Celebrating Our Kids

[tothemax]

Totally cool, no kids here but one of my nieces took up violin in grade school and continued in the high school orchestra and is second chair. Her high school orchestra is playing Carnegie Hall in March, apparently they have a program for High School Orchestra. She's a great kid and as a senior, what a cool way to wrap up your high school days. Guess that I'll vicariously check that one off my list... my wife and I made the A-list invite and we can't wait to go. It will be my first visit to Carnegie Hall.

 

[lbbc]

We have 5 kids....all played music during school. 2 still do. Our youngest son plays bass, sings and writes heavy metal. Our next to youngest son plays bass, guitar and keys for fun at home.
We have 8 grandkids and the youngest ones have joined us on stage (at the end of family friendly gigs) to sing "The Rainbow Connection". Pretty cool that they're not shy!

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I was kid. That was fun.

 

[JC BASS 91]

I have three kids.

The youngest played trumpet for a year and really didn't like it. I think he only tried it because his older brother did it.

The middle, my daughter, played clarinet for a couple of years, but only because her mother (my ex) pressured her to do it, because my ex LOVES to live vicariously through the kids. My daughter asked for a guitar one year, and we snagged a steal of a deal on a very nice Yamaha acoustic for her. She messed around with it for a while, but never really did anything else with it. She still has it, though, so who knows what will happen down the road.

Now, the oldest boy, he started playing trumpet in the 6th grade. At the end of his 8th grade year, he came home and stated that he was joining the high school jazz band the next year. I assumed he meant trumpet, but no, "I'm going to play bass!" I had given him a short scale SX bass for his 7th birthday. I had shown him a few things over there years, but he never really seemed to take it seriously. By the time he graduated high school, the kid could flat groove. Even had a judge at a jazz band competition tell me, "Your son is incredible on that bass!"

He's 22, now and works as a patrol deputy for a county in my area. Loves his job, but has told me he misses playing bass. I encouraged him to play at home to whatever songs he finds fun, but while he can read music, learning by ear is not something he ever had to master. I have also encouraged him to seek out other musicians on the job (local PDs in his county, the jail staff, etc). He has found a guitar player that works for the town he lives in and they are trying to get a jam going. Hope it happens for him!

I am proud of all three of the kids for different reasons, because let's face it, no two kids are alike.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

My kiddo, sheesh, you're asking me to get started?

She's 16.
Jiujitsu, wrestling, orchestra, in that order.
So cliché, but she taught me what's important in life: eating cookies after midnight.

Competes in women's adult blue belt division.

Got a varsity letter, team captain in 10th grade.



And truly found a home with this group of highshoolers.

Gimme a chance to post pics and talk about her - you don't have to ask twice.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

Nothing as exciting as all y'all, but my 8yo who has been struggling with getting up to proper reading level has been making a ton of progress, and was even correcting me tonite when reading bedtime stories (and I tried to skip over some stuff... haha, busted).

Oh and she did so great at her school's christmas singalong learning the songs and being such a ham.

Congratulations on her reading progress.
Something about you sharing that specific thing just...eh, got something in my eye now.
Keep those bedtime stories coming - that's the real ish there man.

 

[LowActionHero]

I gave my son pointers and tips (not quite lessons) on drums and guitar. He played percussion in school. But my proudest is probably that he's teaching himself piano, which I CAN'T play.

 

[Standalone]

Wow! Unbelievable instrument. One assumes the gigs will have to come to James, rather than the other way around

BTW James is in very good company at Eastman. Those of us on this forum know and admire the playing of two fabulous alumni of Eastman: Tony Levin and Steve Gadd.

Thank you. Yes, it's not a very portable instrument! The organ program at Eastman has an especially fine reputation -- I am excited for him.

Here he is at 6 years old, playing some Warren Zevon by ear.

 

[Pings Bass]

My daughter followed my footsteps as a Jill of all trades, learning a little piano, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, drums, and hand bells along the way. She pretty much dropped it all when she went to college, but still likes to play the piano now and then.

 

[Levent]

Cool af parenting you guys are awesome.

 

[vmas]









My youngest drumming in school Jazz band

 

[dalkowski]

I am the boundlessly proud father of a Berklee escapee who has since rediscovered his joy of music.

Applause to all the kids who are making it happen and the parents who support them unconditionally.

 

[WG Plum]

Nothing as exciting as all y'all, but my 8yo who has been struggling with getting up to proper reading level has been making a ton of progress, and was even correcting me tonite when reading bedtime stories (and I tried to skip over some stuff... haha, busted).

Oh and she did so great at her school's christmas singalong learning the songs and being such a ham.

My 8 year old is a total ham too, though it only comes out at home. He's intensely shy otherwise.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

M

From the title, you can gather that this thread is for all the Ma's and Pa's on the forum. Sorry this might exclude some.

My son graduated from Texas State last week and came out to jam with us the other night. In the eighth grade, he wanted to play trumpet in the jazz band, but the band leader said something like, "I really need a bass player." So, I bought him a 3/4 scale squier, an amp and taught him where the bass clef notes were on the neck. He did the rest. So cool to see him do walking bass lines from reading music notation.

Fast forward many years, he didn't keep up with the bass, but picked it up every so often. At practice the other night, he killed it. I'm like, Dude, when did you learn to play Black Dog?? He's so modest, he just laughed.

Anyway, that's my Proud Papa moment. What's yours??!!
(Proud Mama's too)


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My son started playing bass in middle school. Upon graduating high school, enlisted in the Marines as a bassist, and has performed thousands of gigs over the last 19 years.

 

[RGerhart]

My oldest is (hopefully) going to be a drummer, but still working on that.

My youngest is just the happiest baby I've ever seen. Big smiles all the time, and when I take him into the office to play bass, he lights up and gets very excited. Here he is, thoroughly entertained by the headstock of my Monarch (good choice, kid!).

 

[Ignatius]

My son was a shreddy metal head guitarist in high school who played in a few bands doing covers of Avenged Sevenfold and other like that. I could never play with such speed and precision as he did. He was also an ice hockey player and as that became more important, music took a backseat. He played college hockey, but in his junior year asked me to get him a good acoustic guitar for Christmas. I was very happy to do that!

He now has BS and MS degrees in computer science, a great job and plays his guitar to relax.

 

[Jason Bonilla]

awesome seeing all of these posts of kids making their parents proud.

I'm 24 and single so quite a ways from parenthood, but I have considered teaching my nieces how to play. They both love to sing, and love music; I just don't know if i have what it takes to be a decent teacher and pass on what little I do know.

 

[Cleezmo]

I do a monthly jam session, and the last few have had a horn section (these are uber-structured jams, with a set list and assigned tunes/parts). My oldest (8th grader) and his best friend play trumpet in middle school band, jazz band, and wind ensemble, and played on three tunes (two of which I got to play on as well) in the jam session. Playing 'You Can Call Me Al' with him and his buddy in the horn section was one of the highlights of my year for sure.

 

[lbbc]

We have 5 kids....all played music during school. 2 still do. Our youngest son plays bass, sings and writes heavy metal. Our next to youngest son plays bass, guitar and keys for fun at home.
We have 8 grandkids and the youngest ones have joined us on stage (at the end of family friendly gigs) to sing "The Rainbow Connection". Pretty cool that they're not shy!

 

[lbbc]

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At a Wounded Warriors Benefit....the Vets and the bikers loved that my family (grandkids) were getting into the act!!