On Becoming an Artist: If You Can't Be a Jazz Pianist...

"I played piano....I tried anyway. I took lessons for years, a decade at least, but it was so hard with dyslexia as you can guess. The school found out I had dyslexia when I couldn't see the blackboard unless I pinched my fingers with both hands in front of my eyes. Some smart teacher saw me and brought it to someone's attention and they called the house. My parents didn't have a clue. I was about 7 to ten. I don't remember exactly at all. I went for an eye test and that doctor found out about the dyslexia. I remember the dyslexia lessons I had for a year but not my age then.  I only wanted to be a jazz pianist but you had to go through all classical lessons first and I totally agreed. In high school I was goalie on the socker team and my little finger was kicked so hard it was broken backwards. I went to the emergency room of course but it was never fixed correctly. So with dyslexia and not the correct reach I faded out of the piano playing except for amusement. I still could have been a jazz pianist but it really took so much work that I wasn't cut out for. I had to face that fact. "

"I don't know when I got that 'thing' to say what you'll do when you'll grow up. I didn't do anything serious until I was a teenager and went to my father's art classes. I didn't have to go but somehow I was good at art probably because my father was around the house much of the time. (not all of the time). I ended up going to art school but I really didn't fit in. I liked the way I thought and didn't like anything the teachers did...that were teaching us. I just faked it. When I went to music school to sketch the kids in practice rooms I became animated and more human. They let me try to enter the school (music) but told me later (after the audition, piano) to stay in the art school. They were right too. I would be a much better artist than I would be a pianist. But few had better ears than I. It all worked out well. I am a good artist and I spend my days listening to CD's."