We come by musical knowledge in sometimes unexpected ways. Guest columnist

Kurt Ullrich lives in rural Jackson County. His book "The Iowa State Fair" is available from the University of Iowa Press.

I miss my piano. For decades, a 1944 baby grand piano sat gloriously in the corner of my living room, and now that spot is taken up by a sofa bed, pull-out couch; whatever you call a piece of furniture where someone can sleep when the remedies are gone and stairs are no longer climbable.

I have been a musician of sorts over the years, but never a pianist. When I sat down on the ebony 1917 bench and began to play, it was by ear. In college, I wrote music for a choral group in which I sang, hanging out in a room filled with electronic keyboards, a big deal in the early 1970s. I’d put on headpho

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