Column: The Identity Chord: How Rock n' Roll shaped my identity

Los Angeles Times

10 hours ago

'Practice the piano if you're bored,' my father begged from across the family room. It was early in the COVID-19 pandemic around March 2020. My younger brother and I were kind of bored. School from home in pajamas was fun at first, but I started to miss hanging out with my friends at recess and lunch.
My parents couldn't help much with my boredom. They both worked from home during COVID, which made for a busy home. I know the pandemic was a terrible time for the world and led to many deaths, so I feel guilty saying this, but I owe that period of time for sparking my passion in life: guitar playing.
I don't know exactly what triggered it but I remember hearing music from my dad's office during the day and it caught my ear. This band was different and it wasn't like the music I listen to with friends.
The singer had a distinct high voice. The drums were insanely complex. The guitar playing sounded like its own band so I was really surprised when my dad said the band was only three players. And most riveting of all, the lead singer was Jewish like me! The band was Rush. I was hooked.
I begged my dad for a guitar. He wanted me to play piano because that's his instrument, but he finally gave up and got me a guitar. YouTube was my teacher, and by the end of the first week, I was playing chords. I didn't put the guitar down.
(Photo courtesy of Nathan Nightingale)
For those of you interested in learning an instrument, this is really important: it's hard but don't give up. It's easy to say follow your passion, but this is the truth. Practicing is hard, but it's easier if you focus on a goal. For me, the goal was to play pieces I loved listening to. YouTube was a great early source of instruction and with dedication and patience, I was able to go from strumming a few chords to playing all different kinds of music and actually composing too.
Several years later now, I just completed my freshman year of high school and am really interested in music and my Jewish identity. There's a lot of music in Judaism and a lot of Jews who make music. Yes, even Jewish rock stars and Jews who write Christmas songs.
Author's note: This is my introduction and background o f what will be the first in a series of pieces about identity and rock n' roll entitled 'The Identity Chord.' Please follow this series and be on the lookout for my next piece on the great Geddy Lee, the singer and bassist for Rush. Geddy is the son of holocaust survivors and a self-described proud Jewish atheist. I'll explain what that means and how his background influenced his inspiring music career in my next column.