ROCK AND REAL ESTATE-In the beginning……

THE POWER OF MUSIC KNOWS NO BOUNDS.

I must say that 99% of the homes I visit, whether on Realtors’ open house tour, evaluating upcoming listings, or simply showing a home, have at least one musical instrument on display. And so I’m compelled to tell my story of how music came into my life, and how much of a force it is in my existence.

When I was a kid, I’m talking 5 or 6 years old, my parents gave us transistor radios. There were no video games, just AM radio playing the charts of popular music. We spent most of our childhood outdoors, but when the street lights came on, or your Mom screamed your name from the front door, it was time to go home. It was the 70’s and in my opinion some of THE best music ever produced came out of this decade.

Groundbreaking artists set the stage for so many emerging genres of music like punk, new wave, rap, heavy metal, you name it!!

I had no idea back then how music would become an integral part of my being!

My family wasn’t exactly full of musicians; my mother took piano lessons as a child, my Father dabbled in Hawaiian slide guitar and harmonica. (Ironically, my great grandfather played drums in a marching band).

However there was always fine LP records at home, 8 track tapes in the car. Artists like the Carpenters, Tom Jones, and the Beach Boys were often played. Who doesn’t love Karen Carpenter’s voice, or the harmonies in songs like Good Vibrations- so angelic!!

My Mother would subscribe to Columbia House which offered mail order music. Their gig was to offer an initial number of records for free with every subscription as long as you met the quota over a period of time. The downside being you usually ended up with titles that were maybe not exactly your cup of tea.

My maternal grandmother wasn’t exactly a sophisticated woman but she had a great knowledge of classical music which proved to be a good influence. She adored The Goldberg Variations performed by Glenn Gould. (One of his pianos is still on display in downtown Toronto if I’m not mistaken.) For many years, we had tickets for The Nutcracker Suite ballet, Dance of the sugarplum fairy is one of my favourite Christmas pieces.

MY FIRST FORAY INTO PLAYING MUSIC WAS NOT STELLAR.

Again, it was the 70’s and the public school system turned me and nine other students into educational guinea pigs!

After endless testing it was decided we would complete grades 3 and 4 in one school year. In grade 6 we were chosen to participate in a string instrument class. I was typically one of the shortest lads in my grade, so naturally I was chosen to play the upright bass!! The school actually sourced out a shortened bass violin, and bringing this behemoth home to practice was a treat. I did not exactly excel at this instrument and it was no surprise I was caught faking a section of music at the Kiwanis Music Competition.

I don’t exactly remember when but I was staying at my Father’s home one weekend and he invited some musical friends to come over and jam. One particular person brought a drum set and this fine fellow taught me how to play a train beat with the brushes. I barely got this down but it was a memorable experience. (A couple of years later, I became the proud owner of this same drum set; however this did not impress my sister having to endure this racquet in the basement.)

Fast forward to Grade 7. A new school, a new neighbourhood, and lo and behold music was part of the curriculum. When the teacher asked if anyone had experience playing drums I let her know I certainly did! You can imagine how many classmates wanted to play drums-lol. But I learned the basics of reading and playing percussion.

And this was just the beginning.

Skip ahead to grade 9. Still short in stature, we attended a very large and culturally diverse school which was very intimidating. My friendly disposition was welcomed by a lot of different cliques in the school and kept me in one piece. Not to say I was totally immune from being picked on! Nevertheless, it was a brand new school and the music department was stacked with every piece of gear imaginable. We even had 2 soundproof booths; one dedicated exclusively to the drum set.

One day in music class we were working on a particular piece and I pulled off this drum roll on the kit in the middle of the song. I remember seeing our teacher, Ms. Benson light up, her expression was one of pure shock! From that moment on I was the king and had the run of the music department. She was totally hip and spoke often about her favourite drummers like Ginger Baker. I had the opportunity to take the drum kit home for spring break and it was assumed I would be taking it home for the summer.

However, our time living in eastern Toronto was coming to an end, so back to the west end we moved, into a polar opposite neighbourhood. This was a good thing, but my reign as supreme leader in the music department came to end.

To be continued…….