does anyone come forma musical family?
everyone except my dad plays and instrument in our family
me - trumpet cornet piano
brother - euphoniu guitar
sister - tennor horn
sister- cornet
mother - tennor norn cornet

is anyone elses family like it, i've heard of some people from entirely non musical familes who are amazing and some with musical families who are also amazing - does it affect your skill on instruments - or does music go further back in the gene line - is there any way of telling?

My mother is very musical and played piano and violin. Her father was a (published) composer of Viennese waltzes and songs. Her aunt was a cellist. Her first cousin (the cellist's son) was Hans Keller the music critic and violinist. (plonk - the sound of crashing names)

I was doomed from the start.

Violinia

My family isn't really musical. I play the flute and sing, and my brother plays the guitar, but we're the only ones! My parents really enjoy listening to music and they support me in what I do, but they don't know what it's like to feel nervous before performing etc. so that lack of understanding can be quite annoying at times!

Lots of music on both sides of the family but only ever strictly on an amateur basis - my sis and I are the first to make our livings from it!

Btw, Piers Adams, the virtuoso recorder player, is from a totally 'non-musical' family...

As far I know Im the only person in my family line who is even remotely interested in classical music. Dunno where I got it from! I think my uncle played the accordion a bit, My dad tried acoustic guitar, electric bass guitar, tin whistle but gave up each after a week or so. My sister tried piano but gave it up pretty quickly.Basically, everyone else, is into wrestling and other sports, animals etc.Anything but music...

I reckon most musicians had supportive and/or musical parents. But in the end, as expressed in an article I read and posted earlier today, it's the amount of practice (or playing) you do that does the trick, and innate talent counts for very little if anything without it.

Violinia

A musical family? Um.. no.

Well, apart from my grandads dad (or something that goes back a long way) who played clarinet and flute and was in an army band...

QUOTE (Cyrilla @ Apr 25 2005, 03:22 PM)

Lots of music on both sides of the family but only ever strictly on an amateur basis - my sis and I are the first to make our livings from it! Btw, Piers Adams, the virtuoso recorder player, is from a totally 'non-musical' family...

i heard him play last night on TV. he is amazing!

musical family- erm not really. my stepdads side is fairly musical though. but ive not inhertied it off them!

Nope, not me neither. My mum did try the guitar, but she said I was always better than her, and it was really sickening, so she gave up

Have a look at Violinia's post under the "Just a q" thread - quite a nice investigation of talent vs practice which I suspect has some bearing here too. Perhaps it's not so much the genetics as the attitude to music within the household - it's already valued and treasured, so family members might get encouraged more.

My grandad used to play a Wurlitzer in the Isle of Man - always remember him playing the piano when I was little, other than that it's really just me. My dad plays a bit, but my Mum and brother don't.

I'm the only musical person in my immediate family of 5, the only other relative who is musical is my cousin who plays piano.

My family is ZERO/NOTHING when it comes to music.

That's why I'm the first and am going to make a change.

mUSICAL FAMILIES?? My family?? No way.

My fathers side is particularly musical - my grandad played piano and banjo, one uncle plays piano and ukelele and banjo and sings folk, my father plays piano - (main instrument) classical guitar, guitar and drums skiffle band style, many years ago, my cousin is an opera singer, my mother sings in a choir, my sister played piano and clarinet (but gave up and now plays golf ) and I play piano and flute.

So I guess I get it from them.

Nope, my brother hasn't even got a CD player, my Dad's tone deaf (almost!!!) and my mum doesn't listen to anything if she can help it!

My Grandad plays organ, but only coz he was forced to when he was younger, so he's not outstanding. He plays for church services though.

Nope, not really a musical family, just the younger generation - me, my brother and my sister. Me and my sister play piano, whilst my brother plays guitar.

Wobby

my family...um.....they like music but they are um...not musical at all.....

my nanna played piano, then trained quite late in life as a singer, started a choral society which is still going strong some 30 years later. mum plays the piano and taught her four kids (i'm the youngest) piano from an early age. we all picked up a second instrument at high school but i'm the only one who carried on with it and went to music college, the other kids soon dropped the second instrument quite early on. it was great having someone there who could accompany me on the horn so practising never seemed that long. i now enjoy accompanying my daughters who have been playing flute and clarinet for about a year and a half. my husband on the other hand does not play anything, although his sister is an excellent clarinetist, his mother was a singer and his granny trained as a concert pianist. the genes must have passed him by.
having music in the family is a bonus but as long as there's encouragement and support in the home it doesn't matter where it comes from.

