Martinů was born in the tower of a town church and that is where he spent the first seven years of his life, away from the rest of the world. When he was old enough to go to school he had to climb the 193 steps down to the street every day. He started to have violin lessons from the local tailor. He was very shy because he was used to being all by himself with his family in the tower, but he made good progress and in 1905 gave his first violin recital.