Musicians and Birth-order

[Zooberwerx]

I’m more appreciative when bands “leave us” in order:

Emerson Lake and watch-out Carl Palmer

CSN&Y

Captain & Tennille

Sonny & Cher

 

[Thumpin6string]

I'm a first born. Not groundbreaking, but definitely ground shaking.

 

[Swerve]

I’m first of 3, only musician. Free spirit.

Groundbreaking? Well, my playing is a little unorthodox.

 

[Marley's Ghost]

Youngest of 3. Only musician
Oldest is a talented painter and graphic artist
Middle meh. Talent stick passed over.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

So many families have such a small sample size to gather data from that making any conclusion or correlation may just be confirmation bias.

I thought this would be about what instruments people are drawn too based off birth order. IE First borns like to be lead singers.

 

[JRA]

IME/IMO, birth order has a definite impact in some cases/families. duh.

that said, i enjoy all of the 'gifts' that could possibly be bestowed upon, or acquired by a firstborn....except wealth, health, and wisdom...those stations were unceremoniously ripped from me by two younger sisters!

 

[mongo2]

I'm the oldest of three boys and my younger brother is very good classical pianist. My youngest brother quit playing piano early on. I'm the only one who has played out.

 

[dalkowski]

I'd rather be rumpshaking than groundbreaking, any day of the week.

 

[ElectroVibe]

Okay I'll tell what made me think about this. I read an interview with Peter Buck of REM who said that his younger brother or maybe two, was or were better guitar players than he.

Of course it's complex. The person needs to have an interest and aptitude in music to begin with, for example.

 

[groooooove]

js bach - youngest of 8

mozart - had one older sister

beethoven- second of 5

 

[micguy]

John Lennon was either first or only child. I think George was actually the last of 4.

John had 3 half sisters - it's complicated.

 

[tlc1976]

I say carrots. I don’t think it matters. I read about the stereotypical relationship of personality type vs birth order. And every personality type has reasons that could (and has) resulted in an excellent musician.

There’s a lot of music in my family, at least on my dad’s side. My grandma played piano and guitar. 3 of her sons played in bands. My dad would have been the 4th but he was too shy. One of those uncles jammed with the Allman Brothers and ? And The Mysterians. My sisters and I play instruments. My cousins from 2 of my dad’s brothers play in bands. My daughter and my sister’s daughters play instruments too, and my daughter actually sings quite nicely. It just comes easier to us I guess.

 

[turf3]

Okay I'll tell what made me think about this. I read an interview with Peter Buck of REM who said that his younger brother or maybe two, was or were better guitar players than he.

Of course it's complex. The person needs to have an interest and aptitude in music to begin with, for example.

Well, until you bring data, it's meaningless speculation on the basis of no information.

Here's what I'd suggest.

1) Make up a list of 100 musicians you consider "groundbreaking" . Cover all genres, or just one.
2) Determine the birth order of each one. Exclude people with particularly unusual family histories like someone with three older siblings who'd all left home by the time the individual in question was a small child, for example.
3) Detemine the distribution of birth orders for your sample of "groundbreaking musicians".
4) Apply the appropriate statistical tests to determine whether the frequency of first, last, only, middle birth order positions in your sample is statistically different than chance.
5) Report back here with your findings.

Bon chance!

 

[J-Mags]

Hypothesis:
Personality type has an influence on instrument of choice. Older siblings are more likely to be a singer, lead guitarist or other type of upfront solo role, while meeker middle children end up in the rhythm section.

Or more likely, the first child gets first dibs.

I'm a freakin' groundbreaking firstborn. At least I'm groundbreaking within my family, in terms of being born. I paved the way for my lil' sis, who is a classical flautist.

 

[MonetBass]

Both Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan were second born. I'm sure there are more.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Does anyone else think about this subject?

It seems like many of the groundbreaking artists were often firstborn.

No, I'm not one either.

I was the last of four. All four us have great musical bones. I had the advantage of listening to my siblings learning how to play (which often times was not good) avoiding a lot of shortcomings.

 

[ElectroVibe]

Well, until you bring data, it's meaningless speculation on the basis of no information.

Here's what I'd suggest.

1) Make up a list of 100 musicians you consider "groundbreaking" . Cover all genres, or just one.
2) Determine the birth order of each one. Exclude people with particularly unusual family histories like someone with three older siblings who'd all left home by the time the individual in question was a small child, for example.
3) Detemine the distribution of birth orders for your sample of "groundbreaking musicians".
4) Apply the appropriate statistical tests to determine whether the frequency of first, last, only, middle birth order positions in your sample is statistically different than chance.
5) Report back here with your findings.

Bon chance!

It would be an impossible thing to analyze in that way because there are so many differing opinions.

But my own opinion shows clear correlations.

 

[ElectroVibe]

So many families have such a small sample size to gather data from that making any conclusion or correlation may just be confirmation bias.

I thought this would be about what instruments people are drawn too based off birth order. IE First borns like to be lead singers.

There may be some truth about that.

 

[ElectroVibe]

There was a trend for many years to try to correlate birth order with interests, talents, IQ, personality type, etc. With more real critical study, most of that has been thrown into question, if not totally debunked. I'd like to see the birth order numbers on 1,000 of the most successful musicians throughout history.

There is a difference, in my mind at least, between successful and groundbreaking.

This is all too subjective but I still like hearing people's thoughts.

 

[micguy]

Both Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan were second born. I'm sure there are more.

Their older brothers were (still are, I guess) darn good on their own.....