# Your childhood exposure to music, and your overall history with it



## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

As for myself, I wasn't exposed to much art music at all when I was an adolescent. My pursuing it wasn't supported very much until it was found that I could learn a variety of instruments quickly, by my high school band class teacher. 

During my sophomore year, I left high school and went on to study at UOP in Stockton, CA. My major was in piano performance, and my minor was in musicology, which involved appreciation, listening, theory, history, and stuff like musical anthropology. I went on to get my masters in performance, and then started an organ apprenticeship with the organist who played for the oratorio group that still does the Messiah oratorio every year at Immanuel Reform, Ripon.

He was an older Irishman (named Randall), with long, bony fingers and he was speckled and freckled all over. He was a charming guy, who was the first to refer me to the work of Albert Schweitzer, Schweitzer being a great resource for understanding the chorales, cantatas, motets, and other works of Bach often played on the organ.

Since then I've been giving private piano lessons, wetting my feet occasionally with a recital, tuning pianos for churches and a couple different ensembles, and playing music for the churches I've ministered at. Recently, I wrote an article for the Philosophia Christi about early church music, and the history, linguistic, and theological meaning of the Creeds (Creeds being very oral and musical in nature, much like a Psalm).


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## Evelina (Sep 30, 2011)

It's great you've found ways to keep playing (and teaching!) music.

My mom taught me to play piano from a young age, maybe 5. She wanted me to be able to read music.

In middle school, it was compulsory for all students to participate in "exploratory band," where we tried every instrument for a couple of days and were rated on how well we played each, in an effort to guide us to an instrument that best suited us. Initially I wasn't great at flute but I fought to play that instrument, for some reason.

In high school things really got crazy, just with me being very very music-oriented for 2 years. I took flute lessons and was first chair flute in 3 concert bands / wind ensembles. It was great fun but pretty overwhelming, with solos and touring and everything.

But my teachers/conductors were so passionate and charismatic, I couldn't help but enjoy the excitement of late-night rehearsals with the whole band, watching it get dark outside and letting the music float out the school windows.

After sophomore year, I changed schools and stopped playing flute. I still tinker at the piano though.


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## Bookreader (Oct 8, 2011)

I've been playing violin since I was 6 and I often went to concerts so I had quite an exposure to music


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

In general I wasn't allowed to listen to music other than white Southern gospel (i.e. the Oak Ridge Boys before they went secular, or Bill Gaither but avoiding anything with a hippie edge to it) and Christian pop (i.e. Carmen, Petra). For the most part I embraced the faith at least as eagerly as my parents and didn't chafe against this, but fortunately I eventually stumbled out of the nest and discovered a lot more stuff. 

I fervently envy people whose parents introduced them to music.


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Early on I was mostly exposed to classical and jazz (thanks to my grandfather in law, an amateur bebop era jazz musician who had a giant record collection), and a select few bands my dad liked (Black Sabbath [hur hur], Slayer, Pink Floyd, etc). Arguably this shaped me into somewhat of an elitist prick who's deathly allergic to Nascar rock and lots of other modern, bad music.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I've played the flute since 4th grade, and around 6th-7th grade I was struck with a passion for music, which started first with buying a CD of Holst's The Planets. It all went down hill from there, and now I'm a Russian/ Decadent music junkie with some dissonance thrown in there.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

You all have some interesting stories! I told mine in another topic somewhere, so I don't want to repeat myself. But it's interesting how we started different places and ended up together here.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I was exposed to a wide variety of classical music as a child (especially symphonic, and chamber), but not to instrument playing. Nobody in my family played instruments, and it wasn't encouraged (which I deeply regret).
My father who was Italian liked Caruso but paradoxically I did not acquire an interest for opera from him until much, much later in life.


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

very little exposure to any kind of music.

the rare occasion when music was played it would have been pop music. i remember the cds called Now 83 or something like that. it would be 90s pop.

music classes in school were non existent (despite having a room full of instruments). if you show any interest you are told to get out of the music room and never touch the piano.

secondary school was the same. although they did make a failed attempt at teaching beats to pop songs. i remember hearing the car wash song. everyone left the class not knowing what a music stave is or where middle c is.

i learnt nothing music related from school. so no exposure there either. mostly at home.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Both my brother and sister were given extensive piano lessons as kids...I came around during a money shortage and crisis of sorts and thus did not receive any schooling outside of school itself...by the time I was eleven I had toyed around with the family piano quite a bit but obviously was never taught to read or given lessons...around that time, I found myself playing air guitar to one of my favorite hair bands of the time, Def Leppard...luckily, things kinda developed fast from there...my brother in law had an old electric guitar that he gave me; also, turns out I had a guitar in my home the whole time buried in a closet...apparently, my grandfather played it and a laud from Egypt that was in the closet as well...both were taken out and both I started playing right away....

...as I mentioned to the violin dude that is getting heavy lessons as an adult, I couldn't really make the guitar sound that good for the first couple of years and I seriously wondered if I had any ability to play music at all...lucky again, I woke up in the middle of the night one night and just knew that I had a song I loved figured out on the guitar; I got out of bed and ran to my guitar and sure enough, I had it figured out...all of a sudden (although i'd put a couple of years into it) and just like that, I could figure out any song I wanted with only a couple of rewinds on the cassette tape...

