Does your family make music at home?

[Mandobart]

I never knew my dad’s parents, but his father played an 1880’s German made violin (which I have now) and his mother taught and played piano. Grandpa was a coal miner and he and my grandmother would play dances at the coal camps and in town.

My mom and dad grew up in northern NM in the 20’s - 40’s. They were married in the 50’s. Mom played piano in church and dad played classical and flamenco guitar. Our family sang Christmas carols together and sang together in church.

I started violin in grade school. Both my parents liked classical music so that was fine with them. They never pushed me to play but they always encouraged me in whatever I chose. They would come see my crappy high school rock band when I played bass guitar. But other than church and Christmas carols we didn’t sing/play music at home.

Both my sisters are good singers. The oldest played accordion for a while. The younger sings very well and plays guitar (just chords on a classical guitar to accompany her voice).

My younger brother sings well and has dabbled with guitar and mandolin but I can never get him to pick tunes with me when I visit. My older brother plays no instruments, but he was a huge musical influence on me - got me into Neil Young, Bob Dylan and John Prine. He was a DJ for a while in Santa Fe which I think was his dream come true even though he was always broke. Now he’s a capital crimes prosecutor in a Midwest state.

My daughter sings wonderfully; she’s classically trained and very good. She also plays piano. My son played violin, trumpet, clarinet and bassoon in school at various times. Neither of them do anything musically now, and they were so busy with their other activities, and my wife and I with our jobs, house, old parents, etc. that we didn’t have musical family time back then.

My wife sings and played flute in school. She’s uninterested in musical pursuits now and doesn’t care for the bluegrass and Americana jams, festivals and concerts I attend. I’m the last one in my family, for now.

[Don Lampson]

Originally Posted by ceciltguitar

There has probably already been a previous thread on this topic , but I couldn’t find one during a search. If you find a previous thread on this topic, posting a link to previous discussions on the same topic is a welcome addition to this thread.

Does your family make music together at home? Either the home that you grew up in, in your grown-up family with or without children?

My dad grew up in the days before TV. They did have radio, which they sometimes listen to in the evening. Sometimes, during the evening they would sing songs together, and his Mom would accompany the singing on the piano. She was self taught and played by ear, just chording along.

My dad learned to play piano as a child, he took lessons for eight years. When he was 16, he got a guitar for Christmas and learn stuff like Elvis Presley tunes and some hillbilly music.

When I was about eight years old, he rekindled his interest in playing and singing music and started playing guitar and singing for his own enjoyment for probably 30 minutes to an hour several times a week in the evening. Of course we kids and my Mom all enjoyed listening to him. Eventually, that’s why I picked up the guitar, and I would play with him. Sometimes one of my sisters would also sing along.

My wife sings and plays guitar and we’ve been “weekend warrior” musicians off and on (mostly on)ever since we were married 37 years ago. We also taught our two older sons to play guitar and they used to play with us sometime when they were teenagers. (They also picked up bass, drums and piano, had their own group and toured with a big name local band - MAE).

Playing music together for mutual enjoyment was a big part of our lives before we were married, not so much after we married. That is, although we really enjoy playing gigs together, we normally only play together at home when working up music to perform. Same with playing music with our sons, it was never really an activity that everyone wanted to do for fun, (although it was mostly fun for everyone ) rather it was always in preparation for a performance.

How about you?

As a Preacher's daughter, my mom played hymns competently on the piano for services... That was the extent of her music... My dad was a great whistler, and loved to sing cowboy type songs, but was short on lyrics on most of the songs....

OTOH, her sister married into a musical family... Uncle Hubert could play most any instrument, but only had a budget Regal guitar, and a "wire" recorder, that had me spellbound at a young age... He was so pleased when I took up the guitar at 10 years old... He spent hours of mercy playing with me, and was the best teacher I could have found! He installed a DeArmond P/U in my O-18, & with a Silvertone amp, I became electric... When my parents got me a Supro Dual-Tone, he bought himself a '57 Les Paul... Soon after, he became disappointed that I was stuck on Rockabilly, and "Okie" music... He was hoping I'd follow "Les", who was his idol...

Don

[ghostnote]

No one in my family played any instrument when we were growing up, nor do any of them now. My siblings were extremely sports-oriented, as was I, and we were all quite good at that. We did have music around, however - my parents loved music and the radio was playing seven days a week at home. I was exposed to lots of different things that way. I’ve always been a music-lover, and as a kid I always had a guitar in a case under the bed, but didn’t spend enough time with it. I’d play it for 3 months, then let it sit there for 6 months while I was playing hockey or baseball. I did that for a long time, and you can’t become a competent player that way. I was well into adulthood before I had the time to actually play consistently, and it’s still what I love to do. My girlfriend used to sing, play guitar and uke with me, but that’s much less frequent now due to her other interests. I’m lucky to have been in bands with great musicians for decades, and to have amassed some nice instruments and equipment along the way.

[catndahats]

Our family plays a bit together; wife and I almost daily---but our family is spread out, and some have passed these days. Our youngest son has a lot of talent and talented friends that we play with when we are together. We always play together when brother and sister-in-law visit.

My side of the family was not terribly musical, but my mom and her sisters played in a girls accordian band in the 1940's, and her dad sold/played pianos and other instruments. My dad tried guitar as a kid, but did not stick with it...
Wife comes from a big bluegrass family. She tells of her youth when the house was constantly filled with family/friends playing together. I got to experience the tail end of it when we first met...a lot of fun!

