“Mother loathed the all-black B movies Hollywood made for the "colored" audience, where the stereotypes were broader and more offensive to her, and where the musical interludes did no justice to real talent, she said, but trivialized it.” MadeSaidRealMotherBlackJusticeAudienceTalentHollywoodMusicalOffensiveStereotypeAll BlackReal Talent Book:The Hottest Water in Chicago: Notes of a Native Daughter Source: The Hottest Water in Chicago: Notes of a Native Daughter
“My mother wanted me to learn how to read music. She'd given fiddles to my two older brothers, but they'd rebelled. I came along and my father said, "Oh, let Peter enjoy himself." What she did was leave musical instruments all around the house. Whistles, marimbas, squeeze boxes, a piano and organ. By age six or seven, I could bang out a simple tune on almost anything. I developed a good ear, so I didn't learn to read music until I taught myself at age eighteen, 'cause I was hearing so many good songs I couldn't possibly remember them all.” SaidTwoAgeWantedRememberMotherSongFatherHouseGivenCausesEnjoySimpleTaughtBrotherSixEarsInstrumentsSevenMusicalBoxesHearingPianoTunesPeterOrgansBangsEighteenFiddleOlder BrotherMusical Instruments Author:Pete Seeger
“My family is very musical, I was surrounded by it. And from four years old I was the one that asked my mother could I take piano lessons... It wasn't forced on me. It was something I wanted to do. And ever since, I've never stopped, I've never stopped playing music. I never went through a period where I didn't want to do it.” WantYearsWantedMotherFourPeriodsLessonsMy FamilyMusicalPianoFour YearsPlaying MusicPiano Lesson Author:John Legend
“My mother encouraged me and was very great about me being gay, but she always encouraged me to follow my musical dreams, which I'm very grateful for.” DreamMotherGayGratefulMusicalBeing Gay Author:Elton John
“When I was 4 years old my mother put me into an early music education school. That's where they taught you perfect pitch and harmony and how to write music and all that. At that time, one of the homeworks was to listen to all the sounds and the noise of a day and transfer that into musical notes.” WritingYearsSchoolMotherSoundPerfectTaughtHarmonyNotesMusicalNoiseHomeworkTransfersMusic EducationMusical Notes Author:Yoko Ono