I had a great time this weekend helping our youngest daughter, Abi with a recording project. Not only did I get to play engineer, but I even got to contribute a bass line. My oldest son, Isaac, pitched in by contributing the djembe line. Almost like old times when we had a family band called “The Screaming Gringos.”

One thing I think helps families stay close is shared interests. Yet I think even having common interests aren’t enough because they can become either a competitive thing or a source of separation: In our case, my musical taste/interest is so different than your that we can’t possibly reach a common ground.

My mother-in-law, Janet had it right one time when she commented, “There is always some kind of music going on in your house.” It was true then even more so than it is today. One of Gale and my earliest activities was being in a band together. As I already said, later we had a family band that included all the kids as well.

Now Rachael, our oldest, is a professional entertainer currently with Disney Cruise lines. Her primary interest is in musical theater. However, she also sings Jimmy Hendrix or Patsy Cline or Natalie Merchant. Isaac and Abi are both in college as music majors with numerous serious side projects. Isaac is big time into the alt/indie genre. Abi centers more on jazz/blues/old school R&B. Only Ben is not currently active in music but in his scant 16 years he’s played drums and bass and shown interest in guitar and keyboards. His tastes tend more towards electronic/techno kinds of musi. Gale has her tastes in music and I have mine. Each of our tastes overlap each others and our kids, but go off in their own directions too.

So what’s the point? The point is we can use our common passion for music to draw our family life together or to separate us. Wouldn’t it be better to use it as something that makes us stronger as a family rather than pulls us apart?

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