Despite objections in the previous segment, I still believe Beethoven would blow his stack at my children’s rewording the Ode to Joy, but I’ve been assured Mozart would laugh himself silly if he heard my kids barking Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
My kids have learned one thing: when you get a new instrument, the first thing you do is play the Ode To Joy on it. I bought kazoos for the two smallest, and that was the first thing played. Kiddo#3 will find a stick and hold it to his mouth and hum the tune.
Eighteen months ago, I discovered that they’d made music before 1960. Some of it didn’t even have guitars! It had violins and oboes and pianos and flutes and french horns. I was entranced. Before then, classical music had been something you listen to becuase it’s there, or because it’s Good For You. But suddenly, I learned to enjoy it. I fell in love again with the way a violin sounds. And while I was learning, my Patient Husband took it up too. I’m a Mozart fan; he loves Beethoven. Can this marriage be saved?
In fall 2006, Kiddo#1 got a saxophone. Shortly thereafter I came into possession of a broken violin, which I wasn’t sure I wanted repaired. And afterward, my Patient Husband rented a digital piano. We heard a lot of Ode To Joy in those days.
Last February, reeling from another loss (a friend who was a violinist) I actually repaired that century-old family-owned violin. It was a way of connecting with my friend, to pick it up and start re-learning it. A bit at a time, just for fun, just for me.
The biggest impediment is time. I don’t have an hour a day to practice. I don’t even have fifteen minutes. But I’m hoping that in Heaven, I’ll have time, and I’ve made my guardian angel promise to teach me then.
Me: Are you Suzuki certified to teach violin?
Angel: I’m working on it.
We’re going to rent a practice room in Purgatory. This will prevent me from ruining Heaven for those already there, and make the time of purification more rapid for those being purified.
I’m not going to be working with the Angeltown Philharmonic in this lifetime unless they have a bake sale, but violin is soothing. It’s neat when things come together. It’s fully engaging. And it’s music. Although I’m doing it badly, once again, I’m making music.
~fin~
