Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Mag 146 — Metronome



Maybe he looked feminine because of the heavily shaded drama of the upper lids and the natural smoky lining beneath the tender blue eyes that were swept only rarely by long wet lashes that he dabbed often with tissue he kept folded in his pocket. His voice was velvet and clear, his enunciation crisp, commanding attention. He had an ear for notes and he wore platinum half-notes on each long lobe.

They never made small talk. He was there to teach and her mother was paying both of them for her to learn how to play. She nearly always came to lessons hungry because she had stayed on the soccer field until the last minute, which made her fidgety and impatient. Sometimes she forgot to turn off her cell phone and when it rang her teacher squeezed his eyes tightly and grimaced as she swiftly ceased the call.

Her mind raced to her unfinished list, her stomach growled. She did not hear his description of some composer's style, the lifetime of sorrows he endured while creating his masterpieces. It didn't matter the day, or the composer, or what lifetime of sorrows, or what masterpiece...it seemed she was forever drifting away from the lesson.

And it seemed her blind teacher was forever bringing her back with his canned request: "Try to concentrate on the metronome."





Written for The Mag: Mag 146 that inspired with the above photo prompt (Indestructible Object, by Man Ray, 1923).

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14 comments:

mythopolis said...

I REALLY liked this!

Berowne said...

A fresh, and refreshing, take on the prompt...

Doctor FTSE said...

How we hated our piano lessons. To our regret, who knows?

Helen said...

Incredibly intimate glimpse into the relationship between the blind teacher and the adolescent pupil.

Brian Miller said...

interestingly enough the man that tuned our piano was blind...i think we can lose a lot of the magic of anything when we break it down so far it is only one sided...

Tess Kincaid said...

This could be me...only without the cell phone...

Don't Feed The Pixies said...

i have a terrible habit of admiring my friend's CD collection when i should be paying attention to my saxophone teacher - so i know what its like to lose focus!

izzy said...

Hunger and fidget! how well I remember! great job-thanks!

Kathe W. said...

where on earth did you find this- excellent little story with a lesson (no pun) to learn...

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Silent Otto said...

It is just not the way of the Goddess, this patriarchal metronomic precision, however inspired!. Thanks Lydia

Lydia said...

myth~ That makes me happy!

Berowne~ Many thanks, and I sure hope I can get around to your blog this week.

Doctor FTSE~ I probably wrote this because I didn't have piano lessons and can only imagine them...

Helen~ Thank you so much for your kind comment. :)

Brian~ Guess what? That is true for us too, and it was the memory of that blind piano tuner that this was based on!

Tess~ Really? I find that very cool. :)

Pixies~ Maybe that is true, but you seem to collect yourself and create great music and art when you want to!

izzy~ I imagine that is how I would have been as a student, too. :)

Kathe~ Where did I find it? I went to Soundcloud and searched under "Metronome" ---there are probably hundreds there, a huge variety. I just kept listening until I came upon this one, and I knew it was what I would use to write around....

Anonymous~ Assuming your comment was not spam, I thank you for the heads up. No one else has mentioned this, and I wonder if others are having the same difficulty...

Kutamun~ You are right. The Goddess is sorely missing in this scene!

Unknown said...

Heart Beat...

Lydia said...

Citizen of Earth~ Yes, that would be true...

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