My immediate family are musical (with the exception of my dad), especially my brother. I think it helps that there is an understanding and you're practice time stands for something instead of a 'noise'. We support each other when there is no teacher to hand, and help each other through difficulties.

My whole family is musical except for my dad, who is tonedeaf. However, interestingly, my dad's grandparents were both wonderful pianists, and all of their children played musical instruments, except for my grandma, (my dad's mum), who wasn't able to due to limited finances at the time. However, my Grandma can play little tunes by ear on our piano at home, despite never having had a lesson in her life.

QUOTE (fluteandbassoon @ Apr 25 2005, 05:27 PM)

mUSICAL FAMILIES?? My family?? No way.

I take that back. My female cousins play instruments and my aunt hjas tried. My dad is trying to learn an instrument and my grand ma' used to play piano until I got it.

QUOTE

As far I know Im the only person in my family line who is even remotely interested in classical music. Dunno where I got it from!

Same here, except I think I inherited it from my grandfather or uncle. Funny how genetics works. My Dad's brother moved abroad long before I was born. He loved classical music and played piano; my Dad hated it. My cousin grew up closer in character to my Dad and vice versa! My uncle had a baby grand piano and cello. My Dad wouldn't even allow me to have an old electric organ that someone offered me free!

Consequently, at middle age you can guess how I'm making up for lost time. We have piano, guitar, trumpet, sax, 4 clarinets and possibly a cheap oboe soon. (I'm fascinated by woodwind instruments and love tinkering - thanks Ebay!) One son's only 12 but plays the trumpet very well and now a bit of guitar. The youngest has a great piano teacher.

The odd one out is my wife who 'tolerates' the music madness and has no desire to learn even the spoons.

Now, about the cornet and flugelhorn.....

Steve

Hey jonscott, sounds like a bit of a brassband family you have there?!!

Yup my family is pretty musical (and like you, my dad is the only one who isnt - although he did play the tenor horn when he was at school)

mum- flute/piano (main) and clarinet and sax
me- flute/piano (gr 8) (see below!)
brother - cornet (Gr 8) and piano (gr 8 i think)
other brother - clarinet (at music college) and piano (gr 8)

i think it can help if you are from a musical family (but then again it may also put you off!!!!) but then there are loads if musicians who arent. So no provable theory there!

My mother plays the piano me the clarinet, my daughter the flute, my son the guitar,
BUT THEN WELSH PEOPLE ARE BORN WITH MUSIC IN THEIR BLOOD
(oohh, don't know what sort of reaction THAT will get ............)

The music in my family is all on my mothers side and then on her mothers side (my gran)

My mum is the eldest of 9 and they all played an instrument either piano or violin. Most got to G7 ish, but none took it any further. One of her sisters is a professional singer.

My gran played absolutely brilliantly and all her six sisters played amazingly. The eldest was a professional pianist briefly, but retired from the concert circuit when she married.

Most of my many cousins have learnt an instrument - generally piano, one boy is a concert pianist. At least three girl cousins are piano teachers. One of those is also a classical singer.

My Dad is mad for classical music, but doesnt play any instruments. He has a vast collection of classical VINYL and plays it like it its heavy metal (or he is deaf). (He took us to the proms when we were small). No one else on his side of the family is remotely interested in classical music!

I learnt the piano but never kept it up. Husband plays trumpet, Euphonium, flugelhorn and teaches theory. All my kids play at least two instruments.

QUOTE

I reckon most musicians had supportive and/or musical parents. But in the end, as expressed in an article I read and posted earlier today, it's the amount of practice (or playing) you do that does the trick, and innate talent counts for very little if anything without it. Violinia

Violinia, you are SO right!

I heard my girl's ridiculous reasoning one day, when she seems partly to be talking to herself quietly, that she "MUST" (quote) be musical OR talented because "Mum, you're a chorister and your uncle is a professional musician!" (Quote).

NO, it's probably the amount and KIND of WORK, the kids puts in each day and for the rest of his/her life!

