Alex is a product of a strict musical upbringing. Before he was born I put headphones on my belly and sang and played guitar so that the vibrations would travel into his tiny eardrums.

He was born at home, and we played soothing music as he came into the world.

In his earliest months, I nursed through the wee hours of the morning to a collection of lullabies.

Later, he listened to classics from Beethoven, Brahms, Bach and Mozart as he drifted off to sleep.

When Alex was 3 months old, he made his first appearance on a Juneau stage at the 14th Alaska Folk Festival. As he slept in a snugglie against my chest, I sang a lullaby that still makes me cry every time I sing it, called "Jackson's Song," by Patti Smith.

Throughout Alex's early years, his father, a piano player, put his son on his lap and played blues and boogie-woogies on the piano as Alex leaned over and pounded the keys with exquisite joy and drool.

He also played my guitar with pounding fists and beat all the shakers, sticks, pots and pans that I could lay in front of him.

At 18 months, Alex began music lessons for toddlers in a class I taught called "Kindermusik." This program lasted until he was 7. It taught him the basics of reading music, but mostly, how to sing and have fun with it.

At 5, Alex began piano lessons with J. Althea who taught her pupils blues and jazz. His first accomplishment was "New Orleans Boogie," followed by the Maple Leaf Rag and many more progressive piano pieces.

He stayed with Althea into his teens, including many stage performances with the Juneau Jazz Juniors.

In middle school, Alex learned saxophone under the direction of Patrick Murphy, followed by guitar, bass and percussion in high school under the guidance of Ken Guiher.

He joined pep band, concert band, jazz band and wind ensemble, the latter garnering him a spot on the stage of Carnegie Hall when the Juneau-Douglas High School wind ensemble was picked to perform there.

Alex performed in his own punk bands and traveled with me twice to the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington for the Warped Tour, where he got to see his favorite punk bands play live and crowd-surf over a mosh pit.

Alex performed nearly every year at the Alaska Folk Festival with me, or his dad, his sister or his friends. It was there that he developed stage confidence, which studies show is one of the greatest fears to overcome.

Now, having picked drums as his chosen instrument, Alex will grace the stage one more time before he takes off to develop his own rhythms in life.

It is with joy that I watch him go, knowing that he will take a love for music with him.

In the words of Patti Smith:

Little blue star that offers light,
Little blue bird that offers flight,
Little blue path where those feet fall,
Little blue dreamer won't you dream it all.

Que te vaya bien con la música, hijo.