Hi all! 

Music was already one of the most core parts of my identity before I heard this song, but I still remember the moment I decided I was gonna figure out how to play the melody, just by trying out notes on the piano. It was a formative moment. 

I believe real skill is built when we stop waiting for others to tell us how to build that skill and we just try stuff. We explore and gain our own expertise that no one else has. I was about 3 years old when I decided "I need to do this right now, and I'm not waiting for anything." That drive is hard to keep up, and sometimes other things get in the way, but it is always underneath everything else. It's the foundation of what I do. 

I've never been one to think that music is "special". I don't think every child needs to learn piano, and I don't think music is the magic key to training brilliant amazing brains. I don't believe in all that baby Mozart crap. But each of us has something - the thing that drives us; the thing we need to do right now. For me, it's music, and it always has been, and it always will be. 

So here's a performance of "The Boxer" by Paul Simon, taken about 26 years after I first learned it, and this whole thing got started. Enjoy! 

~Schock