I sing some (naturally, never been trained other than school and church choirs), tinkled some on a piano when a child - but Mum had had to sell her piano in order to put food in our mouths after my father deserted her, so I never learnt properly. (I tried years later, but my rambunctious son kept interrupting, so we gave my lessons over to him.) My siblings, Mum, and I always sang at home, and I don't remember a time when there was not music in the house. I grew up listening to old 78s and LPs (Mary Martin (mother of Larry Hagman) was one whose voice I remember), and my first ever record (real vinyl) was Peter and the Wolf on one side, with "a Child's Guide to the Orchestra" on the other.
I used to play an instrument called a "melodica", mostly for when I was teaching RE at schools, and for Sunday School. (It's kind of like a breath-operated, hand-held, mini piano with about an octave-and-a-half of keys.)
My kids are both musical talents - daughter moreso. She has perfect pitch and relative pitch, and always kept me "on note". (I have a distressing to her tendency to hear the note, then start half a tone above or below. As she was my accompanist, I nearly drove her insane!) With her you don't ask her what instrument/s she plays, you ask her what she does NOT play (not much, having even learnt some sitar while at University). Son plays mostly trombone and/or trumpet (and occasionally cornet). His daughter has followed in her father's and aunt's footsteps, mostly playing clarinet. My daughter's son composed his first piece when he was about 3 or so years old (younger than Mozart). He even told his mother (who was doing the notation) what instruments belonged where. Like her grandmother, my mother, my daughter could be a professional performer, but all she has ever really wanted to do was teach. So she does.
My main "talent", I guess, is that I have an ear for accents. So much so I have mimicked Frank Spencer's whine (Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em), and Brenda from Watching on multiple occasions. I was always the one chosen to sing "Molly Malone", because I could bung on enough of an Oirish brogue to make the song a little beyond the ordinary. I have a German friend in Australia who, many years ago, thought I was making fun of her accent, until I explained (and demonstrated) that I had simply picked it up naturally by being around her so much. (I was very careful after that to NOT sound anything other than Aussie.) I have also managed a reasonable Scottish burr, but have not even tried that for many years.
I still sing "boh-ull" for bottle after the first three or four (I believe there is an American(?) song "99 bottles of beer on the wall" -- well the song I learnt was "10 green bottles") -- and frequently pronounce "girl" as "gel" (my mother claimed that was from my Geordie ancestors), even though I had never heard it as anything other than "girl" -- and I did a pretty good take-off of the New Zealand actress in the Finesse commercials. (New Zealand's accent is different on vowels from the way Aussies and the English say them.)
BUT - I'm not my ancestor, even if I am one to my grandkids -- and my kids aren't ancestors either, yet -- so this will be my last post to here, lest we threadjack totally away from the actual question.
