Obsession

I 'found' music in my early teens following a taunt from a young lass that I knew nothing about music. She was right, but it touched a nerve already laden with guilt from my father's anguish that his son was apparently music-less. Looking back, that 'taunt' was like a time bomb. In a matter of weeks my parents were both amazed yet concerned that I was so suddenly 'glued' to the keyboard.

My father's habit of evening practice vanished overnight as his son's obssession changed everything. I remain amazed that they adapted to it so readily. My feeling is that such a thunderbolt in my own family's upbringing would have brought a decisive measure of control into play!

I cannot now recall my true feelings at that time, other than the desperate attempt by a young looney to prove himself a budding musician to a girl with no interest in me, or music. Such are the quirks of youth that can herald sudden fancies, and occasionally sow the seeds of a lifetime's obssession. Joyce Turnbull never knew her part in my career, and my parents never knew the real truth of their son's sudden obssession.