Sometimes life is a farce, no matter how hard we try to be ‘in control.’ In our case, the latest comedy of errors started with our 15-year-old son, the budding rock star.
Our youngest son, who’s 15, has been surprising us all year. First, back in January, he signed up for a music class in guitar at school. We confess we were tempted at first to add extra insulation to his bedroom and pretend it was his new recording studio, but we managed to restrain ourselves. Then our son surprised by showing a heretofore unsuspected aptitude for playing the guitar. We can only surmise that his newfound talent spurred him to keep up with daily music exercises, running up and down scales on the guitar strings as if they were the old playset in the backyard.
He kept practicing throughout the summer on an old guitar he borrowed from his teacher. One day after he finished his rehearsal, he mentioned casually that he might progress to an electric guitar in the fall. His father took the hint and started checking out online music stores and even auction sites for ads offering an electric guitar for sale. Unhappily for our limited family budget, even the sale prices on guitars came close to what we could afford.
Not wanting to get our youngsters hopes up, we kept quiet about the guitar search. Somehow, though, he overheard us discussing the topic one night after dinner. (Why is it that teen-agers who can never hear you calling them to help with a household chore suddenly develop sonar when a subject that concerns them comes up?) Despite the uncertainty of our acquisition, our son was suddenly over the moon about the prospect of getting his own guitar.
Our son was ecstatic. Not only would he not have to borrow one of his teacher’s guitars for practice; he’d have his very own instrument that he could use (and abuse, most likely) any way he pleased.
However, we got a major parental jolt when Dad inquired about which model of rock ‘n roll guitar our son desired.
A sober countenance quickly overcame the ecstasy on our son’s face. Although we’re sure he thought his parents were utterly clueless, our teen explained patiently that he was learning to play classical guitar, not rock ‘n roll. He wanted something that would serve that purpose, such as a takamine acoustic electric guitar
Or maybe, he said after a moment’s thought, we ought to get an ibanez acoustic electric guitar.
We were stunned. For all that we expected him to be influenced by rock music culture, he’d chosen for himself to study the classics.
That’s how we fell into this canyon of the ages. Now that we’re out, we know our family has reached a new plateau – accompanied by guitar music, no less.
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