I was born with a love of music. My brother, Tracy, who was 11 months older than me, was going to have accordion lessons. He was 9 and that was the age you needed to be to start lessons. I begged and pleaded to be able to also take lessons even though I was only 8. I was allowed to take lessons with him. We had only one accordion and I was able to borrow one at the lessons so I could play too. It got this instrument craze and wanted to play more. At school, I started taking piano lessons. Everyone was given a song flulte to play. I ended up with a black one and a yellow one.
These photos are really old with a matte finish and I just photographed them since I don’t have a scanner. In the above photograph, I am playing the flute in our school band and my brother, Tracy, is playing the clarinet. I started flute lessons and band in the 4th grade. I really loved band except for one mean band director. One day, I was talking to someone during band and he hit me on the top of my head with his marble baton. Today, he would not have gotten away with that. Tracy was also musical and learned to play the trumpet and tenor saxophone. My sister, Trina, learned to play the piano and the alto saxophone. We used to play our instruments in a trio for church special music. I didn’t play my accordion much because I would get very nervous and afraid that I would make a mistake since it was more difficult to play than the flute.
I seemed obsessed with the desire to learn instruments. It could have been because my mother, taught herself to play the piano. She loved to play hymns at a slow pace. My father played a number of stringed instruments as you can see in the picture including the banjo, guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and harmonica. I ended up taking guitar lessons from him. The metal strings tortured my fingers, which accordion, piano, and flute playing did not do. So, my dad got me a ukulele with nylon strings and that was less painful. Next, I received a harmonica which he taught me the basics of how to play it. In later years, I even got a musical saw but didn’t ever master it.
As genetic gifts go sometimes, my younger brother, Trent, didn’t do well with any instruments. He tried the drums but gave that up. He was more into art. My youngest sister, Tricia, learned to play the violin.
