That Eric Alper

(Dyslexia). I didn’t know what it was – there was no word for it when I was at school. All I know I was being streamed into a non-academic place because they thought I was a moron. I couldn’t do the work or read. I can read but I don’t really understand what I read very much. What I’ve come to realize is that so called disability has made me who I am in how I’ve approach my craft. I was born at the right time as you know – we were just making it up. There weren’t any schools teaching kids how to write pop songs or play rock n’ roll. That was perfect for me because I couldn’t do the academic thing. Trying to read music was a nightmare. Anything with a stick and a ball – a B, a D a Q or a note, moves around.

I can’t keep them straight when I look at it. It was painstaking to try to figure out a piece so I’d get my teacher at the conservatory to play the piece before I left. I tricked them into doing that. I learned to remember the basic vibe of it and sort of piece it together. That developed my ear in a way nothing else probably could. I’ve never had that sense of a beginning middle and end.

Via FYI Music