User:Mccanless

Music:
My earliest memories of learning musicare from about age 3. I was taught to use my parents' record player, and spent hours, every day, listening to and learning songs on 78 rpm records. My favorites were Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, who at the time did a lot of music for kids.

We lived in trailer parks back then, and a lot of the kids didn't have records for entertainment, so, at about age 4, I began singing songs, from memory, to the kids on the playground. So began my performing in front of a listening audience.

At about age 8, my parents bought me a harmonica. I learned to play it so quickly that they decided to enroll me in piano lessons, at a local music store. (I wanted to play guitar.) After 4 weeks of lessons the instructor there decided I had no talent, so my mom searched out a private teacher.

Eight years later, I was ready for college material, and had an invitation to audition for the Orlando, Fl symphony. I declined. I didn't want to wear a tux, or play classical music (I wanted to play guitar.)

When I was old enough to get my first job, I saved my money and bought a Fender Music Master guitar, and began really learning music (I wanted to play guitar.)

In college I studied music theory and composition, and started my first band. By age 19 I was playing bass (I found I was much better at that than guitar) professionally in a rhythm & blues band.

I changed styles periodically, as I aged, learning acid rock, blues, country, and even a little jazz (jazz didn't pay much where I was.)

Now, after 40 years, I am learning Blue Grass with a banjo I bought last year, and constantly re-learning how to use my computer for music work.

I was introduced to the opensourcemusicians channel, by holstein, and here I am, still learning.

Computers:
I started out learning fortran in college, on a 1968 model Honeywell. The rest, I will add later (did I mention that when I was a kid, serial installments to stories were still in fashion?)