Just wondered if most people who enjoy music come from a musical famiy


Hope this works...

nope none of them !!! i dont really bother them with my music stuff its not of interest to them i only got into music thanks to my husband buying my first flute and off i went xxx its the best thing i have ever ever done

yep...for far too many generations really...I should have broken the mould...but no. think of all the stuff i'd have missed out on if i'd done something new...

there is a very similar thread somewhere - you might like to see if it comes up on a search.

I voted No, but the real answer is I have no idea. I suspect they don't, either. I can't imagine that my father ever had the opportunity to play anything - he could be really musical for all anyone knows! My mother is more likely to have had the chance, but to my knowledge hasn't ever played an instrument.

Very. Father was church organist. Mother is (locally) celebrated soprano.

I always thought no, but it was only after I had started learning to play the piano that my mum told me, in her youth she had a diploma (with honours) for piano.

Not a musical bone in my mother or father, but my maternal grandfather was an Irish lyrical tenor who could have made his living as a professional singer, and appeared (if that's the right word!) a couple of times on radio.

A couple of my daughters are quite musical - clarinet and piano.

My parents aren't musical at all, although my paternal grandmother sings in her church choir and used to play the piano a little. Her other children, my uncle and aunt don't play or sing but one of my cousins sings and has just started clarinet and piano.

My parents aren't musical at all, and used to really resent paying for my singing lessons - though, they did it without fail, and for that I'll always be grateful. They do love my sister's piano and guitar skills though, I think, because they think it shows real talent (unlike singing which apparently anyone can do ), and they're proud of that - so they are obviously musical enough to appreciate some forms of music.

My mum went through about a six month phase of trying to learn piano, but then her teacher moved away. I've been trying to persuade her to pick it up again, but she won't so far.

hi lucky 045 singing to me would seem one of the harder instruments no keys or pedals to help out i have had a few singing lessons with my teacher ( she also teaches flute and sax) and once she has explained breathing posture etc etc theres a lot to do i will stick to keys thanks so i have great respect for anyone who sings

monkey flute/sax

Not really, although they can both sing in tune! And yet both my sister and I are very musical. Guess it's something you are born with?

My parents aren't musical, but all four of their kids are!!

I play oboe and sing, my sister plays flute and sings, my brother plays trombone and my other brother plays the clarinet!! And my grandfather plays the French horn

My mum played the euphonium for a couple of years, but she recently informed me that she faked it to get into the Salvation Army band when she was sixteen, because she had her eye on someone there...!

father- haha! not one bit musical.
mother- can sing really beautifully and plays piano (always in the key of C but very impressively...) taught herself.

four children- pianist, flautist, clarinetist, and hockey player... (?!)

I voted slightly, because my father (deceased) played drums competently in a jazz trio, but he couldn't read a note of music. Mother, not even remotely musical.

Paternal side of family - father had an uncle and a cousin who were professional violinists.

Maternal grandmother an extremely good pianist, could have played professionally but didn't.

I put yes.

My mother is a brilliant pianist who did some local concert work when she was young - I know I will never be as good!

On my paternal side my grandfather used to play piano for silent cinema, and was in a band in his spare time.

My elder daughter has little interest in playing; she is a dancer. just as my maternal grandmother was. My younger daughter is shaping up into a beautiful pianist; I am convinced she will be way, way better than me one day.

Genes are a funny thing.

I am the only remotely musical person in my family and group of friends.

I'm trying to persuade my niece to take up lessons though.

Father is not a bit musical - in fact he hates music. My mother never played an instrument but has a beautiful singing voice. I am an adult learner who loves music, plays an instrument but can't sing a note - make of that what you will!

My father started to learn the violin but had to give it up for family reasons. Late in life started the piano but never got to Grade 1 standard. He liked singing hymns.

My mother also started to learn the piano as a child but didn't have an instrument and her teacher rumbled it and sacked her. She tried again when retired but without much success. She liked singing.

I suspect that both my parents would have done quite well at music if they had had the right opportunity when young.

They certainly encouraged their children and I will always be thankful for that.

My dad can sing in tune, but has never had any lessons in any instrument, and doesn't play, but my mum and all of her side of the family are all very musical.

My Mum is a piano teacher, and also plays the cello, and both her parents are pianists/organists, and both of their parents were pianists, and it goes on like that for ages, and one of them was a proffesional trumpeter. My two aunties and uncle (mum's siblings) are all very musical too, but never took it as far as my mum, but they all play the piano, and have played clarinet, trumpet and sang at points.

Jacob.

My dad can't play a note on any instrument to save his life.

My mum did pass grade 6 piano about 30 yers ago. All she can do now is name the first 3 sharps in a treble clef key signature.

They just accept that I am musical, I can play violin and sing quite well and they can't. I am happy the way it is.

i voted yes,
my mum plays clairenet and my dad is always out playing the saxphone he also likes arranging i think my mums mum and dad are musical to so yh

My dad plays the bagpipes actually so he can read music but he's not exactly a virtuoso. All my grandparents and mom have sang in choirs at school but really none of them are very musical.

