"It is a sobering thought to realize that by the time he was my age, Mozart had been dead for 15 years." - Tom Lehrer

Mr Whack,

I think that there are at least two questions/issues here.

Musical ability is related to aptitude for mathematics, architecture, and--ready?--athletic ability. It makes sense if you think about it. Each area requires the ability to process information in three or four dimensions in realtime.

Proficiency at an instrument is something else. One may be fleet of foot and sure of hand but, as with the route to Carnegie Hall, there is only one way to learn to hit that major league fast ball--practice, practice, practice. So, for my part, I can say that I have a hardwired predilection for composition and harmony, but I have to work like hell to get what I hear out of my guitar and software.

Creativity is still another thing. Most of us have a desire to create, whether it is trouble, offspring, or noise. It is the rare few--and many of us are in that number--who can and will make the effort to assemble something abstract (which all art is; even a "realistic" painting is not the thing itself) out of nothing. This is part of the reason I have come to believe that the act of creation is far more important than whether I like what I have done. Something greater than myself made me do it, therefore there is worth.

Band-In-A-Box makes it possible and these forums bring us together, which is why we don't seem out of the ordinary to ourselves. But we really are.

Mozart, Babe Ruth, Stephen Hawking, and Frank Lloyd Wright are the exceptions which prove the rule.

R.