Did any of your parents play the mandolin?

[Mr. Loar]

I know this topic was probably discussed before, but I'd really like to know. With me, no, but my Greatgrandmother was a drummer in the little town I live in.

[JeffD]

This is kind of interesting. My maternal grandfather played a bowl back mandolin, and apparently was active in the mandolin orchestra scene of the 20s in northern NJ. When he got married, he put aside the mandolin, for ever.

I did not know any of this until I was already playing mandolin for many years.

[gnelson651]

My dad had a hawaiian steel guitar I used to play with when I was a youngster. But I seldom saw him play it.

[mzuch]

Both of my grandparents on my father's side played mandolin, but my grandmother was the better player. Apparently learning mandolin was considered a mark of sophistication for young ladies in Eastern Europe around the turn of the 20th century. Her bowlback has somehow disappeared, but my grandfather's Stradolin was my first instrument.

[Tim2723]

My mother's father played mandolin and fiddle and called square dances.

[Mr. Loar]

My Mother claimed that she could play the piano, but I never saw her play. My Father was not concerned with what a Mandolin was.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Nope

[fredfrank]

My parents didn't, but my Grandfather played an old bowlback rather loud and badly. I actually have that mandolin, although it's pretty much unplayable now. Maybe that's why it sounded so bad years ago.

[B. T. Walker]

No mando parents.

Only Dad has any musical talent, but it is formidable. #He can play by ear nearly anything on the piano (his piano teacher busted him flawlessly playing a six-finger exercise in the wrong key), and he sang tenor in Schola Cantorum of Fort Worth for many years.

Mom cannot carry a tune in a bucket, but appreciates good music and listens all the time.

As a result, I got a pretty hefty dose of classical music with a strong emphasis on choral works. #Neither parent liked popular music, but that bias did not rub off on me. #I like it all (except that trash my kids "listen" to).

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Jim Garber]

The only person in my family who played mandolin was my great spinster aunt -- or, at least, she owned a Martin A. My mom and uncle when they were alive, could never recall her actually playing it tho my cousin has that instrument.

If she did, I am sure that she played the usual pop tunes/parlor music of the day.

[Bob A]

My dad played bowlback mandolin, guitar, button accordion and violin, all when he was a young man. By the time I got to know him, he'd put them aside.

His father and uncles were more musical; while most of them lived behind the Iron Curtain, they did visit one time, and they gotr together and played and sang the folksongs of their youth. Pretty nice. One uncle had a tenor banjo, which I now own. Of course, they were raised in an era wherein if you wanted music, you had to make it yourself.

[Patrick Melly]

My mother played the mandolin in a all-female mando orchestra in Lawrence,
Mass, with a couple of live radio broadcasts to their credit. When my sister and I were little, Mom would play for us as we fell asleep. I did not start to play
music until after I left for college, but I first learned the mando on her Vega
cylinderback.

[JEStanek]

My dad played saxophone in High School and maybe some in college. We all sang during church (not the choir). Three of my four older brothers, and myself, played in the middle and high school bands (concert and marching). Lots of music in our house (classical to funk) but very little homemade.

Jamie

[Brad Weiss]

My Dad was a semi-pro on the sax and clarinet in big bands in the Catskills in the 50s. #I think he still has a Selmer sax. My grandfather played the uke! #We had surprising little music around the house- lots of odd show tunes, the soundtrack from Hair and My Fair Lady stand out for some reason....

[allenhopkins]

[1] My paternal grandfather played mandolin and violin in the Niagara County NY area around 1900. I still have his fiddle and some of his mandolin music and method books.
[2] My maternal grandmother apparently played guitar and mandolin with her sister; I have a picture of the two of them, apparently aged 10 and 12 years or so, with their instruments.
[3] My maternal grandfather's second wife was a musician; I have her B&J Victoria bowl-back, a 5-string banjo, and I had her Gibson A-1 as my first good mandolin, since gone in a series of trades toward my F-5.

Genetically predisposed, I guess...

[Chip Booth]

My parents were not musical but my maternal grandparents both were. In fact they met when my grandmother's band (she was the mandolin player) needed a fill-in bassist to play on the Grand Ole Opry radio show. My grandmother gave up the mandolin long before I was around, but my grandfather played out until nearly the day he died. I still have my grandmother's bowlback mandolin, but it's unplayable.

Chip

[Mike Snyder]

My grandpa was a missouri fiddler.










My grandpa was a south Missouri fiddler, played barn dances and contests when young, but quit long before I was born. He used to get quite a kick out of Roy and ol what's his name on Hee Haw when they did the pickin and grinnin.
I sure miss ol gramps, still got his fiddle.

