I too have enjoyed the responses to this thread. My situation seems a little off the beaten path. I grew up with a father who listened to country/bluegrass music and my mom sang in the church choir. I never really got into the country music scene but can appreciate some of the fine musicians I heard. I did sing in the church choir for many years starting in the 4th grade and on up until my voice changed from a respectable boy soprano who sang solos and everything to the classic "frog" Funny thing happened when I received a Sears Roebuck modular record changer. Only had a couple of bubblegum rock 45's (I was in the 6th grade mind you) but somehow found these unfulfilling. As I was walking home one day I passed a neighbor's house as he was cleaning out his garage and he was throwing away a stack of old 78's. One in particular caught my fancy. Pierre Monteaux with the San Francisco Symphony doing Scheherezade. It took I believe 6 discs for the entire piece. I was enchanted with the sound of the orchestra, especially the brass playing (trumpet in particular) but that great trombone solo at the end of the 4th movement really bowled me over. The more I listened to orchestral music the more fascinated I became that someone could write music like this. But even more that human effort could produce these type of sounds. I plowed through the other 78's of Beethoven, Gilbert & Sullivan, Mozart, Ravel etc. and never seemed to get enough. Then another amazing discovery. The public library checked out 33 1/3 LP's of classical music! For FREE! Just started checking them out each week. Mahler #1 really captivated me. Janacek Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba, Prokofiev Lt. Kije and Kodaly Harry Janos along with Brass ensemble music of various types including the famous Chicago/Philadelphia/Cleveland Gabrieli Album. All this together made me want to perform some of this music. I got an old beat up cornet from a neighbor's attic and joined the beginning band at our school. 1/2 hour a week. by 7th grade I was in the Intermediate school band as well as the orchestra. All the while listening to music and now performing it as well. Played in bands, orchestras and brass ensembles all through high school along with youth symphony and went to college to continue. My parents were always supportive of my choices even though they didn't share my passion for this type of music. My dad fronted the money for my first professional model trumpet and I paid him back from paper routes and odd jobs. Went to the local music store and got one volume of the Trumpet Orchestral Excerpts books each payday during the summer of 9th grade and was thrilled to actually play the same notes as the real players were on those great albums. (My first piece to learn was Scheherezade in which I had to learn to transpose to A from a C trumpet) Today I teach middle school band, and private lessons, play in the local symphony, a working brass quintet and the local community band as well as church work and weddings. Somehow I never stopped loving that music from those old 78's. I will forever be indebted to that neighbor who gave these to me. Sorry so long, but someone did ask "How you got started." Bill Dishman Gainesville, Florida