Who am I?

I was born at a very early age. My parents were not at home because my mother was in hospital and my father was visiting her; so they missed this important occasion.

At the age of 7 I asked my mother if she would let me take recorder lessons (just like my brother). She said yes. But very soon the teacher told me: "You have an extraordinary talent, being able to play without reading the notes, but you are supposed to read them anyway."
My problem was, however, the same as dyslectic people have when they read words: I had to take the time to "translate" those silly droodles into music. It was impossible for me to read notes and play at the same time (and it still is).
So this is what I did: I looked at the paper while I kept on playing by ear. That went fine until I had to play a song that I didn't know... Goodbye lessons!

At the age of 12 I got the opportunity to play a piano (which was out of tune beyond imagination, but it was a piano nevertheless). In the same building there was a harmonium and after a short while they allowed me to play on it... and that was a reason for me to ask my mother to buy an organ.
She did (an electronic organ: Riha to be precise), but you guessed it: I had to take organ lessons. I tried for half a year and then I gave up. The problem was even bigger than before: when playing a recorder, you read and play one note at a time. When playing an organ you read and play at least 5 notes at a time; 1 or 2 for the melody (and harmonics), 3 (sometimes 4) for the chords and the bass pedals were number 5, 6 or 7.
But the organ lessons also brought something good: I learned a lot about music theory, so that I knew the names of the chords etc.

At the age of 15 or 16 I wrote my first song. It wasn't very good of course, but it was a beginning. The song was for one vocal and a piano. Arranging was something I learned much later. The lyrics... well, I did better later on. But the music was not so bad actually. For that reason I performed it recently as an instrumental called "1972 rock".

I must have been about 20 years old when I learned to arrange vocals: I could write and sing 3 part harmony. And that's what I did from that moment on... until a Dutch musician (André Groote) advised me to stop doing that. Always 3 part harmony is too much.

From the first 3 part harmony until the nineties I recorded on analogue equipment using the pingpong method: copying from one track to the other while adding a vocal or instrument. 10 parts (total of vocals and instruments) was my limit; one more would destroy the instrument that I recorded first. In the nineties I bought 2 digital recorders and a mixer, so that the sound quality improved enormously and 10 parts was no longer the limit.

In the 21^st century I bought my first digital multitrack recording equipment (12 tracks). When that machine broke down I bought the equipment that I still use today (32 tracks).

And now there is something else...
I had my tonsils out when I was 4 or 5 years old. During that procedure the anaesthetist did something wrong so that I got no air for at least 5 minutes. That is the reason why you'll never hear a fast solo on the piano (or any other instrument) as I just lack enough control of my muscles. Only modern technology makes it possible that I make the music that I make.

To be continued?