Mike Kappen’s Music Story

The second winner who tied for their music story with Kenan Falco is Mike Kappen.

My story about how music began in my life is a story of heritage.

My mom came from a musically talented family. In fact, when my grandpa came back from World War Two and met my grandma one day walking home from work. He asked her out, and she said "only if you come to church," and he responded, "they have a choir there, right? I always liked singing."

Fast forward about 20 years and my mom was born. She and her brothers and sister had always been active in music. In fact, my aunt was a music teacher for almost 30 years in Maryland. So by the time I came along, I guess you could say it was in my blood.

After I was born, my mother drove me to the babysitter's house and sang in the car. I would sing along, but only through a baby's cries. My mom would immitate the noises I would make, and eventually it became a game we played in the car. She would match my pitch and I would start to match hers. By the time I was a year old, I was able to pitch-match her voice.

So if you want to know when music became a part of my life, I guess you could say when I was 1 year old.