Here is a picture of my uncle playing a tune by ear, a few seconds after having listened that tune from the radio… 
Behind him, my mother (his sister) was eating her hearth out because she studied music at primary school, so perfectly able to do sol-fa and reading piano scores real-time, but she was unable to improvise on the piano or play by ear
BTW, at the time I tickled ivories already, and I was unable as today to do sol-fa and reading piano scores real-time, but quite able to improvise on the piano 
Unfortunately I lost the pictures of my mother and her sister playing the accordion, an instrument very common after the WW2, taught at schools in place of the modern (and deprecated by one famous Italian conductor) recorder flute
Well, coming back to my uncle, he started just after the WW2 with the Fred Buscaglione orchestra, where he played the vibraphone (an instrument that appeared almost mythical in my little boy’s eyes) then he went in Finland hired by a local orchestra
He also “tickled ivories” for many years on holiday cruisers and was often hired in bars with live piano music when landed
Unfortunately, I didn’t inherit his ability to learn languages fast (he was able to sing in 5 languages), to play keyboards by ear, and to repeat a song perfectly just a few seconds after having listened to it, but maybe I took a bit of his power of improvisation
I think I put here this link to a show already, but I put here again to explain how ironic was my uncle
I just met a new group of friends at a party
A girl, having understood I was able to sing, asked me to replace a member of that group in a sort of show
To make it short: a very popular Turin’s club have arranged a fake singing contest, but using a jury composed by the most famous jazz association of the city, that included a bunch of pro musicians…
The contest was a fake, because the singers and groups were all made by amateurs willing to have fun and having the public have fun
Well, our “group” was a supposed-to-be a punk group all dressed in black BUT singing this song 
a few days after my “hiring” the girls asked me if I was able to find another singer to replace another defection, but she asked me to find a pro because she wanted the award (even if a fake one)
So I asked my uncle who accepted with enthusiasm
I told him a black dress was needed, and he replied “no problem”…
The day of the show I was in my car waiting him to come and…
ARGH!
He came dressed in white!
A light gray double-breasted suit in a punk group! 
I asked him why, and he replied to have lost its black dress 
Well there was no time to do something else, so we went at the show…
… that was a success also because he was the only able to sing that song properly
and the mismatch in our dress code made the public laugh all time
The moral of the story: keep on having fun whatever age you are
P.S. I forgot to mention the “dancer”; he believed to be a great dancer, but he was selected just because he was totally disjointed and off the beat
And about the 2 female singers, they were totally absent-minded and forgot to start the song at the right time, so they were suddenly replaced by my uncle
And about me, I forgot to have the mic positioned at the correct height, and I was afraid to do a mess trying it after: this is why I have sung the song in that strange bent position
