Poor Music

The theme of my site is poorart or poormusic. So I thought I would explain a little bit about how I came up with the name. Both my mom and dad are musical and come from musical families. My mother's father could tear a piano up by ear (especially when he was drinking), my mother's sisters all sang and some played the piano and other instruments and my mom's mom sang as well. My dad's family is pretty much all musical. His father and mother both play the guitar and sing. And all of his brothers can sing and most can play instruments too (guitar, banjo, fiddle). My father's parents used to drag him out of bed at some ungodly hour in the morning (4am) to go the local radio station to play the guitar for them to sing. One of my dad's brothers used to sneak out of church and go play with his neighborhood boy band. This particular brother was a diva. There are a lot of divas on both sides of my family. And it is interesting to see the pitiful dynamics go back and forth. My dad on the other hand is the silent diva. He is shy and not as showy. He is like, "here I am, take it or leave it(this is more the way I am)." Also, even though we grew up with music my dad liked to show an outward distaste for music (I guess because of all the years he was forced to play and sing like a good little boy without ever really being in the true limelight). My mom has always wanted to be a great musician but she has always felt inferior to my dad musically (she is more of a diva). It has been a sore spot in their marriage for many, many years--an often unspoken sore spot. Then I recently found out that my dad may have always felt shadowed compared to his younger brother.

Sorry, this post is kind of jumbled because I'm just writing as it comes to me.

So, to move on to THIS generation. I have 2 older sisters and one younger brother. Even though we grew up very modestly, my mother forced us to take piano lessons from the third grade through the 12th grade. So, all through school instead of being sports children, we were music children. We competed in music competitions and it was a great source of confidence for us growing up. Also, because we grew up kind of poor it was nice to get the exposure to a "higher culture" through participating in musical events and attending concerts at the local theatre and beyond.

But how does being poor affect our music and art? Well, I think that our family has been itching to be in the limelight for at least 3-4 generations back. We have been having underground "singin's" in the basement of someone's home for so long that we're ready to finally come out. Yes, it's fun smokin' it up with all the brothers and sisters, cousins and great aunts and uncles who can "break it down" in the privacy of their own abode--but at some point it doesn't satisfy. It takes money to produce your own music or either it takes the kind of confidence that is more likely attained by at least growing up in an upper-middle class home. As a result of not having the resources to produce music and art--the quality of the music and art can suffer. (I know, I know that some of you will think this is a copout--but I'm speaking only from personal experience).

So that is a little bit of a background about poormusic.

Also, those same dynamics of brotherly and sisterly competition, play out in my immediate family. My oldest sister, Mitzi, isn't really into music that much. My other older sister, Amy, is more of a diva that went around singing ALL THE TIME as a child so that everyone could hear. She won all the competitions. She is singing now full time. She never liked piano lessons and doesn't play that much now, except when it is absolutely necessary.

Then there is me. I'm not as "in your face," which makes it hard for me to survive in the ego driven world of art and music. I have focused more on accompanying and playing the piano. I don't like to PERFORM solo on the piano or even vocally. I feel the best when I am performing with other people. Although, I do enjoy hearing the music I have created--being produced. I have a hard time getting my family to pay attention to what I do musically. My mother talks a lot about the songs my brother has written and she brags on him constantly. (Yeah....I have a complex).

Then there is my brother. He is more of a diva. The piano teacher always gave him the showy pieces for recitals. He can still remember the pieces that he memorized in high school. He tried out for the country singer competition thingy and got through a couple of levels but didn't make it to the show. He has the guts to try stuff. He is now in the air force country band in washington. Now he is feeling totally inferior to all of the other musicians. He thought he would like it but is having a really hard time with it.

So, I'm going to share some of my family's music with you below. Thanks for reading the whole spill...if you've gotten this far.

Israelites: A song my older sister wrote and is singing.


MP3 File

Average Joe: A song my younger brother wrote and is singing.


MP3 File

Shall We Gather: A song my dad is singing and playing bass on. He was 23 years of age and playing in a band of underground musicians (his relatives and distance kin. This should give you the best idea of my "roots." This is called a recitation. I love these. They make me sad.


MP3 File

Dad: He's singing lead on this one.

MP3 File

Me: Singing and playing some songs, that I wrote, for a small-time producer back in the days when I was trying to do something with music. I didn't know he was recording me.


Me and my brother singing a song I wrote about 5 years ago. It was fun to record it with my brother. The words are "he is the one that satisfies every neeD...not knee."