"Charlie came in this
morning all excited. ‘Hi,
everyone,’ he said. ‘I’m
ready for my lesson. I
practiced a lot since I saw
you last time. Every single
day, even on the weekend.
Sometimes I even practiced
two times in the same day.’
"He showed us his left hand,
his right hand, and low,
middle and high on the
piano. He knew where to find
the bird, tiger and duck. He
played loud and soft notes,
high and low notes. We were
very happy. He had really
practiced hard."
"Are you ready to learn
something new today,
Charlie?"
"Boy oh boy, was he ready.
‘You bet I am,’ he said.
"Stormy answered, ‘Good,
Today, we’re going
to teach you about the musical alphabet.’
"Sheba told him, ‘Music has
an alphabet, just like
English or Spanish or
Russian or Chinese or
French.’ And little Sharon
said, ‘Only it’s a lot
shorter.’ Sharon has a thing
about short. I wonder why.
"Stormy explained that the
musical alphabet has seven
letters. She wrote it on the
blackboard…if you play the
letters this way - A, B, C,
D, E, F, G - the sounds go
up. The notes go higher and
higher. If you play the notes this
way [backward], the sounds
go down. The notes go lower
and lower."
Click here for an excerpt from
Husky Gang Tales
Click here for an excerpt from
Practicing Sucks
Click here for an excerpt from
The Acquired Art of Teaching
Music
