Oh, I understand all right. That was just a figure of speech. But short of some physiological problem, once a person learns to play by ear, there's nothing much that can take that away from him or her.

Would you care to descibe how the process of learning to read music can rob a person of the ability to play by ear any more than a kid learning to read can rob him or her of the power of hearing and speech?

No argument. Just a matter of scientific curiosity.

Don Firth