Hannah
Kid you not.
This little girl doesn’t stop talking from the second I open the front door to let her in for her piano lesson till she leaves. She’s the cutest little thing on the planet, with strawberry hair and a face full of freckles. Her eyes never stop dancing the whole time she’s here.
I told her she looked cute. This is what followed: [Read this as quickly as you can, breathe only if you have to and summon all the excitement of Christmas morning for a 10 year old]
I got these pants [standing up from the piano bench] in San Antonio. We went there when my grandparents, we call them mamaw and papaw, took my brother with them on vacation, I don’t remember where they went. My mom and I went to San Antonio with my two cousins and their moms except I saw this sign for Sea World and we didn’t know there was a Sea World there, except for the sign I saw and I got these pants. [Sitting back down] My dad gave me a CD. He burned my favorite song on there 3 times in a row. It’s called “Drive”. I love that song. [Keep the pace but sing in a country twang]
It was painted red the stripe was white
It was 18 feet from the bow to stern light
Secondhand from a dealer in Atlanta
I rode up with daddy when he went there to get her
We put on a shine, put on a motor
Built out of love, and made for the water
Ran her for years, til' the transom got rotten
A piece of my childhood will never be forgotten
It was just an old plywood boat
With a 75 Johnson with electric choke
A young boy two hands on the wheel
I can't replace the way it made me feel…[she gets stuck and forgets the words then…]
When Daddy let me drive. [She laughs and heads into the last verse]
I'm grown up now3 daughters of my own
I let them drive my old jeep
Across the pasture at our home
Maybe one day they'll reach back in their file
And pull out that old memory
And think of me and smile
And sayIt was just an old worn out jeep
Rusty old floor boardsHot on my feet
A young girl two hands on the wheel
I can't replace the way it made me feel
And he'd sayTurn it left, and steer it right
Straighten up girl now, you're doing just fine
Just a little valley by the river where we'd ride
But I was high on a mountain
When Daddy let me drive [then she says how she loves the way it ends….]
Daddy let me drive
Oh he let me drive
It's just an old plywood boat
With a 75 Johnson
And electric choke…
[Now during these first few minutes of her lesson I’m seriously trying to find an opportunity to begin and short of placing my hand over her mouth or something it just wasn’t possible. So she continues from the song into:]
I just love that song. I just LOVE COUNTRY!!! [Hurling both arms in the air] I LOVE COUNTRY!!! [Arms up]. Guess what I’m going to be for Halloween? [Standing again] I’m going to wear socks like these with cute jeans I have, with a white t-shirt and this country hat that used to be my brothers, I LOVE country! [Arms up and she sits down] I just kept doing that one night [she continues to say I LOVE country and shoots her arms into the air repeatedly throughout this part] when my grandma and grandpa were there and my friend Katie, I think it was Katie, or maybe it was Jamie, I don’t remember, I think it was Jamie, and she thought it was so funny I couldn’t stop. I can’t help it I just LOVE that song.
[“Hannah I really need for you to start your lesson sweetheart”…she starts to play and my cat begins to moan from the other room.]
What’s that? Is that your cat? Oh…it’s so hard for me to concentrate. [Plays a little more after she squeezes her forehead with her hands a couple times and we’re off and running again]
There’s this bus stop at the other end of our street and the bus lets me off there and I have to walk all the way to the other end of our cul-de-sac because that’s where our house is and I hate to walk all that way but my friend Matthew is so lucky, he lives right there by the bus stop and that would be nice because I have to walk to the end of the cul-de-sac. [She sighs]
I have a headache. That was confusing. [We’re still trying to finish the first technic exercise] My friend can play this song my phone rings with at home. [She launches into “Fur Elise” singing…doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo…doo doo doo doo…doo doo doo doo…she finishes the melody, doesn’t appear to take a breath, and goes into] I was going to bring a book to show you that says emit levart and you hold it up to a mirror and it says Time Travel backwards. Want me to show you?
[I start humming “Fur Elise” and call her a goober for getting that stuck in my head and she says]
Goobers. That’s my mom’s favorite candy.
Kid you not.
This little girl doesn’t stop talking from the second I open the front door to let her in for her piano lesson till she leaves. She’s the cutest little thing on the planet, with strawberry hair and a face full of freckles. Her eyes never stop dancing the whole time she’s here.