I must have been Scottish in a previous life or something, as I absolutely love the sound of bagpipes. I have a few recordings that I'm pretty fond of (one being 48th Highlanders of Canada playing "Amazing Grace").

Not really..
my father played piano a little
and my mother is an amateur soprano
hehe

My mum can sing a little but has never had lessons and my dad used to be a drummer in a local rock band band in his youth.

My dad's family is musical but they have all played by ear, mainly the harmonica, piano and singing.


I'm the only one in the family that can read music.

I can't answer this question because there's not a 'both'!

My paternal Grandmother sang professionally and my paternal Grandfather played the piano at concert level and I believe he was very good. My Father had piano lessons and begged for a violin as a child. He was given one without rosin for the bow (which you need or it won't play) and it was taken away from him because he 'couldn't' play it. Later he had lessons on classical guitar and was very good when I was a small child - even playing some flamenco. He also taught himself flute and played violin/fiddle, and restored musical instruments.

My maternal Grandmother sang professionally. My mother is tone deaf and hates music although she thankfully allowed me to have music lessons. She and I do not connect on any level at all.

My brother and I are both extremely musical but he doesn't play an instrument. I'm hoping he'll encourage his daughters to play an orchestral instrument because they may be musical enough to make a hobby out of it and it's a fantastic social experience.

My parents are THE least musical people ever

My dad still claims to have played first violin in his school orchestra, but neither of his parents have any recollection of that one... my mam and maternal grandparents aren't musical at all, but my maternal grandmother's brothers are incredibly musical and play professionally in an Irish folk family band-my great uncle was a world champion piccolo player!

Father passably so (played a bit of piano as a boy and then took it up later in life and can play every fugue, prelude or variation on said prelude or fugue that Bach ever wrote (albeit not quite up to speed) but nothing else : he doesn't see the need - with so much Bach to master, why waste time on anything else?).

Mother utterly tone deaf, as in if she were to sing 'happy birthday' you wouldn't have a clue what she were singing if it weren't for the words.

My dad played the trumpet for about 3 months and then quit because it hurt his lips, he then played the violin for a trial lesson and didnt like it because it hurt his chin - he HATES music and has no interest in my music... my mum has never tried an instrument and doesnt really understand it all so No

My dad used to bash out hymn tunes on the piano, and my grandmother could play two tunes - The Maiden's Prayer and a strange piece of music we all called Diddly om pom pom.

My Dad was an amazing musician and the house was always full of music, mostly Beethoven and Elgar - his great love! He never had any formal training but played timpani and percussion in a very respectable symphony orchestra, wrote a symphony or two (which I only discovered recently!), arranged music for his various wind groups and also conducted. Also was librarian for LPO then LSO, after that NQHO, so I was lucky enough to get to sit in on a few rehearsals and recording sessions with the big orchestras when I was very young. He did occasionally take an interest in my violin and piano playing when he could be dragged away from the orchestras! I think his genius must have skipped a generation to my children who are both far better musicians than I ever was or will be. Unfortunately he's not around to hear them which is really sad. My Mum loves music but never took learning an instrument very far, she did a couple of grades on piano. These days she loves the opera, and loves coming to the children's many concerts or just listening to us all playing at home.

I'd have to dispute that....mine are... (Or were...there's only my mum left now.)

Voted yes.
My mother learned to play the piano as a child and often talks about my grandfather being a marvelous clarinettist. I never heard him play though.
My father never learned to play an instrument, but can sing in tune.

Both of them are still singing in a choir.

my mom can sing sort of - she's relatively good with the notes but the keeping-in-time is atrocious. If she sings along with songs of praise on the tv then she inevitably ends up a line or two behind everyone else. I did point this out once and she said that she likes to enjoy all the words and that they sometimes sing bits too quick to hear all the words properly.

my dad isn't exactly tone deaf.... he can tell when things are out of tune if someone else is playing/singing (especially on the x factor when it's quite obvious) Songs that everyone knows, like yellow submarine and nellie the elephant, are definitely recognisable. He sometimes has problems telling the difference between 4 people singing the same line and 4 people singing in 4 part harmony. I had to teach him "money money money" by ABBA for a school production once which took a lot of patience. I was thankful it was a group performance and not a solo. He can't be that bad though. He used to sing me to sleep when I was a baby and I would stay awake for ages. Eventually he recorded himself onto a complete 90 minute cassette and just played me the recording.

after more than 20 years of watching the music when I play, my mom has worked out how to follow a single line of music... she definitely doesn't know what all the black dots and lines mean but she can follow it well enough to turn the page when I'm playing the piano... or to tell me where we are when I quiz her. She said she's worked out that the more black dots in any given space there are the quicker she has to follow them (and I think she's also worked out that notes higher up the page are further to the right on the piano). However, she can only do this when given a starting point. She can't find out where she is after I've started playing or if she gets lost. I don't think she'd be too good at the piano herself though for the same reason she doesn't drive. Last time she attempted to drive a car she couldn't cope with the steering, gears and feet all doing different things and crashed the car. She herself says she'd make a very good triangle player....

