Over the eight years I studied with Spud, there were countless wonderful moments both Musical and otherwise.
Here is one:
One day during a regular lesson, Spud pulled out a book of piano reduction music notation of the cues from a film Spud scored in 1965. He opened the book randomly, set it on his upright piano stand and began to play one of the cues. My rudimentary mind was trying to follow the music and decipher what EIS nuggets were being applied when I glanced up and to my horror noticed he was not reading the music. Not reading the music? I was so shocked I stopped him mid cue. “Spud! How can you play this cue from 1965 without reading it???” “Well”, he said quietly… “I remember it.”