[Harp-L] From son to father....



  
My old man's 53rd birthday is fast approaching. I had a gift idea for him that I'd like to run by you folks, and it ties into another point I'd like to get other peoples' takes on...
 
My dad's taste in music is not exactly what you might expect in a guy like him. He's a sportswriter, and pretty much lives and breathes sports day in and day out. Long as I can remember, he's had something of a one-track mind for it. But his taste in music runs in the vein of bluegrass, folk, Civil War, and Celtic. That's not to say he doesn't like some more contemporary mainstream stuff. He's also a CCR nut, loves The Traveling Wilburys, the Beatles, and so on. But for the majority of the time, you can find him either tuned into NPR for older stuff or listening to the soundtrack from one of Ken Burns' documentaries like The Civil War or Lewis and Clark.
 
Several years ago, my grandmother gave a cheap harmonica a piece to both myself and Pop in the hopes that we might learn the instrument together since he's a walking sports encyclopedia and I've always been the more artistic type. Maybe taking on something like this would be beneficial to the two of us in finding some kind of common ground to relate upon.
 
At first, I did start dinking around with it. Following along with some of the old-timey music that Pop listened to. But Pop never once picked his up. He was always too absorbed in his work that he brought home with him.
 
Fast-forward another few years. I've gotten heavily into the harp world. I'm playing in a hot local band. And Pop has said several times to me that he's very proud of me for what I do. 
 
In the last few years, Pop has unbended some when it comes to his work ethic. I think mainly when my mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma six years ago, that was when he snapped to and began to realize the importance of life outside of his work. And for the first time since I was a small kid, I would catch my dad singing to himself while he was doing things, (he's a damn good singer by the way. Irish tenor like my grandfather was.), so I knew music was becoming more and more of a refuge and a release for him.
 
Anyways.......
 
The idea I had for his birthday is a new, personalized C-harp. A while back I found this: 
 
http://www.weddingfavorsunlimited.com/personalized_stainless_steel_harmonica.html?utm_campaign=azc&utm_source=W&utm_medium=AZ&utm_term=personalized_stainless_steel_harmonica 
 
I wrote the company and all they know about it is that "it's a Hohner." Well, that sure narrows it down, right? I'd bet at 18 bucks it's probably a Bluesband, GLH, or Old Standby. But I could probably transplant the personalized covers onto a SP20 so it isn't a cheap harp anymore.
 
I figure he could play along with the music he loves to listen to like I did when I first picked up harp.
 So yeah, that's my idea for his birthday. But the side point I'm asking about...has anyone else ever passed the love of harp back upwards to your parents instead of your children or someone else of a younger generation? My own 20 month old son is already tooting around on a Piedmont G-harp and his eyes light up when he hears daddy playing his harps, and, cause and effect, grandpa's eyes light up at the sight of his grandson taking after his daddy. Is it such a strange notion that grandpa might want in on that great little pastime as well?
 

                          Hawkeye Kane
                                                                                                 hawkeyekane@xxxxxxxxx
                                                                                                     Cell: (217)-741-7183
                                                                                                    www.hawkeyekane.com


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