Are you sure? My mother didn't know what a bassoon was when I started to play*, and was only half sure about what a clarinet was!

*and I don't know if this is because she's not English, but she still insists on pronouncing it 'bazoon'

Not at all. No one in my whole family plays a musical instrument or sings; except for karaoke, albeit out of tune.

My parents are not musical as in they can't play any instrument (and can't sing either), but they do like listening to classical music. My earliest musical memories include listening to the _____'s Greatest Hits series, despite the terrible name, much good music and many favourites of mine now were first heard then. They sent me for music lessons just because that's what everyone else did (I grew up in South East Asia), good-naturedly pushed me to practice and forgot all about it. My mum then got worried when I wanted to do a second degree (music) at the same time as my computer science degree. And two years into that degree she still thought I played the trombone (it was French horn).

I voted yes. My dad plays the piano very well (albeit not as prodigiously talented as my Junior Guildhall-educated brother) and the clarinet in an orchestra. My mum has sung in choirs most of her life, although at 70 is now restricted to the church choir. It was she who assured me that the ability to sight-sing would come somehow if I plugged away at it - unfortunately that's one trait I definitely haven't inherited.

Mmmm...it wasn't an inborn or inherited trait with me, either - but I LEARNED how to do it .

Now you're in London again...???

Are my parents musical...NOT IN THE LEAST..They are very strong church people who sing hymns but and my father is in the chior but other than that NO.They dont read music, they don't like anything "Highbrow" as they term , a word that makes me squirm..They consider Mozart highbrow so lord knows what they would make of Shostakovich and the like..They also don't like anything "Loud" so that kind of rules out a concert..however raising the roof in church is quite a different matter.. Funny Lot, though of late they have said they would like to see Andre Rieu..

My Great Grandmother on my fathers side was a lady of gentility and her entire claim to fame was that she had her voice trained in Dresden (Prior to us levelling it in WW2) but other than that I am completely alone in the family for loving music..

Its a shame really..I feel they miss out on so much but you can't compete with God can you..heaven knows Iv'e tried but to no avail.. They have actually failed to engage at all with what I do..They actually asked if I could read music..I was lost for words..quite lost.

Andrew

Interestingly, my granddad was a play by ear clarinettist / organ player (plus banjo and whistling), and my Dad's mum was a singer so I've heard...yet neither of my parents have ever played or sung, and they both enjoy listening to different types of music, I reckon I've inherited the lot from both sides. My siblings haven't although they both had the opportunity to.

I think some families have never had the opportunity, so when one comes along and a child does particularly well, it's like shock horror, a child from a non-musical background is musical, but it's possible the genes have been there all along. And those who do well despite apathy from their family I admire the most.

Out of curiosity have you tried introducing them to Bach? (Not being sarcastic)

Both mine (and three of my grandparents) are/were musical, not to mention various great grandparents and beyond, and uncles, aunts and cousins on both sides and in various generations.

My mother studied singing and piano at the Academy, She taught piano and class music and also played the cello. As a boy, my father was a cathedral chorister and learned the piano. As an adult he taught himself a number of other instruments and played in an early music consort, a local operatic society orchestra and a couple of brass bands. In his 70s he became reserve organist in his local church and started and trained a choir.

All in all, it's rather embarrassing that I'm so incompetent myself...

My father played the piano and tottered about with different pieces but never actually played full classical pieces all the way through! - though I did get to recognise many great pieces' openings...
But his great passion was jazz, blues and all things syncopated. He is great at improvisation and I remember him teaching me the jazz chords progression. I never really got into jazz properly until after my Grade 8 - now I really appreciate the slow soulful pieces. But I think that his influence made it relatively easy for me to play the jazzy rhythms quite naturally.
My mother never learnt to play but she appreciates a great deal of music, and has grown to love stringed instruments the most and also opera. She was the encouraging parent who made sure I'd practice (don't we all remember?) And of course my childhood was filled with classicfm in the background...... very normal.

Interesting thread... my parents are both musical, but neither in Western classical music. My mother was trained in Indian classical singing from a young age and was quite good at one point, though never near professional... It's been more than 20 years since she practiced seriously, but she can still carry a tune quite well for an amateur (though perhaps not as quite as well from a Western point of view) My father was never trained, but he is an avid listener of Indian classical and early-ish 20th century songs, and I think he can sing decently considering that he was never trained. He certainly isn't tone deaf as he complains! Considering our background, it's a bit surprising that both me and my younger sister are obsessed with Western classical music... luckily, our parents are quite tolerant of our practicing/listening to it all the time They both appreciate our performances, though my dad sometimes zones out during longer, more complicated pieces. He says he "can't understand" a lot of what I play on the piano because he listens to more homophonic music, so it's always a pleasant surprise when he says he enjoys something I'm playing.