CACHE COUNTY, Utah — A man with a gift for playing the piano and violin almost gave up after he suffered from a stroke but now he credits music for saving his life.
Using the keyboard as his medium, Kenneth Webb "paints" melodies in his head.
"When I play a chord, I can see a color," he explained. "And then I kind of know what color I want to go to next and so I just move into that color from the music.”
He began playing the piano at a young age and fine-tuned his skills over the years, gradually getting better and better.
"I started teaching piano at [age] 11," Webb said. "I’m not a genius. But it was just fun."
In 2013, the unpredictable happened when Webb got a sudden intense headache and suffered from a stroke.
"I couldn't walk, I couldn't get out of bed," he remembered. "I couldn't do anything myself."
After his stroke, depression set in when Webb realized his life would never be the same.
"I was praying to die," Webb said. "I literally, I just did not want to live anymore because I was burdening my family, I was burdening everybody."
The father to five children, Webb knew he had to fix himself, just as he does with broken musical instruments, if he was going to go on in life.
"Eventually, I was able to get the violin back up here and slowly work my fingers, it was really hard, excruciating, and at times depressing, too, because I still couldn't do what I wanted to do," he remembered. "But over time, just, I was able to get all that motion back out."
Now, each violin he restores, no matter how old or broken it may be, is a testament to his perseverance.
"It really almost doesn't matter what I play I can feel these goosebumps just come through," he explained. "I can feel...it's almost a spiritual feeling."
Webb continues to teach music as well as musical instrument repair. His home-based business, "Coda Strings," is located in Smithfield and he hopes one day to open a music store in the Cache Valley.
