Your musical beginnings?

[Jax]

I posted this on another forum not too long ago, and thought it might be interesting to post here, especially since we have so many musicians here.


On message forums dedicated to particular bands, 'how did you get into this band' threads are pretty common..but not as frequent are 'how did you get into music to begin with?' threads. This can go for either your own musical pursuits, or what led to your love of SymX, or both.

So lets hear it..what were your musical beginnings?

I'll start..I was raised in a musical family. Dad was a drummer in a 'big band' type band in his youth, & while he didn't play music in his adulthood (aside from playing 'Chopsticks' on Mom's piano LOL), the foundation was there with him. When he was esconced in his den, buried in work, there was always music playing; whether it was a movie soundtrack, or the 1812 Overture (complete with cannons, of course *g*).

My mom was very musical, she played piano, and she sang in the church choir, as well as often performing solo during worship services. She always had music playing, often stuff like Andy Williams or Wayne Newton..every Saturday evening, Lawrence Welk was a tv must..and she was always singing (often to my embarrassment, in public..LOL).

So there was always music in our home, & it was only natural that my sister and I would carry on. I wanted to play drums & follow in my dad's footsteps, but Mom wasn't havin' it..darn it. So during my school years, I played flute, piccolo, and any sax you put in front of me in school concert bands/orchestras/marching band, and the church orchestra. I sang in the school choir as well as the school's Spanish choir in junior high, I sang in the church youth choir, and I played in the church handbell choir. I often wonder if my love for music came from my birth mother (who my adoption records say also had a love for music as well as a beautiful singing voice), or my adoptive family..maybe a mix of both.

Anyway, my mom listened to AM radio in the car, so that's what I was exposed to for most of my childhood as far as commercial music. Come high school, I realized that that sort of music wasn't what my peers listened to for the most part, so I found an FM station & started listening to it so I'd know what they were talking about when they talked about popular music..and I guess that's where it started as far as progressing to where I am now. My tastes developed from Van Halen, Boston, and The Doors..to Kansas, Rush, and Genesis..to Black Sabbath, Metallica and Queensrÿche..and then I met Dave Gallegos (formerly of Power of Omens) in 1997 & in the process of helping him to promote PofO, discovered the online progmetal community..and here I am.

I still toy with playing flute, as well as Irish whistle, but I can't say as I have enough time to devote to practice to be even remotely decent. It's still fun, though, & it feeds my need to make music, rather than just working for those who are making the music. I'd love to learn to play bodhran (Irish handheld drum), but haven't gotten motivated enough to pursue it yet..one of these days.

Okay, your turn!

 

[bball_1523]

that great to hear that you have a history of music in your family, I wish I had that! lol

anyways, I don't recall my family or even anyone I know while I was growing up that was dedicated to being a musician. My dad did have an acoustic guitar, but it seems as if he never really got into it. Maybe that had a small influence on me wanting to play guitar, but there was more.

Back when I was around 10 years old, I was getting into a lot of rap music and along with some of my friends, we listening to local rap stations that played music by Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, 2pac, Westside Connection, Ice Cube, etc. I was into dance music too such as music you heard in sporting events, and that led me to buying a bunch of "Jock Jam" cds and listening to other forms of electronic music. I was listening to mainstream rap up until my soph/junior year in high school back in 1999-2000.

Around my high school years, I was getting into way too much MTV and mainstream radio and that led me to listen to pop bands such as backstreet boys, britney spears, mandy moore, christina aguilera, etc. Yes it sounds embarrassing, but it made me want to sing so I joined the A Capella choir at my high school.

It was around my freshmen year that I was introduced to mainstream rock too, such as Creed, Metallica (old school too), etc. This also led me to liking bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, and as much as I dislike those bands and nu-metal, it did help me get into thrash metal.

I think it was around my senior year that I started to enjoy thrash metal with bands such as metallica, slayer, megadeth, etc. During december 2001, I finally picked up an electric guitar and it really helped me learn about other forms of music.

It was during my first year in college in 2002 that I really dived into a variety of metal. This was the time that I was surfing through music forums and learning about different bands. If it wasn't for file-sharing and online forums, I would never know about all of these GREAT bands such as SX, Opeth, Nevermore, etc. That is one reason why I support file-sharing. So yeah, through file-sharing and music forums, I got into bands such as Opeth, Symphony X, Nevermore, and a lot of prog/death/thrash/classical/jazz. I could go into more detail, but this briefly explains how I got into all this beautiful talented music, and I have to go to school now!

 

[Beelzebub]

I played flute, piccolo, and any sax you put in front of me in school concert bands/orchestras/marching band,

omg me too!!!

