BEAVER FALLS, Beaver County — Some father-daughter bonds don’t have to be spoken.

Just ask Butler native Erik Vecere and his daughter, Alexa. For these two, the power of music has kept them together.

“I remember even when she was just an infant and a toddler where I would just get the guitar out and I’d be playing,” said Erik, 46, now living Beaver Falls. “She’d be right there and she’d be very engaged before she could even communicate verbally.”

That love of music blossomed into a lifelong passion and career path for Alexa, 21, who will graduate with a degree in music therapy from Slippery Rock University at the end of this month.

“He is the whole reason I got into music in the first place,” Alexa said of her father. “If I wasn’t a musician I don’t think I’d be anywhere near where I am now.”

For Erik, it meant a common interest with his daughter that led to a 2011 album released on the website Reverbnation titled “Existence.”

Fatherhood has long been very important to Erik, not only personally but professionally.

Inspired to make a difference in his community after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Erik, a Butler native, began searching for ways he could have an impact.

Erik and his wife attended a family, life and marriage conference near the end of 2001, and he began to research what he calls the “father absence crisis” in the United States.

Erik’s research found that homes with fathers present meant children were less likely to use drugs and alcohol.

“There was a father factor in almost every social ill that we were fighting,” he said.

Erik applied for an opening as a program specialist with the National Fatherhood Initiative in 2002.

The NFI was founded in 1994 and focuses on three main aspects: To educate the public about fatherhood in society, to equip community leaders with training and resources on fatherhood, and to engage in services who have direct partnerships with fathers to help them become better fathers.

The NFI was impressed with Erik’s 11 years in retail management and hired him. He provided support to the director of the NFI’s Pittsburgh office and did presentations and training of the NFI’s curriculum.

This meant helping organizations like the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club better engage fathers with their services.

Erik rose from program specialist to director, and in 2007 became the vice president.

While he’s worked to make other men better fathers in society, he has stayed vigilant to be a good father to Alexa and his younger daughter, Katie, 15.

“Trying to balance work with family is a challenge,” Erik said.

Erik recently separated with his wife, and has full custody of Katie, while Alexa lives on her own. This means that Erik had to learn to cook for Katie, and is supporting her as she transfers from Blackhawk High School to Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland.

“These are all the day-in, day-out things that I’ve been learning and doing the best that I can,” he said. “She competes at regional dance competitions and things like that, so again with her, trying to connect with music and art and also it’s just challenging to know from day to day what a teenage girl needs as a dad. I know that’s something that it works both ways, that children need their mom and their dad for different things.”

With that in mind, Erik does his best to remain on good terms with their mother.

“Trying to have a healthy and stable relationship with the mom, sometimes that can be a challenge, but that also is in the best interests of the children,” he said.

That’s where the music comes in. Whenever things would get tough for Erik and Alexa, he always had his guitar, and she always had her keyboard.

“Regardless of what was happening in the family dynamic or anything like that, we could always just kind of go back there and the music stays the same, and that was a constant,” Alexa said. “That was a way for us to bond and enjoy spending time together, even though things got a little difficult.”

They created “Existence,” an 11-song rock album, as the duo Vecere at Erik’s home studio. Erik played the guitar and sang, while Alexa played her keyboard, provided backup vocals and sometimes sang harmonies with her father.

“It was always an amazing experience,” Alexa said. “It was kind of a getaway I think, for both of us, that we could just record.”

Alexa is in Broward County, Fla., finishing up an internship in music therapy. She’ll be finished by the end of June, upon which she’ll graduate. After that she’ll move to Phoenix with her fiance, and look for a job in music therapy.

Even though she’ll be far away, she’s closer than ever with her father.

“He’s very open,” Alexa said. “I just know I can talk to him about anything.”

As for Erik, he’s still focused on being the best dad he can be.

“I think a good dad needs to be in the moment with his children, understand what speaks love to his children, and to be vulnerable,” he said. “I think those are, for me, some of the attributes that at least I’ve been working on as a dad.

“Really, trying to help them become who they want to become.”