Growing up with music Growing old with music

Billy Henderson · From: Portland, AR, USA

I am seeking ideas for an essay about how music influenced our lives growing up and why it is important to us as we grow older.

Not sure where to go with this so I thought I would ask.

Roger Edgington · From: San Antonio, Texas USA

You could start by asking any forumites about their getting started. My Mom was a steel guitar teacher in the early 40's. She taught my dad. He ended up marrying his teacher. I learned from dad and by listening to Jerry Byrd and Jimmy Day albums. I've played since I was 14 years old. Playing Steel is a need that posses you and gets into your blood.
I'm sure there are lots of interesting stories out there.

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

This could be dissertation and since I have to fly out in an hour and a half I can't get into it. I started when I was 8 with the obligatory piano, and later, organ lessons, but it was the '50s and I wanted a guitar, great choice, and it did wonders for my social life. It also gave me a direction and focus to my life that led to music schools and a couple of degrees. All in all it's the "glue" that holds my life together and keeps my sanity intact and it's an opportunity to relate with other people/players in a way that non-musicians will never know.

Tony Orth · From: Evansville, Indiana, USA

Much of what Mr. Smith says above is true for me also. Started early with singing, piano, and High School band. Taught myself guitar and practiced every day for at least an hour.

Seems that music is the one thing in my life that I can do fairly well, have fun at, relieve stress, and be somebody. It's my true love of life and I thank God for the gift.

Tony

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Some have said that music's nothing more than numbers...mathematics with tones instead of digits. But it's more...much more. Music is the common thread that binds many people together. In our formative years, it was the only thing a lot of us had in common. And, in our adult years, it is a tool of reverie.

As children, there's a lot we can't share with others. We're separated by boundaries both real and imaginary that segregate us. Music trancends all those boundaries. It crosses the class boundaries, the physical boundaries, the economic boundaries, the educational boundaries, and lets us all bind to each other emotionally. It serves as study for some, recreation for many, an emotional outlet for others, and a means finally to earn a living for a small but significant group of people who become involved in one of the many facets of making, promoting, and distributing it, as well as a larger group in the associated industries that come into play in the reproduction and sales end of the business. You see, those little records we listened to had far flung benefits to many people and industries; everything from furniture and electronics (for all those radios, record players, juke boxes, and stereos), to the paper companies and printers, who provided everything from music books to top-40 lists, to concert posters. In one way or another, the music touched almost everyone's life.

When we get older, music is a time machine, one that lets us glimpse into the past, and a way for us to recapture that feeling...that particular time...when we were happy, or sad, or confused or confident. It's a mental bridge to another existence, one we cannot permanently habitate, but one we can visit as often as the mood strikes us. It is a friend when all others forsake us, a calming influence in the helter-skelter world of today, and a means to simply communicate with others on levels both real, and subliminal. It is conversation with the soul. Indeed, even some young people feel these influences.

Music is insignificant to only a very few, and important to so many. For some, it's almost life itself. Yes, it's a gift...and one that shouldn't be taken lightly, and one that's meant to be shared.

(See how I git when y'all start askin' them "philosophical" questions!)

[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 25 February 2003 at 06:15 PM.]

Al Marcus · From: Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)

Donny- That is very Philosophical and true. Well said.......al

Tom Olson · From: Spokane, WA

For me, music can sometimes be thought of as spiritual medicine (or a substitute for psychotherapy which I've yet to actually need

). Sometimes if I'm feeling down or had a bad day, I can pull out a CD of old 60's pop music that I remember from my childhood and it makes me feel better. And sometimes if I'm worried about what direction this country is going in, I'll pull out a CD with some traditional folk music on it and it seems to calm me down.

I think at least for some people, music can provide a sort of hand-hold that they can reach out and grab onto once in a while to keep from falling over.

Billy Henderson · From: Portland, AR, USA

Thanks for the responses on the Forum and E mails. Very good and very interesting!! Would like to hear from more of you on this topic. Emails are fine.

Billy Henderson · From: Portland, AR, USA

Replies still coming would like to have more. Got some very interesting material.

Please share with us your story(ies) about growing up with music, growing old with music. Emails are fine.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Donny Hinson - well said!

I can't add much, except that music has filled every corner of my life - corners that might otherwise have been empty spaces.

Music has challenged me, inspired me, and soothed me - and it continues to do so; I simply can't imagine what my life would have been without it.

I'm a lucky man...

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Roger Rettig

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