Though I've been trying to learn to read music for three decades, there has always been a mental block to the translating the symbols in the cobwebs of my mind. I began playing music at age 4 when I sat down at my aunt's piano and plinked Tennessee Waltz in the key of "C". Instantly, my mother insisted that I take piano lessons, which I did for just over a year. Unfortunately, I never was able to comprehend sheet music, but for some strange reason, I've always been able to hear a song one or two times and then play it. My wife says I could have taken Dustin Hoffman's role in Rain Main. These days, I still have to glance at the lyrics once in a while (the mind was the second thing to go in the aging process), and I'm still trying to learn to read, but every time I look at the sheet music, the song just pops into my head and I play it. I may miss a chord or two in a progressive run, but most of the time, unless you were an accomplished musician, the audiences never know.

Though I wish I could read, there is a lot to be said for those who cannot. I have several friends that read and they do not have the ability to adlib, extend the length of a song when the dance floor is filled to capacity or play a song in any key other than the one on the sheet music. Those of us that can't, have all those things going for us.

Maybe one day I'll learn to read, but it's sure tough when you reach Social Security age to teach an old dog new tricks.

Cheers,

Gary