The Sound of Music
Sorry if I forgot you for a while. Well actually, no I didn’t forget you. I was just very busy. I flew home to see your Mommy, that protuding thing we call a belly and where you’re currently cruising happily far the daily nuisance that make our world so unique.
We’d stop our little tour of the family with Anne-Lise’s musical skills, her innate talent for the keyboard, her intimate relationship with Beethoven, Chopin, Petit Âne Noir (literally meaning small black donkey - I’m sure Ludwig Von is thrilled to be paralled with a donkey) and her strong passion for music. Well passionate it was. Storms blew in and out, but overall she survived my dad’s frantic music addiction and now has something extra to put down on her resume. I never had the chance to play anything, so unfair !! I wish I knew how to play the trumpet… (As I write these words I fear my father is going to call me and make me take music lessons, but then again life is more fun with a challenge).
Anne-Lise’s craving for notes, G minors and other obfuscating letters didn’t just stop with the piano. As a matter of fact, I’d say it started with it. And one can even identify methodically several periods :
- Classical
At age 3, my sister learns how to read music. To her they’re sounds. To me they are little birds on a series of black lines. To her, she’s got a score sheet, to me it’s heavy books that come in handy when I want to build Playmobil(c) fortresses.
When she reached 4, my sister started taking piano lessons. She went to a private teacher’s home and took lessons there. That teacher alone would be worth a lengthy dissertation but to cut it short, let’s say she reminded me very much of the witch leader, in Roald Dahl’s famous novel Witches. My sister didn’t care much for her teacher, or so I think, but they seemed to get along well and the teacher proved to be an outstanding one.
- Religious
My sister also sang, and when she was in middle school, she joined a choir at the local Music School and used to sing there every Tuesday or Wednesday night (I can’t remember, you’ll have to excuse me) with some school friends. I sometimes went with her to listen and watch. I remember she even sang at the local church, Notre Dame, but my father went Bersek as she sang off key. That was the beginning of the end, an alleyway to the dark ages. At another occasion, my sister failed to show up at a town festival. Our father wasn’t too happy about that either. - Baroque
The Baroque period is according to The Collaborative International Dictionary of English, characterized by the use of complex and elaborate ornamentation, curved rather than straight lines, and, in music a high degree of embellishment. To such an extent, adds the dictionary, that it becomes grotesque… This matches my sister’s lack of interest in piano I’d say. In 1995, we went back to the USA and there my dad rented a piano for my sister which stayed mute most of the time. I guess we listened more to the Spanish lessons tapes than to my sister’s reciting. - Renaissance
When your Mom eventually left for college, she had to study quite a bit and thus left piano aside - never entirely though. As a matter of fact, at the same period (if I remember well) she got herself a keyboard to practice just about anywhere. She took it to her college dorm, and it now sits in her living room, your soon-to-be playground. - Modern / Contemporary
Imagine a Rothko painting :
empty, huh ? Well much like modern art paintings, my sister’s music life is pretty much void : I guess you can be blamed for it. Naaaah just kidding. As a matter of fact, I know not whether she stills plays the piano. I guess she kicks up a tune for her bemused students who’ll beg their parents for music lessons not knowing it can spell disaster.
That’s all folks for today, stay tuned for more adventures coming through to you.
