To answer a question I hear frequently, my musical journey began when I turned five years old. Since my birthday is in December, I don’t remember if the present was for my birthday or for Christmas, but either way, my folks got me a toy piano. It was a tiny little wooden thing with maybe three octaves of plastic keys, but it was fantastic!
I banged on it for hours, making all kinds of joyful noise, until my dad finally got tired of it and decided to show me a song. Along with being a great trumpet player, he’d taught himself to play a little guitar… and as a kid, he’d taken the two years of piano lessons that seem to have been mandatory for everyone in his generation.
And what was my very first tune, you ask? “Yankee Doodle.”
Very soon after that, they bought me a real piano and got me into lessons. Rather quickly, my piano skills surpassed those of my parents, and it became clear that I might have a wee bit of talent. But it all began with a cute little toy piano.