Passing Our Musical Heritage to Our Children

It's interesting that my daughter will occasionally hear an older song on the radio like, let's say, "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry and say something like, wow, that's an old song, I haven't heard it in ages.  And to me, that's still a new song.  I guess that's because I still mostly listen to the Beatles and Chuck Berry and that sort of thing.  And my daughter is not terribly interested in my sort of music.  I guess I was not different when I was a child.

My Dad loved country.  As a matter of fact, he took me to my first real concert, Johnny Cash.  This was around the time of "Orange Blossom Special", before his TV show.  I don't remember too much about the concert, but I remember seeing Mr Cash again, thirty-ish years later, with my wife.  My Dad also loved Willie Nelson and Buck Owens, a couple of my favourite artists these days.  My Dad had some pretty eclectic taste in music as well, enjoying Dixieland Jazz, James Last, Boney M (yeah, I still have trouble figuring out that one), and lots of others.

My Mom loved Gordon Lightfoot.  My Mom and I met him last year at a CD signing when he put out his Live CD.  He's another of my favourite singers today.  Mom's tastes were a little more folksy, listening to John Denver, Bobby Goldsboro and things like that.

So what have I been exposing my own 15-year-old daughter to?  Well, I listen to the radio constantly.  She, along with her Mother are more TV watchers.  They'll just turn on the TV and find something to watch.  I don't usually turn on the TV unless there is something that I know is on, and I'm interested in watching it.  I tend to listen to the radio, mostly the oldies stations which, in this area, are CKDO and Q107.

And I try to take her to concerts, as many as possible considering the high ticket prices these days.  She's been to see Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, Glen Campbell, and Paul McCartney.  Some real legends there that I hope she remembers fondly in the future.  The Rascals are coming this summer, and I'm sure we'll be there!

Am I trying to change her music preferences?  Is there anything wrong with her listening to today's hits on Virgin Radio?

Of course not.  She SHOULD be listening to today's hits, the same as I did when I was a kid.  She's excited by new releases by her favourite artists, same as I was.  But I think it's important to expose her to the whole world, and history of music that's out there.

Stop and think about how great recorded music is.  We are still able to listen to artists long dead, and appreciate what they gave to the world.  Glenn Miller, gone almost 70 years, still leaps off the turntable, or C D player, or however else you choose to listen to his greatest hits.  Elvis died when I was 22, John Lennon when I was 25, yet their music lives on, and sounds better today than when they were alive.

When I was in my late teens I rediscovered the music of the 50's.  Radio certainly wasn't playing much Buddy Holly or Bill Haley in the early 70's and I really didn't know the music that was really popular just 15 years earlier.  But thank you to K-Tel for putting out some oldies albums celebrating the music of the previous generation.

Sure, K-Tel records were pretty bad.  They crammed 25 songs onto a single album, losing most of the fidelity and all the bass.  Pretty much like listening to the music on a little transistor radio.  And, even though most of these songs are two-and-a-half minutes long, K-Tel often cut out a verse, or faded them out early to save even more space.  But it got me reintroduced to the songs, and I sought out better albums of my favourites.

My daughter has heard the songs of my favourite artists all her life.  She doesn't always know who is who, but she knows the songs, and that's enough for now.  In the future she may seek these songs out, or she may not.  It certainly is easier these days than it was in my day.

I've also taken her to some younger artists that she'll be able to see long after I'm gone.  I took her to see Emilie-Claire Barlow and, three times, to Nikki Yanofsky.  In a couple of weeks we'll be seeing her again.  Since Nikki is only a few years older than my daughter maybe she'll be taking HER future children to see Nikki as well.

I know my daughter has a few interesting musical pieces on her iPod.  Quite a few Beatles songs, and some individual songs by Kenny Loggins, Jefferson Airplane, and Bonnie Tyler, among others.

I'd just like to think that, when I'm really old, and after I'm gone, she'll truly appreciate music.  If she still just listens to the day's hits, well, that's fine too.  But I hope she can rock out to "Bohemian Rhapsody" every once in a while too.

Michael