It was decided by my parents during my 4th grade year of elementary school that I should take up a musical instrument. And years later, it was also my parents who attempted to closely monitor, reign in or altogether squash my interest in music…specifically rock music. To their credit, they didn’t understand it and quite frankly, neither did I. But I loved how it sounded and listening to it made me feel less alone and more real. And that was my childhood with music in a nutshell.