Fatherhood And Music In 2011

My musical reality checks come in the form of my two children who are in their early teens. In many ways it's a two-way street.

My daughter, the youngest, is well into all of the internet gadgetry and keeps me up to date on what's "fully sick" and what these new iphones can do. I was just starting to get my head around the iPad when all of a sudden there's a second version(!). My rather simplistic take on the iPad is that it must be a hassle to carry. Let's face it, in todays' era of nano-technology the iPad isn't exactly as portable as the pundits claim it is. In defense of the pundits I'm not 100% sure of what the iPad is capable of doing....and don't really need to know.

Recently I was browsing a brochure from an electronics shop and had to get my daughter for some assistance. Once I got past the huge televisions and computers I was confronted by four pages of an vast array of iphones....in all of their different forms and names. The phone that my daughter is keen on for Xmas (I forget its' name) has a 3.2" touchscreen and slides out to reveal a tiny keyboard. Whilst I sat there nodding mindlessly I calculated that in order to use this particular iphone properly, the user would have to be about 7 inches tall. Failing that, they would have to have their fingers whittled down to the size of toothpicks to use the keyboard and a set of binoculars permanently fixed to their heads in order to see the screen.

As if to add insult to injury, my daughter wants a pink or purple one. I suppose they must be better(!).

My son, on the other hand, is at the opposite end of the techno-world. No mobile phone, no Facebook, no Twitter, etc. He's more into hands-on, old-fashioned creation. He's content to go into his Grandfathers shed & create some amazing things from pieces of wood, metal...pretty-well anything that Dad isn't using. He' currently planning a miniature magnet-driven car!

When it comes to music my son & daughter consider my music 'old-fashioned'....and they're quite correct. I have, however, managed to show my son some tricks on the guitar. I did this by showing some old rock classics that he had heard before but hadn't 'listened.' The first was "Alright Now" by Free. I told him to really listen to the verses and tell me what he noticed. half way through the first verse he said; "There's only one guitar and drums playing." I did the same with "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones. I went on to show him a few 'tricks' based on the Eric Clapton 'less-is-more' theory. He is now applying it of his own volition. Something that can only be done if one actually 'feels' the music.

So....between iphones, musicians like Katy Perry, Lady Ga Ga, and All That Remains, this middle-aged musician still maintains that there is still something to be gleaned from the past.

"It's only rock and roll but I like it."