I Am Backwards

I just might defy science.

Dr. Oliver Sacks is one of my favorite all-around thinkers. I've been reading his latest book, Musicophilia, which describes a bunch of neurological oddities he's come across that have to do with music. Even if you know a bunch of these stories (as I did before starting it), it's still an interesting read.

Anyway, I just finished a section on people who lose their vision and, consequently, gain musical talents. I've never been a musical genius by any standard -- maybe I'm not blind enough for that -- but I do have a good ear and can make a pretty good sound on the cello. It's not the blindness, though.

Here's the thing: everyone in my family is a musician, and I'm the only blind-ish one. In fact, I probably have the least interest in music of anyone in my family. My musical tastes are broader: I like and know a lot more about rock and jazz, and my grasp of contemporary classical music (nice oxymoron) probably outdoes my mother and sister. But when it comes to the actual attraction to and practice of music, I lag far behind.

My parents were both born into non-musical families. My father was a conductor, a cellist, a pianist, an accordion player, and a music educator. He could look at a page of a score and immediately say what piece it was from. He would sit on subways and read orchestral scores the way most people read novels. My mother trained as an opera singer, studied music teaching at Harvard, taught choruses, and currently plays the flute as an experienced amateur. My sister majored in violin at one of the top conservatories in the world, and now plays with orchestras and chamber groups.

Me? I did take cello lessons for sixteen years, many of those by choice., but never even considered a career. I scraped by to get through recitals. In orchestras, I faked my way through rehearsals, memorizing the tough parts but guessing at the rest. No one confused me for a professional, and if anything, I got away with more because people knew I couldn't read the sheet music.

Long story short, losing vision did not make me a better musician. I do have the ability to recognize music pretty quickly, but I blame that on my family upbringing and my genetics, not on the eyes.

Dr. Sacks would be so disappointed. But, on the bright side, I just found out that we live in the same ZIP code. I might see him around the neighborhood. Or, at least, I might bump into him.