history of the ward part ii

8/14/2019 History of the Ward Part II

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History of the Ward, Part II

A Rather Lengthy Musical Interlude

Music became a new and greater outlet for my growing frustrations. My eyesight being what it was,(At that time, it was only bad. Now it’s very bad!) I had difficulty sight-reading musical script. Myears, on the other hand, were in harmony with the spheres, having been finely honed by my Dad’s

classical phonograph records, which I had always listened to in my far younger years. Both piano

and guitar were the joys to add to that musical introduction I had gleaned from listening. Now, Icould bring it all together, and thus began my talent of playing by ear. I took the guitar chords that I

had been playing and mapped out the notes on the piano in no time at all. Soon, with every new

guitar chord I learned, I immediately applied it to the piano.

Our parents began to buy records for us in the musical styles of the day: Rock & Roll, Rhythm &

Blues, Country & Western. It was now that I began pulling chords from the recordings and writing

them down. Later, when our parents bought us electrically amplified instruments- both bass andguitar –I began to pick up the very notes played by the bass in songs from the phonograph records.

Meanwhile, my older brother was trying to do the same, but was unable to pick up all the chordsthat I was hearing. When he later started playing in a band, I supplied them with the chords…but,

then, the other members of his band didn’t know that. It was not until our Dad had me show his

bassist what the notes were for his instrument that all became clear, much to my brother’s dismay.All along he had been telling the other musicians that he had been pulling the songs off of the

records. All he had actually been doing was writing down the words of the songs- whenever they

were understandable.

A Word about My Older Brother

Let me take a moment to psychoanalyze my older brother. What can often be said about the oldestsibling in the textbooks pretty much sums him up. He enjoyed two-and-a-half years of being an only

child who was always around adults as the center of attention. He also learned to talk at an early

age. (“…And has never stopped since!” I would add, jokingly.)

When I came along, I took a lot of that attention away from him. Then came my younger brother

and my baby sister, in quick progression. So what was once the “main attraction” had now givenway to the three “side shows”. Deep down, he was resentful. Outwardly, he was bossy. Now, at our

Dad’s urging, he had to submit to a younger sibling…Uh, that would be me. After wearing out his

welcome with local and not-so-local musicians his age, he had to accept me into his band as a bassist. This, too, was heavily insisted upon by our Dad.

He also thought he was a really great lead guitarist. The general consensus among true musicians

was far towards the opposite extreme, though. When he had to start a family, rather unexpectedly,things sort of ended for him until his kids had grown up. He joined the Navy, and was no longer

part of the band. He also had to sell most of his equipment to me, and he still suffers from that even

now. But, as time went by, he eventually got a high-paying job and bought new toys. Now, everytime he’s back home during Thanksgiving, he lets me know of his latest musical acquisitions. It

makes him feel that he’s “one up” on me, as if he thought he ever needed to be. Sadly for him, I



really don’t care. Yet I’ve never let him know that. Besides, it probably makes him feel better for a

time. By the way…He is reliving the past through a band he started where he lives now. They aresupposed to be on YouTube, but I haven’t seen them yet. He always makes sure I have an up-to-

date recording of either him alone or with his band though.

And the Band Played On

Meanwhile, my younger brother had gotten into the band scene, too. By this time, I had saved

enough money to buy a much better quality bass, so he was able to use the old one in a band he hadformed with some of his friends. Just about the time our big brother leaves for the Navy, my

younger brother gets kicked out of his band. Actually, they formally fired him, with a written letter

signed by the band’s members. He still has that letter which has become a rather amusing artifact of that era.

With my younger brother now playing bass, I switched to lead guitar and doubled on the keyboards. Now I had to listen to parts that I actually never had any reason to listen to before. About this time,

there began to appear on the scene various keyboardists who were more classically trained than

those who had come before. After practically wearing out a great deal of vinyl records, I managedto come up with decent rendering of these keyboard parts without butchering them too badly. Bythis time, I was a music major in college- the piano begin my primary instrument- although my poor

sight-reading was a major handicap. Add to that my not having had a piano lesson since junior high,

it’s no wonder my college piano asked if I was truly sure that I wanted to be a piano major.

Other changes and new styles of Rock were becoming recognized by this time. Guitar parts were

becoming more complicated than just playing standard chords. Instead of rhythm and leadguitarists, the parts began to take on the forms of first and second guitar. Rhythm guitars, when

present, where often very much in the background. And there appeared to be a rebirth of acoustic

guitars being used as harmonic filler, much as the harpsichords and pipe organs had been used

during Baroque Era. We eventually had a rhythm guitarist who, upon occasion, played secondguitar parts when necessary. He was even competent enough to play some lead guitar when we did

songs that required me to play strong keyboard parts, such as Uriah Heap, Styx, and others

categorized as Classical Rock (As opposed to Classic Rock during several old Rock & Rollrevivals). As a side note, we had acquired our rhythm (a.k.a. second guitarist) and drummer from

the band that had kicked my young bother out- I told you they were still sort of friends!)

Now, A Word about My Younger Brother

Not to show partiality (or impartiality, for that matter) amongst my siblings, it seems only fair that Ishould divulge some of the personality quirks of my younger brother. No doubt the curiosity of the

reader has peaked at the manner in which my younger brother left his “previous engagement” withhis friends. (Yes, to some extent, they were still friends.) But first, let me step back quite a few

years.

To set the proper perspective, my younger brother had some language processing issues, among

other things. Our Mom had to take a lot of time helping him with this, and so he got a lot moreattention during those rather important formative years. Let’s just say that he developed a more

positive self-image and determination than your average middle sibling. He was also very

obsessive-compulsive before, during, and long after that time. I must admit that I, too, amsomewhat bent in that direction, but not as extremely so as he was in those early years. Without



going into further detail, his teen years showed that he was more of a “type A” personality as

opposed to my being a “type B”. Strangely enough, apart from our “types”, our thought processesseemed to be almost identical.

A case in point: Years later, our Mom and his wife banned the two of us from being teamed

together when playing games like “Pictionary”. The reason (assuming the reader is familiar with

this game) was that with just two strokes of a pencil, no matter which of us was drawing, the other immediately knew the answer.

Although our personality types were different, we had much the same ambitions and dreams, except

he was more inclined to charge ahead, while I just…well, I just didn’t. I really believe that he could

have been just as musically inclined as I, but never got the chance to take piano lessons. Once Ishowed him what notes to play on the bass, he played rather well. After he got tired of playing in a

band, he bought a guitar and taught himself how to play just like our brother and I did.

Strike up the Band…Again!

So, what was all of this about my brother being “fired” from a band? Simply put, he was too bossy!Just the “type A” thing to be where the chain of command is not too well defined. When we finallyteamed up, there was the understanding that I took care of getting the music together and he took

care of getting us some gigs. (Translation for those who are unfamiliar with archaic slang: jobs!)

But soon, he started bossing me around in my area of expertise. We still managed to hang together for a while until he decided that he wanted a change of direction after getting married. He did come

back into the band a while later, until the band finally fizzled out on its own.∗

I continued playing in various bands afterwards: keyboard for one band, bass for another, lead

guitar for still another. Hey, I even played drums a couple of times. Finally, I ended up playing

keyboards for this one band until I got a “daytime job” in another area of the state. While there is

still more to tell, I must remind myself, and the reader, that this is still a very abbreviatedautobiography.

End of Part II

The brevity of this part of my life is much more than the reader may assume. In actuality, the band had a constant

rotation of members moving in and out, and for some, in and out again over the course of eight years.

history of the ward part ii

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