I listen to a lot of different types of music. Growing up, while we were getting ready for school my mom would put on the soft rock radio station, so that sort of music always has a place in my heart. Stuff like Wham!, Hall and Oates, Bread, ABBA, etc. I can listen to all day long. My dad listens to a lot of classic rock and oldies, too, so I also grew up listening to stuff like Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, etc. in addition to such artists as Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye. My sister likes a lot of rap and R&B so I kind of have to listen to that stuff when I'm in the car and she's driving, but it's grown onto me.

When I was in elementary school the kids in band got to miss class so of course I signed up. I started out with flute, and then when I was in high school I took up piccolo and saxophone. It's fun. I'm sure there's a lot I'm omitting right now but I'll probably come back and edit this later because I've got to leave in a few.

Some add-ons now that class is over for me:

I used to play recorder in third grade, just like a music foundation type of class. When I was in fourth grade I took violin lessons but I hated it. Not that I hated the violin itself, but I already knew how to read music and the teacher went so... slowly. I think I spent two months alone learning how to hold a violin, wtf? Sometimes I wish I could take it up again. I was in fourth grade when I started flute, and I kind of taught myself how to play saxophone when I was in my high school's band.

Welcome to the forum, Key!

 

[kazahana]

Great topic Jax.

My mum played piano a lot when I was little and that was always classical stuff. For some reason I remember being sad whenever she played Rondo alla Turca. I was raised as a Christian, so church music was something I remember a lot (mostly the fun, upbeat stuff rather than the dirge-like hymns which seemed to make up a lot of the service content) but my parents never really listened to music much otherwise. The only things I really remember about my dad's tape/record collection were some Queen, Pink Floyd and Jean Michelle Jarre...

When I started school, like a lot of kids I played recorder but also like a lot of kids I wasn't really interested in that. I kept it up for several years - that was where I learned to read music I suppose. At about age 10 I started violin and acoustic guitar, but being a stupid brat decided to drop guitar almost straight away. I played violin in the school orchestra, but I was never any Paginini. I broke my arm a couple of years later and was unable to play for a bit, but continued once it healed. After a few more years I was a foolish teenager and decided violin wasn't "cool" so I gave that up too. God I'm stupid.

All this time I hadn't really given a thought to listening to music - it was just something I did that had been ever so slightly forced upon me by my parents. Being a teenager I started listening to mainstream music through the radio, and it wasn't until I heard punk that I realised distortion was really cool. So I admit I liked punk for a bit when it was new and revolutionary to me, but then I heard "heavier" bands like Rage Against the Machine and started on a path toward metal. Metallica were the first actual metal band I was interested in. That would have been about 2000. I diversified my listening by exploring other big metal names particularly Maiden and realised what a truly varied genre metal is where before I had thought it loud and boring. (I already said I was stupid, right?)

I also took up electric guitar in 2001 and sincerely regretted having given music up. It was around this time a guy from Sweden joined my college who was shit hot on guitar and especially liked a guitarist called Yngwie Malmsteen. His glorification of the more technical side of metal made me curious as to what this was all about so he introduced me to progressive metal (a term I hadn't heard before). A certain album I bought on his recommendation called "V" absolutely astounded me and brought about a massive change in what I saw and valued in music.

A few years down the line, I'm a bit older and maybe a tiny bit wiser. My metal tastes now are far more progressive, but I'd like to think not limited by genre and I listen to a lot of things that I once found boring - classical and jazz music in particular.

 

[ThornsOfSorrow]

My family is kind of strange/overly happy; both parents sing constantly, and although it's an annoyance, I guess that probably helped me to want to be a musician. In third grade, we were all forced to play the recorder, which I loved. Then, from fourth grade until 8th grade, I played the trombone in the school band. That was kind of cool because I was the only one, and people thought it strange that a girl would want to play the trombone. Anyway, I quit that, but I had also started guitar lessons the same year. And now I still play guitar.
As far as bands go, Metallica was my first metal band (before that I listed to all that pop shit). I started listening to them in 7th grade, and had an obsession with them and a few other thrash bands before I discovered great bands like Symphony X, etc.

 

[Key]

Hi, I'm new to this forum. Greetings to everybody.
Thank you Lady Jax for contributing to a... let's say sort of great forum, by bringing up a topic like this.

My mother introduced me to the music of Queen one day after I finished my time as a toying 'round child,
and the way was open for me to the world of music.
This must have been the main reason for getting into Symphony X' music years later.
The raw fact that I got into progressive metal simply in a general meaning tho,
is a friend of mine introduced me to Dreamtheater. I just wanted to explore this rich universe.
..exploring the many other ones besides too.