[Dave Greenspoon]

I have my maternal-grandmother's unlabeled Stewart/Vega/who-knoes-what all-mahogany bent-top from the late-teens/early twenties. #It sat in my aunt's shed for who-knows-how-long. #A little bit of luthierie magic from Mr. Lou Stiver and some light strings, and it sounds great for the old-time, blues, and klezmer that she might have played.

[RI-Grass]

My grandfather played mandolin and oboe in Italy. He was even asked to play the oboe at La Scala in the thirties. They say that was kind of like being a rock star back then and there.

Sal

[Grasser54]

No mandolin background in my family. My dad loved Earnest
Tubb and Jim Reeves and would play and sing those old songs
on a Western Auto Truetone plywood POS with action so high it was painful. (My first guitar, by the way.) Did have an
uncle, who along with two other guys , would play square dances around north Georgia with two Gibson ES335s and a fiddle. They came several times to our house and played (and brought Dad some moonshine, I think). I remember them being really good on stuff like "Down Yonder", "Listen to the Mockingbird", etc. I'm pretty sure moonshine was involved because late in the evening they always wanted my brother and I to show off (?) on our elementary band instruments. I'm pretty sure they had to be lubricated to endure that pain. Good memories, though. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Bertram Henze]

Professional musical parents (pianist/conductor and singer), but no mandolin - which is probably a good thing, because else I'd never played it. I had to make a difference.

Bertram

[Chunky But Funky]

My parents cannot carry a tune in a bucket and can barely play the radio. Any time we hear my parents sing in church, my wife is again forced to ask where my musical interest / talents originated. Probably those saxophone lessons from third grade on...

Doug

[Mark Walker]

My Dad played mostly guitar, but had a mandolin, fiddle and banjo among his instruments around the house when I was growing up. I started playing by sneaking his Gibson ES125 acoustic-electric guitar out of his closet when he was at work and noodling on that.
I can't recall ever seeing or hearing him play his mandolin or fiddle, though I guess he used to be in a band before I was born and played them at that time. Dad was the oldest of 8 kids, and only his youngest brother (to my knowledge) ever picked up an instrument (guitar), so who knows where the musical genes came from and went to?

My sister can sing and play guitar; my other siblings only play the radio. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Steve Ostrander]

My dad had a guitar, uke and a banjoilin and he let me play whenever I wanted.

Dad's best friend had a Gibson Hummingbird and a Fender Mustang that he gave to me when I taught myself how to play it.

One of my uncle's was a jazz drummer.

[JeffD]

My grandpa was a south Missouri fiddler, played barn dances and contests when young, but quit long before I was born... still got his fiddle.
Do you have any of his old tune books or transcriptions, or did he not collect any?

[tkdboyd]

My father plays the mandolin. Never knew him not to play. My mother plays guitar, piano, autoharp(Carter style), dulcimer, and know she is trying to take up the Violin-I bought her one for Christmas a couple of years ago. He and my mother have played for years doing gospel. Hated it when I was young.

Wish I would have paid more attention; Amazing how arrogant youth can be!

My great uncle started them both off playing stringed instruments. He loaned my mother his old National Dobro for her to learn on, and I believe an old Martin flattop mandolin for my dad to learn the mandolin. Then they had a couple of Sears and Roebuck instruments for a while, then on to a couple of other Kays. Then in the 70's got an A12 Gibson- and an Epiphone Jumbo body guitar. One of the finest Acoustic guitars every made, booming sound and plays like butter. The A12 on the other hand....

All my brothers play stringed instruments. And it seems to have passed on to at least three nieces and nephews.

[Santiago]

No. My dad played violin, as I did previously. I come from a long line of pianists (my grandmother's uncle even owned a piano company in New York), so my Dad playing violin was itself a rebellion. When I switched to electric guitar, it was downright treason. My mandolin playing is, thus, among a lot of other things, a step back toward my classical roots.

[Tracy Tucker]

The only people in my entire known family with any musical talent that I am aware of are my great-grandfather on dad's side(he played the b*njo) and my brother. I'm not sure where even my interest comes from, as we didn't grow up with a lot of music in the house. Dad can't carry a tune in a bucket, and I don't think I've ever heard Mom sing. I remember getting bit by the musical bug in about jr. high school, and I think I had every 45 on the top 40 chart all the way through till I graduated! Have been singing ever since, but didn't pick up an instrument until nearly 3 years ago at age 35. Got a lot of catching up to do with all you second and third generation musicians! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[tkdboyd]

Now I don't want to be misunderstood, I am not saying there is a lot of talent in my family, just that their were quite of few who played! My mother is most likely the most talented. She is a classically trained pianist, and well versed in vocals. Her guitar work, I used to scorn, but since "growing up" I have realized she did/does some really cool bass work that would compliment (compensate)my father's mandolin playing.

