Most people who play a musical instrument learned as chil-<br >dren. I did not. Few adults who have never played an instru-<br >ment before take one up， least of all in middle age， and least<br >of all a bowed string instrument (supposed to be the hardest).<br >I am one who did. Though I came from a largely nonmusical<br >family and had almost no musical training or experience while<br >growing up， I began to play the flute at thirty-four， and the<br >cello at forty， which I put aside a couple of years later and then<br >took up again at fifty. Now， when home， I try to play three or<br >four hours a day， more when I can make time for it. To become<br >a skillful musician has become perhaps the most important task<br >of my life.<br > This book is the story of how it all came about. Friends of<br >mine to whom I have told some of this story have found it<br >interesting; I write it in the hope that others may， as well. I<br >hope， too， that my story may encourage or help other people，<br >above all adults， who may have thought they were too old， to<br >begin to sing or to play a musical instrument. Or， that it may<br >help many adults who are now amateur musicians to play better<br >