I played piano very early in my childhood,
but the technical side of the piano never had a fascinating effect on me.
Look at me, I'm a drummer..
Piano just didn't catch my interest, it rather has been the mental side of composing music with it.
Using it as an instrument. A butcher uses a knife to
do his job, right?

Few weeks ago my drum teacher suffered a heartattack,
times are rough. He is dead. The music of Symphony X helps me a lot.
Thank you, guys.

Hope you get as popular as possible
and give Jax a lot of free jam sessions.
I know you can do it. Don't forget the quality-aspect tho.
But who knows what the future will bring..

In this meaning,
Good evening to everybody. Keep rocking.

 

[Anonymous]

Grew up listening to ZZ top and Rush with my dad.
Went through the average mainstream music scene from like grades 5-8. Of which included rap and nu-metal.
Started liking punk, especially Millencolin. Then I heard them live.... never liked punk again.
My cousin introduced me to Metallica, listened to that for like a year.
I discovered the wonderful world of Iron Maiden and Megadeth and now hate Metallica with a passion.
Since then I`ve been adding on to Maiden and Megadeth with bands like Children of Bodom, Nevermore, SYM X!!!, Adagio, Time Requiem, I could keep going but unfortunately im in spanish class right now so I gotta make it quick.
On another note I started playing guitar in grade 7 jamming along to blink 182 and dumb crap like that. Now I make more sense and enjoy learning little doodads and scales and just some random stuff to help my picking/fretting technique. All that and I`m only 17.......

 

[Androz]

I don't come from a very musical family, my mom, used to listen a lot to Queen and my Dad was a DJ in his youth, so he kept lots of cool vinyl records.

I got into music in 1997 with Metallica's Black Album, I was a huge fan until 1999, when I first heared Overture 1928, and then the whole Scenes From a Memory, that year I started buying the Dream Theater Cd's. Then, when I was buying Awake, the owner of the record store recommended me a new Cd he got, V by a band called Symphony X, and well, till now I'm still getting into more and more Progressive rock, jazz and Metal music.

Edit: Oh, and I started playing guitar 2 years ago

 

[†Russel Allen†®]

That's an interesting topic... that's good to share how music drove us from the very first moments of our lives.

I started early, I was about 3-years old when my mom bought me a toy piano, and I started playing it very easily. It has all the correct tunes, and stuff... my dad used to play acc. guitar and accordion, so I watched him play those instruments for hours (though I hate accordion, and I'm left-handed, so I can't play it, hahahah).

A few years later, my parents gave me a keyboard and I started taking piano classes, but it lasted only 2 months. It was not what I really wanted. I took my dad's acc. guitar then, switched the strings and started playing. Then I bought a guitar and started listening Metallica, Iron Maiden. I play guitar since 1993.

 

[1by4by9]

I used to listen all kinds of music and not music at all, depending on age. 5 years ago I really had this wake up call when I got a new PC. I surfed and listened to Nightwish's Stargazers MIDI-file and noticed it was afwully done. I tried to make a better one and bought guitar to help in sequencing MIDIs.

Well, that's what I've done for all the years now. I'm now playing in one thrash-metal band.

I'm happy.

 

[The Metal Chick]

When I was in elementary school the kids in band got to miss class so of course I signed up.

That's totally what I did too! I played what they called the baritone, but I guess it has a more technical name which I don't remember, but basically it's a small tuba that sounds like a trombone. Then after like 5 years or something I started on guitar and gave up the band geekness.

Now, my mom was always into classic rock 'n roll from the 50s on; my dad listened to Christian music which never phased me in the least; my oldest brother loved (and still does) disco and other 70s stuff; and my other brother is the one who led me down the path to metal. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Anyway, so my love for music started when I was 12 in what I call my 'radio days.' I'd sit and listen to the radio all day and record all my favorite songs from bands like Collective Soul, Hootie and the Blowfish, Gin Blossoms, Counting Crows...you know, 90s rock. I still have those tapes...

I did the grunge thing for a while, then Metallica of course snapped me out of that trance and showed me the greatness of metal. My brother burned me all sorts of CDs of new bands he wanted to show me, so basically every band I love stems from that, including SymX. I don't play the guitar anymore since I've lost the desire to be a musician myself, but my passion for great music continues forever.

 

[arglebargle]

Started the violin at age five, and oboe at ten. Played both until I graduated from high school, then gave them up. Got a guitar back in high school, but didn't play it for a good six years. And I suck at it, anyway. Took up composition two years ago because I was bored.

