“I didn’t want to read other people’s dots anymore.”

Billy Joel, Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin

Billy Joel | Here's The Thing | WNYC Studios

Context
Billy Joel & Alec Baldwin are discussing Joel’s musical upbringing and an interesting fact is revealed:

Joel:
I know what good piano playing is and I’m not good…
My technique is horrible. I can’t read music.
I never really got —

Baldwin:
You don’t read music?

Joel:
I used to but I don’t anymore. I forgot how.

Baldwin:
How did that happen? …

Joel:
I started taking lessons when I was about 4 or 5, and I went up until I was about 16, so it was almost 12 years of classical piano lessons. I loved it but, I just, when you become a teenager, everything changes…

I didn’t want to read other people’s DOTS anymore.