Archives — Music After 50 Stories

Practicing the drums helped a California man recover from spinal surgery. Painting: Give Me a Beat by Regina Halushka

If you are anything like me, growing up in the sixties and seventies, rock music played a huge part in your life. It was inspiration, an escape, and an educational part of growing up.

Like many of you, I too was inspired by the Beatles’ performance on the Sullivan show. Before that time, no music had ever reached me on any level. But, that music spoke to me in a way that nothing had before. Because of seeing Ringo sitting behind that set of Ludwigs, I learned to play the drums.

I played in the school orchestra and band. I also did my stints playing in many garage bands. But as time and life wore on, I put the interests of childhood behind me, and the drums were sold as I got on with my life.

While I never lost my interest in music, I did start to miss being a musician, even in my limited way. So, at the age of fifty, I picked up a drum set. And I am glad that I did, because at the age of 51, I had spinal reconstructive surgery. Part of my recovery has been trying to recover the basic coordination that we take for granted.

While physical therapy has helped, I feel that practicing the drums has had just as much benefit. Trying to regain the independence that my feet and hands once had has been invaluable in my recovery. It’s also forced me to learn how to do things on the drums in a different way as there are and will always be new limitations on what I am able to do.

I do feel that I have regained enough of my old ability that I could get out there and jam a bit. This is not such a big deal to me as I have always felt that most drummers, myself included, should remain in the background as support because rhythm is the foundation.

Robert
Santa Clarita, California

Chuck Everhart, 56, played guitar as a child and recently reconnected with the instrument after many years. Painting: Guitar Man by Hubert Jackson.

Music has always been a part of my life in some way or another. I was playing a guitar when I was around 7 or 8, and wrote my first song at the age of 10. My family life was so rough that my guitar became my best friend.

I could communicate best by singing about how I felt, or how I wanted things to be. I began performing on stage with relatives that played music. And I loved the feedback that came from it! People would relate to my music and what a feeling it was to fit in.

After marriage, I played less and less. As the children came, I had to give up my dreams for awhile. I never realized how much I missed it. I felt as if some part of me was missing.

I recently picked up my guitar and I found I could get those feelings back by playing and singing again. It was if my best friend had returned. Now, I tell all those with dreams of music, never give up what your heart knows is right. Never again will I let go of what I hold close to my heart. I say it with music!

Chuck Everhart
Florida

James Peck's wife presented him with cymbals for his 50th birthday 3 years ago, and it sparked his return to the drums.

I began playing drums at the age of nine and was in a band a year later playing all the hits of the day. I have to say that for kids, we were pretty good.

As I became involved in theater, I stopped taking lessons and soon I was barely playing at all. After college I enjoyed a nice career as a lighting designer, occasionally playing at sound checks.

When I turned 50, my wife bought me some fantastic cymbals and encouraged me to set up my drums and play again. It was like a rebirth, and I have been playing as often as I can since then. 

I am waiting to take that next big step, playing with others and actually making some music. I cannot thank my wife enough for the gift of music that she has given me. 

James Peck
Baltimore, Maryland

Alan Seeger was in a devastating car accident 8 years ago that robbed him of much of his mobility. Slowly but surely, a good deal of it has returned and he is playing the guitar again.

I was a working musician from the time I was 18 years old, first in bands playing in clubs across the state of Oklahoma and later as a church musician and music minister, as well as recording in my home studio. When I was 42, all that seemed to slip through my fingers when I was involved in a collision on the Interstate that nearly took my life.

I was heading home early from work because of an impending snowstorm when a vehicle went out of control on the other side of the highway and crossed the median, striking my car almost squarely head-on. I awoke from unconsciousness to discover that I was hanging out the drivers’ window almost up to my waist, and the engine was on fire beneath the crumpled hood.

As it turned out, I had broken both ankles, my left femur, left hip and pelvis, and — most significantly to my musical career — both bones in my left forearm, as well as taking a nasty bump to the head and suffering a puncture wound to my back, which caused me to spend four years with a colostomy bag. I spent seven months in a series of four different hospitals, the first eight weeks of which I was in a medically induced coma and nearly died at least four different times. 

When I arrived home, I sold off all my guitars, because my left hand was too weak to even hold a glass of soda, let alone fret a guitar. I was also dependent on a wheelchair for mobility.

It was a long, slow road of rehabilitation, but I gradually regained much of my independence, though I still must use a wheelchair most of the time.

However, a few months ago a friend was kind enough to give me a virtually new electric guitar; another friend provided a small amplifier. After working with these tools for a few months, I have come to realize that it’s not hopeless. There are things I still can’t play, but I have managed to get back much of my former ability. (Can’t dance across the stage, but then I never really could, even in the old days.)

I have begun to gather the additional tools I need to resume the recording career that had been interrupted; I am still reticent about performing live because of the wheelchair, but even that barrier is coming down when I will perform at an open mic night at the college where my wife teaches.

All I have to say to those facing challenges is don’t let them hold you back. Age is just a number; disabilities can be overcome. I’m living proof.

Alan Seeger
Mission, South Dakota

Ernie McDaniel lost most of his hearing due to hereditary deafness. Six years ago, he got digital hearing aids, and his life changed. Now, at 51, he plays the guitar and bass.

I’m 51 and I’m a deaf musician. My deafness is hereditary and I lost most of my hearing at an early age. I’d always dreamed of playing music but it wasn’t until I was 45 before I started wearing digital hearing aids and could hear enough to play music. I started out with lessons on guitar and after 3 years, I switched to bass and that’s when my life started!

It’s been a lot of work learning music from scratch as a raw beginner 6 years ago. It’s also been a lot of fun playing music, too.

I’ve had a blast performing in guitar recitals and last year I had my first full gig (three-hour show) on bass in a band with three other professional musicians at a convention.

There are so many more songs that I want to learn to play and other shows that I look forward to playing in the future. One thing I know for sure…it’s never been boring and it never will be!

Ernie McDaniel,
Macon, Georgia