strap and my Gibson AJ.... (I don't use the strap for fear of ruining it, but I really love it and will keep it to give to my daughter as she is my only guitar player and will get all of mine someday.)

 

[img']http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd219/lofapco/Peace_Dove_Strap.jpg[/img]

[ckledzepplin]

my great great great grandfather was the composer Felix Mendlsohn

[Homz]

 

 

It would be interesting to me as a parent to help out in a birth family search. You may very well find that his birth parents were musical or at least one of them. I certainly believe it is something that you are born with to some degree.

 

 

I think there are some things the kid has to do for him/her self. Helping them find info on their birth parents is beyond my pay grade. I can give them the paperwork from the adoption and thats it. I can't explain how it makes me feel to think about it. I hope it doesn't come up for a very long time. I don't deny them the right to look. I just couldn't be a part of it.

[surfpup]

I got nothin'. No music on any side of the family. There wasn't even in any in any of my neighbor's families that might have rubbed off on mine! I've always been jealous of those to whom music comes naturally (you know who you are). It is certainly a great gift. Me, I had to work very hard for the tiny bit of ability I have now. But, hey... like they say at the racetrack... you run what you brung.

[Taylor Player]

 

I think there are some things the kid has to do for him/her self. Helping them find info on their birth parents is beyond my pay grade. I can give them the paperwork from the adoption and thats it. I can't explain how it makes me feel to think about it. I hope it doesn't come up for a very long time. I don't deny them the right to look. I just couldn't be a part of it.

 

I really do understand that it would be difficult and I respect your opinion. It really should be a choice for the adoptee to make. For me it was pirmarily because of a lack of medical history but it grew into something larger and meaningful to help me understand more about myself. In the end, it made me most aware of how lucky I was to have been adopted by a loving and musical family. The one's who raised me, are the most influential and to me are my "true" parents, but understanding some of the why's in life like the musical side as well as other information has been a wonderful thing too.

[SRV-Zeppelin]

Cool stories, guys! I don't have a chronological order of my "musical heritage," but I can share some interesting facts/stories:

 

-My Great-grandfather was an accomplished violinist/composer and conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra on several occasions.

 

-Most of my great-grandmother's relatives were very musical and several are still recognized as accomplished musicians today over in Austria where they lived.

 

And finally:

 

My Dad wanted nothing more than a guitar for his tenth birthday/Christmas. He begged and begged for a guitar, pleaded with his parents.... and they got him a violin instead. Made him play it for two years. That ruined his musical experience.

19 years later, when he first got married, he bought an acoustic guitar, and after taking lessons for 2 months, quit and stored in a closet for 15 years until it was discovered by me! I've been playing ever since, and I still have that old acoustic.

[SRV-Zeppelin]

my great great great grandfather was the composer Felix Mendlsohn

 

Ya, and I'm related to Bach and Mozart... most people don't know that they were second cousins thrice removed...

 

...or are you serious? No offense if you are, but the chances of that are so ridiculously slim...

[littlekenny]

hmm...

 

My dad is in business, my mom is an acountant

 

 

yup, I got nothing

[SRV-Zeppelin]

hmm...

 

My dad is in business' date=' my mom is an acountant

 

 

yup, I got nothing[/quote']

 

Except for that kick-*** picture of Ace Frehley!

[saturn]

I was adopted at the ripe age of 3 months old by my parents (the ones who raised me).

 

We both have that in common, but the similarity ends there. Neither of my parents were musical, although my mom did sing in the church chior. I also never felt the urge to look for my birth parents. I was born in 1968, so I always figured my parents were two young hippies or something.

 

I'm more like Surfpup. I basically got into guitar on my own. I always loved listening to music and decided I wanted to play at about 13 or 14. A few of my friends all started about the same time, but I was one of the only ones who stuck with it.