I was extremely lucky.. I got the opposite. I was told when I was 8 that I 'make more noise than that in the playground, go on, sing out loud' so I did and nearly deafened the teacher (Mrs Sonia Hewitt, Welsh by birth and inclination) who promptly put me in the choir. Joined the local church choir a year later and that was it.. been in a choir almost continously since then.

LTS