Like it or not, when the train pulled out of Greensville early one morning toward the end of September 1937, I was on it [to the State School for the Blind in St Augustine, Florida]… After I got used to the place, I'd wander over to the rooms where the big boys or the big girls were practicing the piano. I'd love to just hang around and listen. I was always on the prowl for new sounds. I tried to copy anything I heard just for the fun of it. I didn't really begin formal lessons till I was eight, the following year.