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Beethoven’s Fifth Nightmare
An Autodidactic Polymath’s Journey Through Sound — Part 1
The Beatles’ opus “Revolution №9” was released on their “White Album” on 22 November 1968.
I was exactly one month away from turning 17. This audio montage, which some of my friends chose to skip over, opened my ears and mind to the endless possibilities of music and sound—far beyond what was normally coming out of my transistor radio.
If you were among those who jumped up to take the needle off the vinyl when that mashup of sounds came on—you can probably skip to the next Medium track at this point. It’s going to get cacophonous.
Diverse Elements Creating A Unified Composition
In my very early 20’s—in an effort not to offer my blood, mind or spirit to the atrocity of the Vietnam War—I slipped underground and in the early 1970s was living in Chicago.
Ever the autodidactic polymath, I had a need to express myself in sound.
I was handicapped by the lack of disciple, hence the inability, to play any musical instruments. (The few years of piano lessons I had as a child had left little residue. And the days of electronic mini-keyboards had not arrived.)
