“A long long time ago
I can still remember how that music
Used to make me smile
And I knew that if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while”

These lyrics touched my soul from the very first time I heard the song American pie.
Don McLean further asked
‘can music save your mortal soul’
And on about When
‘something touched me deep inside ,
the day when music died.’

I think back to when I was as a young boy at school, entranced by mathematics
at the same time enchanted by music.
Calculating by hand and within my mind,
before calculators were allowed or commonplace.

I was also in love with music but not as gifted as I was with numbers so I painstakingly practiced guitar so that one day I could be in a band.
But rock and roll made me feel uncomfortable more often than not.
I used to hate all that work required to learn,let alone master a musical instrument, but upon reflection there is a lot to be said for learning by first principles