To quote JS Bach (translated into English) - "I HAVE HAD TO WORK HARD. ANYONE WHO WORKS JUST AS HARD WILL GET JUST AS FAR..."

How much family support one gets and how much and EXACTLY HOW one actually practises are probably more critical factors than how musical one's family is!

QUOTE (trudihiggins @ Apr 27 2005, 02:35 PM)

BUT THEN WELSH PEOPLE ARE BORN WITH MUSIC IN THEIR BLOOD

Well then something went wrong in my family didn't it? My dad (who is welsh) was singing the other day in the car and it was painful. Seriously piainful. Even I don't sing that bad and thats saying something.

My grandparents learnt the piano when they were younger, but my dad did not get the chance to (don't know why). My auntie also learnt the piano and she did very well. But on my mum's family, they did not learn any instruments such as the piano.

My family is totally unmusical. I've always wished my brother played something so we could do duets. And it would be so useful if I had an accomapanist in the family.

QUOTE (Puff cat @ May 27 2005, 02:55 PM)

And it would be so useful if I had an accomapanist in the family.

I totally agree! My brother plays the guitar, and he can do chords and stuff, but a pianist would really be useful sometimes *sigh*!

Yeah if I want to play duets or play along with the piano, I have to record it into the piano first. It's annoying coz if I can't play the other part I have to practice it, and then record it til it's perfect and by that point I've got fed up and thought of something better to do!

QUOTE (elmo @ May 27 2005, 04:39 PM)

Yeah if I want to play duets or play along with the piano, I have to record it into the piano first. It's annoying coz if I can't play the other part I have to practice it, and then record it til it's perfect and by that point I've got fed up and thought of something better to do!

I'd love some of my family nearby to be musical so i can do duets and stuff with them...but no such luck!

The nearest I got was me playing the accompaniment to Voi che sapete on the piano with my grandad singing it

But i played piano, sax and clarinet duets all day with sally today....it was fuuuunn!!!!!

ye my dad plays organ and piano and guitar and composes stuff too, and my sister plays the flute

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ May 27 2005, 05:53 PM)

The nearest I got was me playing the accompaniment to Voi che sapete on the piano with my grandad singing it

That would have been great to see!

my mum plays piano fairly well- she got up to learning her grade 8 peices at school but her teacher forgot to enter her so she did not sit it, but shes self-taught ever since. She also plays the organ sometimes, and the accordian, and sings a lot around the house.
My sister learnt the piano for a couple of years but gave up as she didnt like the teacher (and now shes going out with the teachers nephew!). She sung in the same choir as me for 4 years.
My dad has no musical talent whatsoever. But his dad is very talented - plays accordian, mouth organ, and sings all the bothy ballads in lots of competitions. My dads sister and her husband are in an amatuer operatics society, and their brother plays guitar quite well.
On my mums side, my granny can sing and my grandad plays the accordian.

Haha my family isn't musical at all- my aunts sing in the choir at our local church every Sunday, but that's it.

However, I started taking up musical instruments because my mum wanted me to when I was 5- I took up the piano and the violin, but then dropped violin only after 3 years because I hated the squeaky noises produced when sawing my catgut (I was never a pro at violin..). I then took up the flute, which I have stuck to since I was 8. And now I'm 16- I'm the principal flautist of 2 secondary school groups' orchestras, and I've gotten a distinction for ABRSM Grade 8 flute. I love Music- I've taken part in recorder ensembles, flute choirs, orchestras, chamber choirs and even learned opera singing and the guitar. It's so addictive...

Just proves how far a music fanatic goes when she loooooves playing instruments...

My family is not musical...period.
The way I started taking up piano was when my mom and I were walking down our street one day and we noticed a music studio.

QUOTE (Hulk @ May 27 2005, 07:57 PM)

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ May 27 2005, 05:53 PM) The nearest I got was me playing the accompaniment to Voi che sapete on the piano with my grandad singing it That would have been great to see!

Not too sure about that!! hehe.....joke!

hmm..my family is considerably musical, my mum learnt piano till grade 5 but has stopped for about 15 yrs, my dad play the guitar but can improvise fairly well on the piano though he has no piano background. my sister can play the piano up to about grade 3 standard but doesn't learn anymore.

I am from a non-musical family. May dad tries to play... trust me he is VERY trying!! But I think that he has given up on music now..not enough hours in the day sorta thing!