Although I never meet him nor do I know what would have happened to it but my mother's grandfather who served in WWI had an Army/Navy and I have the Mandolin Method book that he had to go with it. Wonderful piece of family history to have! I also have his 'Dough boy' helmet, but that doesn't have a whole lot to do with the topic at hand!

[Robert Moreau]

My Grandfather played:
Mandolin
Guitar
Fiddle
Banjo
Accordion

An awesome inspiration. He is truly missed.

I was very lucky last year because I found out that an uncle of mine had grandad's Mandolin... an old Kay (from the 60s I think). I borrowed it, put a new set of strings on it and got a chance to play it for a couple of weeks while I was visiting the home town. It sounded and played great! Brought back lots of memories of family parties with Grandad and my uncles sitting around the table picking the old songs until the wee hours!

Rob

[terrierguy]

I'm new here on "The Cafe" as well as new to the mandolin. My mother died a few months back and in a moment of lucidity about two months prior to her passing she said how she always found it interesting that I played guitar, because her father had played the mandolin. That is something neither my sister or I knew. I sort of idolized my grandfather, so I traded one of my Larrivee's and cash for a new Kentucky KM1000 and am now working at learning mandolin sort of in tribute to my grandfather.

[Ken Olmstead]

No musical parents or grandparents. My mom and dad really love to listen to music. They "actively" listen if you know what I mean. My great grandmother played mandolin, tenor banjo and guitar. JUST LIKE ME!! Kind of wierd. I never met her but would love to jam with her sometime!!

[Jim MacDaniel]

We had a baby grand in the living room, so our family's main focus was the piano. We did have a variety of other instruments available to us as well, #including a laminated Kay mandolin, and a crudely made round back (called a "tater bug" in our rural part of SE Indiana), but none of us did much of anything with them -- except we all knew how to tune them. ;)

[Siminole]

My Father played an accordian, and my Wife's Father played Guitar, fiddle and mandolin. I don't recall any of the others playing an instrument.

Al

[Chip Booth]

Mike, welcome to the Cafe. My grandfather was huge inspritation to me and I find myself constantly following in his footsteps. Enjoy the mandolin!

Chip

[JonDoug]

My dad played mandolin--his Gibson A came out infrequently by the time I knew him, and usually when he was in a funk. He was born in Kentucky in 1916, but there was not much resemblance to a certain well-known mandolinist born in that state 5 years earlier--my Dad always played alone, always for himself, and always with sheet music.

Now that I've been playing a couple of years, I realize that his smooth tremelo demonstrated someone who had spent some serious time practicing earlier in his life--wish I had a recording!

John

[Don Christy]

My paternal grandmother played as a girl. She never mentioned it until she was in her 80s and I got my first mandolin. She said she had one when she was a girl and that her uncle had traded her a guitar for it (against her will IIRC). I always wondered if it could have been a Loar!

Don

[Doug Hoople]

My father was a junior high school music teacher and organist/choirmaster at church. #He still plays organ and sings in choirs in and around Castine, Maine. #He has a longstanding active dislike for the mandolin (stemming from overplaying of Greek bouzouki and Russian balalaika music on WQXR, his favorite classical radio station) that only softened after he learned that Bach renders exceedingly well on it.

[F5GRun]

No Musical talent or mando in my family until I came along...except if you count the times when I was really young and my dad would pick me up and play air guitar...I was the air guitar.

[CES]

My father played trumpet in high school band and I think maybe for a while in college, but by the time I came along he was into horses (training, breeding, showing) and sports (as a coach by that point), so those were my first loves (and still are)...Mom played piano in my grandfather's church and sang some in our choir, but our family wasn't what you'd call "musical."

That said, my middle brother plays guitar and sings and has done so in praise and worship bands in various churches along the way. I also recently learned that one of my uncles played piano by ear and electric bass into his mid-twenties, but got away from it when work/kids hit and has only recently starting getting back into it via church choir. So, I guess there's a throwback gene in there somewhere...not sure that I have any of it, but sure wish that I did!

[sean808080]

interesting question. my parents were totally deaf so when i read folks saying, "i grew up with music and my mother played piano and my dad played saxophone", i feel a little green with envy. nonetheless, my parents fostered a love of music in me despite the fact that they couldn't hear it themselves.

:-)

[Paul Kotapish]

My mother's father played the mandolin.

In Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the '20s. Where Gibson's were made.

The family had an acquintanceship with Lloyd Loar.

Nobody knows what happened to my grandfather's old mandolin.

I try not to think about that too much.