As far as musical tastes, I really didn't listen to much music at all until high school. Whatever my parents listened to, and that's about it. Then in high school I started listening to the generic crap that everyone else listened to. Once I got to college I started to get sick of it, and stumbled on some metal artists like Iced Earth and stuff. Loved it, and have been listening to metal ever since. But also other genres, particularly classical (esp film orchestral), progressive rock, and electronica most recently.

 

[Thraxz]

I grew up in a family almost completely devoid of any shred of musical desire or talent. Sure, my parents listened to oldies and country when they were in the car but that doesn't equate to much. Through out my pre middle school years I listened to country. Once I reached middle high I discovered that Metallica wasn't the devil after all and played some badass music. ("Enter Sandman" was my first metal song.)

After that, I got into all sorts of mallcore crap like Korn and Linkin Park.

One fateful day my first year out of college I heard In Flames - Cloud Connected on a satellite radio station. I decided right then and there that In Flames was a great band. Two months later I was delving greedily into undergound metal. Now I look back and even don't like Reroute to Remain and I even have it to thank for getting into metal.

I was BSing on metal chat channels and found that I liked melodic death the most which I eventually found to be wrong. I'm definitely a tried and true power/prog lover that only slightly strays into other genres like Gothenberg and folk/black.

I've only recently picked up the guitar which has made it clear to me exactly how awesome the music I listen to is because I'll never be able to play with my work ethic. I still have trouble with Blind Guardian solos.

 

[Soul of Ice]

My mom always listened to the oldies in the car, so that is what I really liked when I was younger, but as a family we never had any musical skills.

Then when I was getting older and more defiant, I started listening to the rock radio station, where I heard Alice In Chains and fell in love with the band (and still do).

A year or so later a friend of mine told me about Symphony X because his cousin knew Jason Rullo.

A week or so later I was in a music store, where I saw a Symphony X cd "V" and picked it up without hearing the band at all. I figured it was an omen and went with it at the time.

From there I got into all kinds of metal slowly over the years, then an explosion when I hit college and found a Prog Radio station to listen to while doing my homework.

The end.

 

[Thraxz]

PROG STATION? What prog station?!

 

[Soul of Ice]

well, now it is dead, but there is a new good one here www.progulus.com

 

[frozen_core]

I got into music at around 5 years old, when my mom enrolled me in piano lessons. I took piano for 2 years, and, being 7, I really didn't like it. Very stupid of me now that I look back. From then until about the time I was 11, I basically listened to my dad's vinyl, which included a lot of Beatles, Rolling Stones, and even Herman's Hermits. My mom had a lot of classical and baroque stuff, so I also listened to that.

When I started junior high (grade 7), I decided to join band, and, I actually started with the flute. I got made fun of a lot, being a guy and all, but, it was a lot of fun. Then, when I was in grade 8, the grade 9 students got to go on a band trip. Some people in my grade were allowed, but no flute players. Somehow, the band teacher convinced me to go, but I would have to play percussion. Ever since then, about 13 years old, I've been playing the drums.

I formed my first band a year later, and we played a lot of classic rock (Cream, Zep, Humble Pie, etc.), and some classic metal (Sabbath), but the only gigs we could get at our age in my city were blues/blues rock. So we played around town, covers and originals. Our sound kept getting heavier and heavier, until all we jammed was metal (covers/originals).

In grade 12, my high school's jazz conductor found out I played drums, and they were in desperate need of a drummer. I warned him I had never attempted jazz, but he had faith for some reason, and later that year, our jazz group played in Toronto Canada for the International Music and Jazz Festival.

About four years ago, our bass player stumbled onto this band knowns as Symphony X, and we started listening more and more to progressive rock and progressive metal bands. Pullling out some of our old CD's from late junior high, it almost seemed inevitable to work our way to prog since a lot of those CD's were the likes of Rush, Queensryche, and Kansas.

So now, we like to play a lot of prog style stuff...but every once in a while, find ourselves jamming out old Sabbath style songs...maybe even a little "Bring it on Home" sometimes

 

[Luis]

Since i was 8 years old, i began to listen to barroque music (Vivaldi in special), then Mozart and then all the great composer of the Romantic era.

When i was 14 i discovered prog rock by hearing ELP´s "Tarkus". I know SymphonyX since 1997.

I play piano, flute and a little of guitar.

 

[Beelzebub]

That's totally what I did too! I played what they called the baritone, but I guess it has a more technical name which I don't remember, but basically it's a small tuba that sounds like a trombone.

Yep, it's a baritone horn.

It's interesting that Metallica was the first metal band so many people listened to. I kind of just dived into prog when I read a recommendation for Symphony X on some random website, and the rest is history.

 

[RequiemX]

My mom's a music teacher. My dad's a pastor. You could say we had a lot of music.