February 11, 2004

The Magic of Music

My friend Yoko came over this afternoon. We play duets (four hand piano duets) together once a week, usually on Wednesday evenings, and then we take turns cooking dinner. But tonight she has to go into Halifax. As we were playing today, the snow started coming down in big flakes, very fast. It felt like we were in a movie set, playing Dvorak and Grieg and watching the trees around us turn white again.

We began playing together last summer. My house alarm had gone off by mistake and as she lives up the road, the monitoring company had called her (I had given them her number for emergencies). She came over later when I was home and we began playing for each other. It was delightful. We both knew a lot of the same music and she suggested the duets. At first I hesitated. I had played with my father, he on the violin, and it was not a lot of fun. My timing was never good and I had trouble sight reading. But once Yoko and I started playing together I started looking forward to our evenings. They have a special magic. The communication of listening to each other, sharpening our senses. We laugh when we make mistakes. And my timing and sight reading skills have improved.

Yoko brought over a small tape recorder today. It sounded like an old radio when we played it back. Very tinny. We sat and listened to ourselves playing while we watched even more heavy snow fall outside the windows. It's cleared now. More snow to shovel, but my driveway is no longer a skating rink for cars. The snow helps with traction.

Posted by leya at February 11, 2004 06:42 PM