[Jim Yates]

When my grandmother died in the '70s and we went to clean out her house, where my dad grew up, he told me that there was an old mandolin in the attic that he had traded a baseball glove for when he was a kid. #I was so excited as we drove the two hours to my gradma's house, imagining an old Gibson. #Imagine my disappointment when we found a ukelin in the attic.

[JamesBryan]

Just the opposite -- I dropped out of clarinet lessons in 6th grade, frustrated (mainly because of flaws with the old family clarinet).

My mom was supportive and said "That's OK honey, nobody in our family has any talent...."

She was right. JB

[Timbofood]

My father was a band leader in the army during WWII. #Mom played piano until just a few years ago, (sold when she moved into smaller space). Really, the whole family has played or sung. #family rule was two years at voice or instrument, I was really awful when I was little but, I am the only one that played longer...35 years at it and still struggling!
Dad told me that he had had a Washburn bowlback at some point. I went looking for one when I was starting out but, never found one that was in playable condition. They must have been under someones bed or in closets.

[violmando]

My brother, who was an artist, and I are the "weirdos" in our family because we're in the arts, and we are throw backs to our great-grandfather Harkleroad who was the musician and played fiddle,guitar and banjo and painted as well as farmed. I never heard anything about mando, though. My family is from coal mining country in PA and ending up farming or doing blue collar jobs, so we have always been the oddballs....No one else does anything other than singing in church! Yvonne in Ohio

[birdman98]

The only music playing in my house was the theme song from "The Dukes of Hazard" followed by the theme song from "Dallas" http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[MaiaMorris]

The only music playing in my house was the theme song from "The Dukes of Hazard" followed by the theme song from "Dallas" http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Haha! This was exactly my situation, but move the cultural references forward about fifteen years. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Due to unduly strict religion, I didn't even listen to much music until around age sixteen. But it was in me, deep, and it came out regardless!

[Mike Snyder]

Hey JeffD, sorry about the time lag. The only references we have to Old Man Parkers' fiddlin is my moms' recollection of songs he played for her as a child. What I've always found amazing is that John Hartford recorded most all that she recalled, at some time in his career. Both were from the same general south to southeast area of Missouri. Hartford- Eminence, Parker- West Plains. I love to listen to Hartfords' Indian War Whoop, well that title may not be right. No lyrics, just fiddlin' and whoopin'. Parker would fiddle and Mom would dance and laugh. I wish I could have heard him play. He had no mandolin (content).

[Martin Jonas]

Third generation mando player here! My maternal grandfather bought a mandolin in around 1940, together with a beginners' tutorial. However, as he died in 1947 and as this was in Germany during the war, I am not sure how much he ever learned to play. I don't think he was all that musical -- my maternal grandmother was the musical one, playing concert zither and guitar (I remember it well from my childhood, where she would play at every family gathering), and she always looked down on the mandolin. That mandolin, a Majestic flatback, was then passed to my mother (her older sisters already played other instruments) who learned to play it and then in the mid-1950s joined a mandolin orchestra in Cologne. They made her buy a Miroglio bowlback, so my grandfather's Majestic became unused, apart from a brief stint of being restrung as a balalaika by my youngest aunt in the early 1960s. In my teens, I briefly tried to learn it, but never got anywhere. I only returned to it a couple of decades later, started to play my grandfather's Majestic and then traded up to other mandos as MAS struck.

I can remember my mother's bowlback being around all through my childhood, but being played only quite rarely with my mother quietly picking German folk tunes. However, since she retired a few years ago, coinciding with my starting to play mando, she's rediscovered her enthusiasm and now plays pretty much all day, every day, driving my father round the bend.

My father plays nylon-strung guitar, and has done so for as long as I can remember, accompanying himself singing folk songs. He's pretty good at that, too, but because he's untrained and doesn't read, he's never developed his playing beyond that. Again, he's become ambitious in his retirement (I think it's being competetive with my mother) and has started to learn English concertina. He's struggling a bit with that, though, as it's tough starting to read music for the first time in your late 60s.

Martin

[Sleepy Moon Music]

More people than i can remember play in my family .Tons of relatives . my second cousin Smokey Green was usually on the road when we had family reunions in Danby four Corners or on the farm in West Dandy ,Vermont .It's good to see some of the younger ones playing now carrying on the tradition .

[Gerard Dick]

Yes. My father playe mandolin. Mom played guitar. Her guitar was blown to bits in an air raid in 1944 and she never got another one. Dad had a taterbug in pieces that died in a motorcycle wreck that he was in. My brothers and I bought him a new one with our paper route money when I was 14. It was an A style of eastern European manufacture. Both of my grandfathers were choir directors so I guess I came by my musical inclinations honestly.