When I was 10, my best friend asked me to learn the clarinet, along with her, and so I started. Shortly afterwards, she quit but I continued. In high school, I also started playing the tenor sax, which I absolutely loved. I carried this on to college, where I added the bass clarinet to my repertoire.
When I dropped out of school, I dropped all the instruments.
Three or four years later, I started to teach myself how to play the guitar. I graduated from classical to acoustic, and continued to play. About 7 or 8 years later, I was given a huge 1953 upright piano, which I also started playing.
Then I quit everything, when I dropped into a deep depression.
I had gotten rid of that upright piano, after more than 20 years.
Now, 20 years later, I picked up that guitar, was given a full-size Casio keyboard, and then also bought myself an electric guitar. It seems like I can’t make up my mind, even this late in life, what it is that I really want to play, what feels the best and I can play well.
Out of all those instruments, my favorite is the keyboard. I have self-taught myself how to play it, though I already had previous experience and had no trouble playing and reading music. I still love it. I can look at the printed words of a song I really like, listen to it a time or two, and then play it.
I love this (even if my neighbors don’t), and surprisingly, so does my cat. When I start to play, she is right there beside me, and often tries to get up in my arms, which makes playing a little difficult. But the love for music, which I discovered as a child, has continued and grown over the four decades since I started. I believe it will always be with me.
It’s one thing that I haven’t failed at . . . ever.
Through The Clouds 