[Charlie Bernstein]

Mine is too far-flung. My sister, one of her daughters, and I do when we're together, but that doesn't happen often. And her other daughters hate it, so it doesn't happen when either of them are there.

[Guitars44me]

My mom was a classically trained pianist, with a minor in music in college. My dad was a minister, so my folks were a great deal for the churches my dad preached in, as they got a free pianist/organist.

My dad and mom both had good voices and enjoyed singing. My dad played the harmonica and the jaw harp. Plus he could play his head. Really. He would tap on his head while changing the shape of his mouth and he could play melodies.

He also had a couple fillings in teeth that picked up radio stations, but that’s another story…

So, I Spent nine months in the womb next to a piano!

Church choir started at four for me, and I was playing in the bell choir reading music when I was five. Piano lessons started at six, but I just wanted to play the drums. I wanted to play jazz on the drums.

Fortunately, my father got tired of listening to me mangle “Carry me back to old Virginie”.
So after that, my parents relented and drum lessons began. Eight years of drum lessons! I could sight read jazz charts.
My lesson the week the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan the first time, was the chart for Satin Doll, using brushes.

Some family jamming occurred, and looking back it was some of the funnest times of my youth.

Make more music! spread more joy!

Paul

[Railroad Bum]

My great uncle Oscar was a session player (guitar) in Nashville back in the 50s. I met him a few times when he was very old, and he still had some hot jazzy/swing licks. My grandmother sang and played Carter style. She did a nice Spanish Fandango. My mother was a beautiful singer, and one of my sisters was a very good trumpet player. I have always been obsessed with music and acoustic guitar, and I have definitely put in over 20,000 hours playing guitar. It always sucked living with family who were not musical and didn't appreciate my bad playing and singing, lol. But now I live with only my teenage son, and he's a guitar head and music nut like me. So it's constant music when we are home together, either listening or playing, and we have been jamming together as he gets better. Hopefully, he passes the music on to his kids because it's the best hobby I have ever had, and it's saved my bacon on a few occasions--Tim.

[Murphy Slaw]

My Dad didn't play, but he did drink beer. He had friends who would come party and bring a guitar. I learned to play with them.

That's how I learned to play guitar, drink, smoke and cuss.

Good times.

[mike o]

Wife and I are a performing duo so yes, we have had a lot of music in our home. Our parents on both sides, music lovers but not musicians. We did pass the gift on to our son who can play guitar and bass.

[CASD57]

I wish....
My wife plays piano and loves it when she is inspired, but that not often enough
When she came to this country she left everything behind including her piano.. so 3-4 years ago I bought her a Baby Grand hoping she would play more..it hasn't worked out

I'm the only one in my family that's plays anything, I grew up with music as my Dad thought he could sing lol but no one played an instrument.

[abn556]

Growing up, both of my parents taught music. My dad was a college music professor and my mom also had a music degree and taught piano and played for the church. In the family we all had piano lessons. My aunts and uncles were all in multiple church and civic choirs and so we had lots of playing and singing going on. It was kind of like the musical Wonder Years….

My mother was a great accompanist on the piano. She had started playing piano at church before age 10 at a large church. By the time we were kids, she had 25 years of playing with choirs and vocalists of all different skill levels. She was quite adept at transposing the key of songs on the fly to accommodate someone’s vocal range. Even though my father had more advanced degrees in music, my mother was the much more accomplished natural musician. She never, ever practiced. She would just sit and play. Once at a civic Christmas party the pianist cancelled at the last minute. My mom got up and played Christmas music for 2 hours straight with no sheet music at all. She said she could hear the melody in her head and could just play it without even thinking about what she was doing. In my experience ability at that level is quite rare.

[tinnitus]

I was born in the 1950s to a musical family. All of us sang and played.
- drums
- piano
- various brass instruments
- singing in groups, choirs, school musicals
- fiddle
- even tried bagpipes for awhile
- ukulele, guitar, bass
- harmonicas

Drums were a total no-brainer for me as we had a full set in the basement right next to the record player. I'm no Gene Krupa, but I've been mimicking Charlie Watts and Ringo for decades.

Taught myself ukulele and performed pop AM radio covers in the family van on interstate camping vacations. Music was a strong common bond for the four of us.

Guitar was a natural progression. About the time I noticed curves on girls my age at school (none of them seemed to dig Tiny Tim either - sorry, I just never got him), I exchanged my ukulele for guitars, mostly electric. My folks and sister didn't lean into hard rock like I did, but they were encouraging and supportive.

From a more technical standpoint, many things on vinyl back then were not accurately slaved to a digital 440 A, so tuning to the required pitch in order to play along was just part of the deal. This, I feel, is an important part of learning how and why any stringed instrument works. Capos too.

Over half a century and a dozen scruffy bar bands later, I've abandoned the huge (often thankless) effort of putting a band onstage and scaled back to a simpler acoustic-duo guitar sound, though I still play classic rock, blues, ballads, twang, etc.

Present day. I can't help but feel I'm a positive influence for my three adult kids who play acoustic guitars (to varying degrees), and my friends who play or are learning.

Veering back toward the theme of the thread: One close friend, learning now in his mid-60s has only one regret looking back upon his childhood. "Wasting time making noise on 'expensive' instruments" was ignored/discouraged in his bustling houseful of siblings, engaged instead with sports and after-school jobs. To avoid perpetuating/repeating the pattern of ignoring music as a family hobby, my pal keeps a number of guitars, ukes and keyboards handy at home for his 5 granddaughters. He and I assist them in learning new stuff whenever they slow down enough to show interest.