Re: [MMM] daddy's boy

Great story Dan, thanks for sharing.
g

"D.Stearns" wrote:

> I've been playing a lot with my seven-year-old son Bryan lately--he
> wanted one thing for Christmas, an electric guitar, and he got it.
> This has offered me a rare glimpse into what I already intuitively
> knew.
>
> I've long felt that the more you learn the farther you get from other
> things, and they're things you can't get back either. Namely innocence
> and the liberation and abandon that are part and parcel.
>
> Bryan's playing is amazing. He plays everyday and the sound is
> alarmingly confident and completely lacking in anything resembling
> timidity--I had him leave a live playing message on my friend's
> answering machine, and he thought it was his friend Bret, a strange
> but accomplished guitar veteran. Bryan listens to very little music,
> and he has no fear or even recognition of doing it right or doing it
> wrong. I have all I can do to keep up! It's fresh in a way that can't
> last, how strange.
>
> So far, I've kept my distance... I'll show him this or that, but only
> occasionally and only when we're not playing music--his music. He
> knows what he's doing and it shows! It may not always be what his pops
> would do if he had is druthers, but it's also almost always something
> his pops couldn't do if wanted to--if only he knew! Truth is, it would
> be a shame to "teach" him now because he's in the zone, but I do
> occasionally worry that he'll acquire a lot of bad (habits technique
> wise. Oh well, I'm doing what I feel is right.
>
> We're going to 'rehearse'--i.e., get him on a big amp and see if he
> can handle the volume increase that comes with playing with a drummer,
> and see if he can get the hang of singing into a microphone--next
> week, and we hope to gig soon. It's wild. Kind of like those old SST
> guitar bands but a lot more nuts; more rhythmically spastic like
> Drumbo era Beefheart. None of those guitarists were ever as free and
> fresh as he is either, and only a few were ever any more interesting.
> (Okay, I'm his dad, and maybe I can't be held accountable for that
> last statement, but we'll see! BTW, I play fretless bass and he's been
> playing my fretless Kramer since he broke a string on his guitar a
> couple of weeks ago, so I guess we'll be a microtonal punk band--see
> this post was on topic after all!)
>
> Should be fun, and interesting too... we'll see. As it is, it's
> enough.
>
> take care,
>
> --Dan Stearns
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

hi Dan,

> From: D.Stearns <STEARNS@...>
> To: <MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 12:11 PM
> Subject: [MMM] daddy's boy
>
>
> I've been playing a lot with my seven-year-old son Bryan lately--he
> wanted one thing for Christmas, an electric guitar, and he got it.
> This has offered me a rare glimpse into what I already intuitively
> knew.
>
> I've long felt that the more you learn the farther you get from other
> things, and they're things you can't get back either. Namely innocence
> and the liberation and abandon that are part and parcel.

i agree with George that this was a great story.

it's also something i can relate to. quite a few of my
students are in the 7-9 age range, and a lot of them like
to sit at the piano and play stuff they make up, and it's
often quite good! they're all still just beginners at
learning piano, and even farther back in terms of theory,
so it's basically natural talent.

-monz

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