I told her she looked cute. This is what followed: [Read this as quickly as you can, breathe only if you have to and summon all the excitement of Christmas morning for a 10 year old]
I got these pants [standing up from the piano bench] in San Antonio. We went there when my grandparents, we call them mamaw and papaw, took my brother with them on vacation, I don’t remember where they went. My mom and I went to San Antonio with my two cousins and their moms except I saw this sign for Sea World and we didn’t know there was a Sea World there, except for the sign I saw and I got these pants. [Sitting back down] My dad gave me a CD. He burned my favorite song on there 3 times in a row. It’s called “Drive”. I love that song. [Keep the pace but sing in a country twang]
It was painted red the stripe was white
It was 18 feet from the bow to stern light
Secondhand from a dealer in Atlanta
I rode up with daddy when he went there to get her
We put on a shine, put on a motor
Built out of love, and made for the water
Ran her for years, til' the transom got rotten
A piece of my childhood will never be forgotten
It was just an old plywood boat
With a 75 Johnson with electric choke
A young boy two hands on the wheel
I can't replace the way it made me feel…[she gets stuck and forgets the words then…]
When Daddy let me drive. [She laughs and heads into the last verse]
I'm grown up now3 daughters of my own
I let them drive my old jeep
Across the pasture at our home
Maybe one day they'll reach back in their file
And pull out that old memory
And think of me and smile
And sayIt was just an old worn out jeep
Rusty old floor boardsHot on my feet
A young girl two hands on the wheel
I can't replace the way it made me feel
And he'd sayTurn it left, and steer it right
Straighten up girl now, you're doing just fine
Just a little valley by the river where we'd ride
But I was high on a mountain
When Daddy let me drive [then she says how she loves the way it ends….]
Daddy let me drive
Oh he let me drive
It's just an old plywood boat
With a 75 Johnson
And electric choke…
[Now during these first few minutes of her lesson I’m seriously trying to find an opportunity to begin and short of placing my hand over her mouth or something it just wasn’t possible. So she continues from the song into:]
I just love that song. I just LOVE COUNTRY!!! [Hurling both arms in the air] I LOVE COUNTRY!!! [Arms up]. Guess what I’m going to be for Halloween? [Standing again] I’m going to wear socks like these with cute jeans I have, with a white t-shirt and this country hat that used to be my brothers, I LOVE country! [Arms up and she sits down] I just kept doing that one night [she continues to say I LOVE country and shoots her arms into the air repeatedly throughout this part] when my grandma and grandpa were there and my friend Katie, I think it was Katie, or maybe it was Jamie, I don’t remember, I think it was Jamie, and she thought it was so funny I couldn’t stop. I can’t help it I just LOVE that song.
[“Hannah I really need for you to start your lesson sweetheart”…she starts to play and my cat begins to moan from the other room.]
What’s that? Is that your cat? Oh…it’s so hard for me to concentrate. [Plays a little more after she squeezes her forehead with her hands a couple times and we’re off and running again]
There’s this bus stop at the other end of our street and the bus lets me off there and I have to walk all the way to the other end of our cul-de-sac because that’s where our house is and I hate to walk all that way but my friend Matthew is so lucky, he lives right there by the bus stop and that would be nice because I have to walk to the end of the cul-de-sac. [She sighs]
I have a headache. That was confusing. [We’re still trying to finish the first technic exercise] My friend can play this song my phone rings with at home. [She launches into “Fur Elise” singing…doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo…doo doo doo doo…doo doo doo doo…she finishes the melody, doesn’t appear to take a breath, and goes into] I was going to bring a book to show you that says emit levart and you hold it up to a mirror and it says Time Travel backwards. Want me to show you?
[I start humming “Fur Elise” and call her a goober for getting that stuck in my head and she says]
Goobers. That’s my mom’s favorite candy.
Kid you not.
posted by ret at 10:30 PM
8 Comments:
Sounds a bit like stalling to me. And do I know a thing or two about stalling before a lesson :) Remember?
LOL!!! Ya know. I didn't think of that but it's a very good point. Don't you just miss those days...
Well, I love playing the piano, but man did I get scared for lessons. Didn't you think I was the biggest pansy in the world? I got SO SCARED and worried...imagine that! By the way, I found some of my old lesson sheets. Do you remember when I used to come up with my own categories of crapiness? Funny times.
That is sooo funny. They were good times. I have precious memories of you and Shawna learning duets all the time...and stink, what was the name of that old time song you did...I always liked that one. And yes, I remember the scale you came up with. Loved it. You were the only student in all the years I taught who did that. Too funny.
Ragtime Parade. Let us not forget that Shawna scooted me off the bench when we did a key change...
Noted ;) but the song I was thinking of was like Aura Lee or something like that....a real oldie...and that slide off the bench was hilarious at the time...
Ah, yes, Aura Lee. We did play that pretty well. I was also remembering that one weird boy (maybe he wasn't weird) that always moved his ENTIRE body when he played a solo. Brandon? Mark? I don't remember to tell you the truth. But, he would sit there and Shawna and I would try not to point, but we would laugh, and then later imitate him. Sorry about that...
Shaun. And all that moving around must have paid off...he's doing studio work and making a living out of it all. But I think it's as a drummer and not pianist...still, I don't think he swayed around like that playing the drums. I suppose I should have told him but I couldn't bring myself to do it!
You ever get out the ole' video tapes and watch those old recitals!! We watched some a few months ago and you guys were sooooo little. Miss that.
Post a Comment
<< Home