Flash forward to now and since then I've acquired the ability to play at least a dozen instruments and have composed several pieces for solo piano and for cuatro, tres and laud...I became an avid drummer and have played in several original projects and laid down hundreds of tracks at studios throughout the country; no, nothing you may hear in a big song but definitely stuff that has been heard...where and by who I usually have no idea...same goes for bass which has become one of my big passions; I gave four string a couple of years, then played a five for about 8 years and now I'm playing 6 string exclusively...somewhere along the line, early actually...I started playing guitar and trying to sing along...this has become a lifelong passion and I could not imagine going through a couple of weeks without belting out a few songs...I've been playing the local circuit for about 14 years now and have ventured into national tours several times...smokey bars are where I spend a lot of my time with a strange mix of selected interpretations and many original tunes with other local musicians as well...still, I never forget the classical music which somewhere in the mix of becoming a teen and learning several different instruments I gave many years of my life to and listened to exclusively for a long time...I always walked around with a paper and pen for when I heard specific performances I liked on the radio...and sure enough, that is what my listening has become about...seeking the best and most precise performance for the individual pieces I love...for the most part I've had much success in doing this...thanks to a bunch of you fine folks out here, I'll be able to continue this process that I stopped practicing for a few years. Currently, I'm trying to find my favorite Prokofiev as I only delved into his works on my own aside from radio play. 

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Hazelnut.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I pretty much had to figure it out for myself. My family is not into music. I took up drums and guitar as a kid and studied a bit, but mostly I've been an avid listener of all kinds of music since the age of eight.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

My parents were into classical music, so I heard their recordings initially. I did start playing piano briefly early on, but I got sidetracked. I've never touched an instrument since. I got a good grounding in terms of listening to mainstream repertoire through what was in their collection and also on radio. I started collecting recordings in my teens & going to some concerts as well. I've actually surpassed my parents in being familiar with more repertoire but now I find that I'm coming full circle and getting back to more and more of the old stuff, although I still love the newer stuff for sure. Similar to them, I'm an all-rounder, with a strong focus on music of the past 100-200 years or so, as well as the history of music, the lives/inspiration of the composers, stuff like that. My mother was an opera lover (but not limited to that only) but it hasn't rubbed off on me, apart from developing a like for other types of music with vocals. My father really liked the piano and saw a number of the major pianists in Europe in his younger years. I've tended towards chamber music more than anything else, which didn't interest either of them to a huge degree, although they liked it overall.



kv466 said:


> ...Flash forward to now and since then I've acquired the ability to play at least a dozen instruments and have composed several pieces for solo piano ...


Sounds like you're similar to a number of composers who were largely self-taught but understood the various instruments to a good depth. Eg. Villa-Lobos ended up learning every instrument he laid his hands on, apart from being an excellent pianist & conductor, which may explain how his music shows how well he understood the instruments which he was writing for...


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

When I was young, I remember having a very tiny (3 octaves, perhaps) keyboard which I loved playing on, and I had the occasional lesson, but my parents stopped that because they couldn't afford it.

It wasn't until I was 13 that I actually played a piano for the first time and began to take regular lessons. At this time, I skipped the first couple of grades and ended up passing my Grade 8 when I was 18. Since I was 13, I have continually developed an interest in classical music, and it has been a true passion of mine probably since I was 15 or 16. Now, I'm entirely obsessed and do my very best to listen to and play all that I can! 

In terms of music _exposure_ when I was little, my parents had no interest themselves in performance or in classical music. My Mum was an occasional listener to the Commitments/Lighthouse Family/M People _etc._; my Dad into Iron Maiden. That's all I heard until I got a classical compilation CD again when I was 13. Before then, I didn't listen to anything.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Polednice said:


> When I was young, I remember having a very tiny (3 octaves, perhaps) keyboard which I loved playing on, and I had the occasional lesson, but my parents stopped that because they couldn't afford it.
> 
> It wasn't until I was 13 that I actually played a piano for the first time and began to take regular lessons. At this time, I skipped the first couple of grades and ended up passing my Grade 8 when I was 18. Since I was 13, I have continually developed an interest in classical music, and it has been a true passion of mine probably since I was 15 or 16. Now, I'm entirely obsessed and do my very best to listen to and play all that I can!
> 
> In terms of music _exposure_ when I was little, my parents had no interest themselves in performance or in classical music. My Mum was an occasional listener to the Commitments/Lighthouse Family/M People _etc._; my Dad into Iron Maiden. That's all I heard until I got a classical compilation CD again when I was 13. Before then, I didn't listen to anything.


Well...My father couldn't afford my piano lessons, mentally speaking! He had a lot of money and wanted for me the same. "You won't make money playing piano Martin" were his last words before I killed him, mentally speaking again. LOL
I saw la Bohème with my mother when I was 6. She was an amateur and gave me some LPs. I started immediately with Chopin, my hero (my first Chopin was my mother's). I started my piano lessons when I was 5 with a big handed teacher who thought the piano was a victim and his hands were hammers...he played very much like Rachmaninov (he had big hands too), but my classes were boring...I think I was his victim too...Never played with him little pieces, just theory...But I was patient until my father said "this is over!". I started again when I was 12 (my father was happy because he got married a second time) and my teacher was young and initiated me to Schönberg, Berg and Webern. At 13 I bought Lulu, and one month after, I bought Wozzeck...I'd say I became a music fan at 12...I started buying music...a lot, a lot.

To be followed...maybe

Martin


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