May 8, 2006 - Monday
Harry has gotten on the bus. I am upstairs at the computer for a couple of moments before taking Jeremy to Mary's house. He is downstairs playing. (Jeremy's always been so good at keeping himself occupied that he and I regularly dally before we go to Mary's or to school.) I hear Jeremy playing the electric keyboard down in the living room and don't think too much of it at first. After all, he been playing it often lately. But then I notice that the notes are from the first line of the French Folk Song that he's been learning on the cello. He does the first line perfectly (D-D-D-C#-C#-C#-B--C#-D-A) and then repeats it. I think that's a mistake and that he's meant to play the second line (G-G-G-F#-F#-F#-E-E-E-D). The second line of the song uses the same left hand finger pattern on the cello except it's on a different string. Then, I hear him searching for the note to start the next phrase. He tries a couple before finding something that sounds right and repeats the ascending scale three times (D-E-F#-D-E-F#-D-E-F#-G). He has a little trouble finding the next note (it would be E, starting a similar ascending motif) and eventually gets distracted, but it's hard not to smile at the effort and the discovery. Jeremy's ears are working and his brain is translating his cello piece onto the piano.

After he gets distracted I go downstairs. "Hey, you were playing the French Folk Song," I ask. "Yeah," he answers as though I'm the one who's just figured it out.


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