Last month, my sisters and I went to NAMM Show 2014.  NAMM stands for the National Association of Merchant Musicians.  It is a trade show for the music industry.  One of my sisters works for Yamaha, musical instrument division, and she gets us tickets to the NAMM Show every year.  My sisters and I love that we get to spend this time together and we all are aware of the musical traits that run in our family.

Growing up, we all new that we had musicians in our family.  My uncle Benny on my mom’s side of the family always brought his guitar to the family functions and it was always a certainty that when they started drinking and smoking around the table, he would bring it out and my uncle, along with my mom and other aunts and uncles would start singing their favorite Spanish songs.

It always warms my heart, as I walk around the trade show floor at the NAMM Show, looking at instruments knowing that in my blood runs the musical traits of my ancestors.  Here is the list of musically inclined family members that I know of.

  • Benny Sanchez – Musician/Singer – My Uncle
  • Vincent Diaz – Musician/Guitarist – My cousin.  Vince has been playing guitar since we were teenagers.  I know that in the past, he has built custom guitars too.
  • Luna Cousins – Musicians & Singers – My Luna cousins who formed a band and played at several of our family reunions.
  • My Grandfather, My Grand-Uncle, and My Great-Grandfather – Musicians/Singers – They would travel from Mexico to the local clubs and bars in the boarder states to perform.  My grandfather played the flute, my grand-uncle played violin and my great-grandfather played the harp.
  • Darlene Luna – Musician/Singer – One of my cousins from the above mentioned group of cousins who went solo.  She currently performs with a band.  You can find her Facebook profile here.
  • Joey Luna – Musician/Singer – Another cousin  from the above mentioned group of cousins that went solo.  He plays the trumpet, saxophone and flute.  He even has the flute that my grandfather played.  You can see his professional Facebook profile here.
  • Composer – A great-uncle on my mom’s side who composed music for the Teatro Lyrical in Mexico City in 1600. (According to my mom’s genealogy research.  She researched her side of the family while I did my dad’s.)
  • Patricia Stanard (Me) – Singer/Guitarist wannabe – I started singing in my 6th grade choir and haven’t stopped since.  I currently volunteer with a choral group at work and in the past we have put on two shows a year (a spring show and one for Christmas) for our fellow employees.  Due to budget constraints however, the past few years we have only put on a Christmas show.  My fellow employees and I volunteer our time for rehearsal and for the actual show time.  When we are putting on a spring show, we have stayed after work and come in on Saturdays for rehearsals.  Every now and then, I will pick up my guitar and practice it.

I am sure that there are even more family members who are musically inclined that I don’t know about.  It is amazing to me that so many musically inclined individuals are in my family tree!

Are there any musically inclined ancestors in your tree?  Comment and let me know!