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2002-01-26 - 11:46 a.m.

WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC

The house is alive with music again. All of us are musical to one degree or another but the extent to which one is aware of that musicality varies. Sometimes the house is filled with music. Sometimes we go months in musical silence. We�re entering a musical period again. Ever time it happens, I realize how much I miss the music when it�s gone.

I sing and I play guitar (badly), autoharp (but I haven�t done it in months), and piano (but only rarely these days.) I just don�t seem to make time for it in my day. I flit here, there, and everywhere but I don�t take the time to play. I�m not sure why but with everyone else back to music, I suspect I�ll return too.

Kat used to play viola but has not done so this year in the hustle and bustle of a very rigorous academic program and working on stage crew. She�s continued to sing in a choir�actually, she helps with the children�s choir at the synagogue�but we�ve heard little of it at home. Recently, however, she�s singing around the house again and, if you sing with her, you will discover how beautifully she can break into spontaneous harmonies. I�ve always wanted to be able to do that and I can do part singing but I am not nearly as talented in making up the harmonies.

Day-Hay plays flute. The first year she played flute, she practiced frequently. Recently, the practice has been far less of a priority but she�s discovered the piano and is diligently working her way through beginning piano books. With an occasional reminder to keep her fingers curved and occasional help with the next concept, she is beginning to be able to play real pieces. (Now, I just have to find a time to get the piano tuner in again because the piano desperately needs tuning.)

Mr. Philately, however, is the surprise. I know he has a wonderful ear. He�s always been the instrument tuner in the household. Bring him your guitar, viola, or autoharp and it will sound better after he gets ahold of it than it did before. He played guitar in high school but he�s not played often in 21 years I�ve known him. I have a guitar but he prefers classical guitars, not folk guitars, and he hates the metal strings. Even so, he used to play occasionally for the children but his playing was a relatively rare event.

But this December, his sister gave Mr. Philately a classical guitar that she had inherited. He tuned it up and placed it out, standing it against the piano. Having a guitar he likes out seems to have changed everything. Once again, he plays the guitar. Almost every night, he plays the guitar. Last night, I fell asleep to the sounds of his guitar.

The house is alive with the sounds of music again�and I love it.

____

* Apparently, my family and I have inadvertently helped get Maxiegirl good. I love it!

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