As a child growing up in Michigan (Detroit, then later the northern part of the Lower Peninsula) Sufjan Stevens took oboe lessons--which he hated--and taught himself piano by mimicking his sister's lessons. This musical self-instruction continued in college--he favored creativity over proficiency with any instrument. He started a folk-rock band, Marzuki, for which he played the recorder. He also prolifically wrote solo material--90-minute concept albums, recorded on 4-track tapes. It was also sometime hereabouts that Sufjan's Christmas EPs started leaking to the internet.