The Missing Gene
"I don't have the gene," Annie, my freckled, ukulele student, lamented. Raising her instrument upright on her lap, she leaned against it. "You don't have what?" I asked. "The ukulele gene," she answered. "My grandma plays the piano, so that's why I'm good at that. But we traced back my family history and didn't find anyone who plays the ukulele, so I don't have the gene to get good at that." I laughed. Annie was incredibly bright and learning the instrument very fast. "Oh, you can still learn the ukulele even if none of your relatives have. Maybe you'll be the first in your family to learn it." She missed that concept as she continued, "There might be someone way, way back in my family who played the ukulele, but it would be so far back that I didn't get any of the talent." No matter how I tried to persuade her that she was showing excellent skill she could continue to develop, she...
