8/12/2016 9:36:36 AM
Did you always have musical ability? Mine was zero!

8/12/2016 9:36:36 AM

Did you always have musical ability? Mine was zero!
Until 5 years ago my musical ability was zero. I'd tried to play piano as a kid and was so bad that after a few months my teacher told me to stop having lessons. I also had a strong belief (which somebody must have given me) that i couldn't sing.

My boyfriend of 2 years was amazingly talented in music, he even wrote his own songs!!! which i thought was some kind of sorcery! One day in an attempt to impress him i picked up his ukulele and started secret practice - it wasn't too hard - there was hope for me. After a year or so i thought -' i wonder if i could write a poem and then see if i can turn it in to a song somehow?' - that wasn't too hard either. Slowly but surely i found some musical ability!

Of course it took years and years before i could shed enough self doubt to play and sing my songs in front of people but i kinda got there. And the bits of positive feedback i've had on this sight has been a massive help recently - so thanks :)

Did musical ability come to other people as adults or where you all talented even as kids?

8/12/2016 9:53:19 AM

Did your teacher really tell you to stop? That kinda makes me angry. Mrs. Linebaugh never would've told me to stop. I suppose I always had it, I heard stories of me as a tiny lad conducting the group of kids who would sing after Sunday school. We took a musical aptitude test in elementary school and I did well in that, so well that when I chose drums as my instrument somebody commented that it was a waste of talent. I started piano lessons a few years later and took up guitar in college.

8/12/2016 2:43:33 PM

Some people say I still have zero talent.

Two Silo Complex,
Ken

8/12/2016 4:17:11 PM

My Grandfather played, My dad played, so as a kid I just thought it was normal........

Because of this, song structure and writing came easy for me.

I still may take an hour or two lesson if I feel I'm stuck or in a rut. It helps to open my mind and process abilities too.


D.

8/13/2016 2:01:04 AM

Yea i thought most people would learn as kids. Me learning as an adult inspired my mum and she took up the ukulele (having never played an instrument before) aged 62 which i think is cool.

I might be wrong but i see a definite class division in the U.K with the middle and upper class kids having the chance to learn an instrument but not many working class kids unless their parents are keen. I think it's partly cause of money but partly cause of beliefs/culture. That's really shit given 60% of the U.K is working class :(

8/13/2016 10:04:33 AM

I started playing and singing when I was 8 years old. My first instrument was a Sax. I taught myself how to play good enough to join a marching band. The songwriting part came much later. My brother and I were waiting for my guardian to come home from work one day and we wrote a song for her with hope thta is would distat her enought o keep her from giving ua our daily beatings. They were getting very bloody andwe started to look for alternative solutions to having sacars all over our faces and bodies. So, we wrote the song complete with a little dance roi=utine. When she came home and saw our performance her face lit up and she was very pleased with us. Instead of a beating, that day she baked us a cake. From then on, every single day i wrote new song to perform for her. In case ou hav'nt guessed yet. She was mentally ill and extremely violent. My brother and I were abandoned children and all we had was this cruel relative who beat us daily.

So my original foray into music was all about surviving the daily bloody attacks of a mentally relative. Eventually I taught myself how to also play the trumpet, keyboards and later in life I biought myself a guitar and the wino's down the street (who were blues musicians) taught me how to play it. They use to sit out in fron of the liqour with their instruments and play the Blues all day long. Some of them were very popular on the chitlin circuit in the South. They taught me everything I know about music theory, songwriting and the pain of being a musician. They talked about having to pay so me dues. It was many years later that I fully understood what they were talking about. They went on tour every year so in 1971 they took me with them on tour on the chittlin circuit. It was a crazy trip and we spent many days hiding from the local law as they seemed tto have it out for us because we stirred up the crowds in the juke joints. Man. we palyed some joints that were so old and dilapidated that it felt like the roof would fall in when the crowd got loud and boisterous.

So the answer is no, I did not always have musical ability. I taught myself most everything I know. I couldn't understand it but everytime I got access to a new instrument I felt obligated to teach myself how to play it. This scenero continued on until I had taught myself how to play Organ, Piano, Sax. Trumpet, Flute, guitar, Bass, drums and to sing. It was all kind of supernatural. The day after I wrote that first song for our legal guardian, In woke up with a radio playing in my head. It has been there ever since. The music that I write and play is the music that I hear in my head.

So, no, I haven't always been musical but I have always had the ability to learn how to play instruments and since age of 8 when that radio turned on in my head. I believe it to have been a survival mechanism to counteract the violent mental illness of my relative. Most days It worked because everyday I had a new song for us to perform for her. She loved it. It was the only thing other than Vodka and Orange juice that seemed to put her in a good non violent mood.


Much Respect,
Sto0neman

8/13/2016 4:16:34 PM

Everyone on my Moms side of the family played or sang. I was self taught on a piano I found up in the attic when I was around 11. Later on I found out I could pick up just about any instrument and play it. So a big thank you to all of Moms side of the family!

Steve

8/13/2016 4:26:15 PM

Took me many years and lots of effort to get good enough at the guitar to feel like I was okay to actually play in front of people. That's why I started writing songs.
And then, once I was forced into singing, I was awful.
But, again, I kept doing it, because I had to if I wanted to get my songs out there. So, I got better at that, too.
Nothing came easy, though.

8/14/2016 6:30:19 AM

Stoneman that's some experience you've had and I'm sad to hear it. But your survival is inspiring.

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