How Musical is your Family?

Dopesick

As far as I can tell, even down to my extended family of cousins, aunts and uncles - apart from my dads brother (who sadly passed twenty years ago and bequeathed an acoustic guitar to our family), nobody in my family I don't think has even touched a musical instrument.

Weird because from an early age I've always been kind of musically inclined - played the recorder and keyboard in my pre-teens, and took up guitar at age sixteen. Bit of a shame at family dos. I am trying to teach my six year old niece the guitar though and she actually seems interested. Just hope it isn't a phase. Her birthday is coming up next week and I might buy her a 3/4 electric with a practice amp of some sort.

EDIT: I forgot I have a second cousin (my dads cousins son) who I see regularly and he's a frontman for a few metal bands around the area. It was bizarre as I didn't know we were even related until he mentioned it at one of our first band practices well over a decade ago.

not_the_dj

My Grandad played in a popular dance band. He actually said his piano got him through the war as he was never sent anywhere too dangerous as the band were so good for morale. 

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Axe_meister

Oh yes, my Dad also had a band in the 70s (played Holiday Inns up and down the South West) called.
Grusome, Letcher and Groper.
They always started off with "By the end of the evening you will know who is Grusome who is Letcher and who is Groper, and we drink pints of larger"
By the end of the night the front of the stage would bit filled with glasses of beer, and they'd all chat up some girls (one of the reasons my parents split up)

boogieman

My maternal grandmother had a piano and an accordion, but she only ever picked out single notes on them, not proper tunes. My dad loved listening to opera records and my mum liked Val Doonican and Nana Mouskouri. That's about all the musical input I got until I heard the Beatles. I then asked for a guitar for Xmas. I'm pretty much self taught although I initially learnt a few chords via Bert Weedon's Play in a Day. (Haven't progressed much since really.)

My kids had no real interest in playing music, despite there being a keyboard and various guitars in the house. My daughter dabbled with guitar for about six months but, typical teenager, completely lost interest once I'd bought her own guitar. 

professorben

My dad is a Bassist, my Auntie Sheila was a professional singer (QE2, and corporate gigs, vocal coaching) and also sang the DangerMouse theme.

Philly_Q

fields5069 said:

My mum played the guitar and piano competently, in the late 70s she fancied herself as something of a Welsh Joan Baez.

Is your mum Mary Hopkin?  

viz

I think I'm the only one on my father's side who isn't a professional musician.

Flanging_Fred

My older brother has the ability to pick up just about any instrument and within half an hour be able to get a very passable tune out of it. He plays baritone/euphonium at competition level and makes a lot of melodeon videos for YouTube. Off the top of my head he has been proficient at piano/keyboard, violin, mandolin, penny whistle, sax/oboe, trombone, singing in choirs, piano accordion, and dozens of others I forgotten about. It's rather impressive but also a bit annoying that he can do it with seemingly little effort.

The one thing he has always stayed clear of though is guitar. 

EricTheWeary

Okay, this has raised my curiosity - the OP has asked the same question ( word for word) on TDPRI ( I thought I'd check TGP as well but can't get that to work for some reason)but on there he originates from Canada and on here England.
If it's trolling or spamming it's a very mild form and it seems a perfectly valid question for music forums but it also seems a little bit odd. @BigMoney   

professorben

EricTheWeary said:

Okay, this has raised my curiosity - the OP has asked the same question ( word for word) on TDPRI ( I thought I'd check TGP as well but can't get that to work for some reason)but on there he originates from Canada and on here England.
If it's trolling or spamming it's a very mild form and it seems a perfectly valid question for music forums but it also seems a little bit odd. @BigMoney   

Does the profile have a default setting to England if you don't change it? 

boogieman

professorben said:

EricTheWeary said:

Okay, this has raised my curiosity - the OP has asked the same question ( word for word) on TDPRI ( I thought I'd check TGP as well but can't get that to work for some reason)but on there he originates from Canada and on here England.
If it's trolling or spamming it's a very mild form and it seems a perfectly valid question for music forums but it also seems a little bit odd. @BigMoney   

Does the profile have a default setting to England if you don't change it? 

Possibly. If you look at his introduce yourself thread, he does says he's in Canada. 

mellowsun

My dad played violin in various professional orchestras, he played at the Queen's Coronation. My mum sang in professional choirs, sadly her singing ability was not passed onto me.

crunchman

There are quite a lot of musicians on my Mum's side of the family.  Going back to my great grandmother she used to sing in music halls when she was young.  By all accounts she was pretty good.  I only heard her in church in her later years.

My Grandma (her daughter) used to play the organ in church.  My Grandad was apparently a much better player but he wouldn't play in public.  I never even heard him play.  My auntie played organ in church as well.  My cousins on that side of the family all learned piano and various classical instruments to a pretty decent standard.  My family is a bit less classical but we all play something to the level that we can play in public.

My Dad's side isn't quite so musical but there was still an interest.  My Dad got to grade 5 on the piano.  One or two of my cousins on that side play instruments.

EricTheWeary

boogieman said:

professorben said:

EricTheWeary said:

Okay, this has raised my curiosity - the OP has asked the same question ( word for word) on TDPRI ( I thought I'd check TGP as well but can't get that to work for some reason)but on there he originates from Canada and on here England.
If it's trolling or spamming it's a very mild form and it seems a perfectly valid question for music forums but it also seems a little bit odd. @BigMoney   

Does the profile have a default setting to England if you don't change it? 

Possibly. If you look at his introduce yourself thread, he does says he's in Canada. 

Okay, I'll call my interest satiated then  

chillidoggy

My wife played a triangle in the Eisteddfod when she was 7.

That's it.

jpfamps

I don't think I've ever met anyone with as little interest in music as my father.

He never listened to music out of choice, and owned no recorded music.

My mother had a passing interest in music and did own some records, but rarely listens to music now.

My sister has quite different musical tastes to me, but no real aptitude for playing music.

scrumhalf

My father played violin as a sideline during the war whilst in the Polish army. He would often listen to music at home on the radiogram. He hated modern music with a passion.

My eldest brother (spits violently) had piano lessons and the prospect of being forced to go down the same route put me off asking for them myself. There was also a ¾-size violing which was apparently wating for me. No chance, I wanted to be a drummer.

My older brother played no instruments but introduced me, at the age of about seven, to Sanatana, Hendrix, Groundhogs, Beatles, Stones etc. One of the things of which I remain most proud was to have polluted many of the kids in my class at an orthodox Jewish primary school into hiding near the toilets on a Tuesday lunchtime to hear the Top 20 chart rundown. We had an external music teacher (she played guitar, we sang) who grinned hugely when, in response to her request as to which song we wanted to learn next, I said "Are You Experienced".

Two of his sons formed a band that charted and toured the world, but I understand that a recent argument has caused them to spplit (there's somethng about brothers arguing in our family). One of them is one of those people who can pick up any instrument and master it in about five minutes. I am proud to have helped him along the way by giving him his first electric guitar for his barmitzvah.

ESBlonde

My maternal grandmother was a concert pianist and my grandfather an MC in clubs when it meant master of ceremonies and host rather than street poet. they had ceased all such activities long before I was born at the end of the 1950s and I never saw her play a note. Other than that no blood relatives although my oldest son has apptitude on the guitar he is a lazy yoof and plays footie and drinks beer instead.

Panama_Jack666

My family is very musical. Even the sewing machine was a Singer.

richardhomer

chillidoggy said:

My wife played a triangle in the Eisteddfod when she was 7.

I'm playing triangle in a Reggae band at the moment.

I just stand at the back and ting....