La canción loco

First Days Continued...

"Welcome to Introduction to Music, class," the teacher said. She was a heavy woman with an acorn cap of dark hair and a voluminous black dress splashed with red roses. "You can call me Dr. Ferranti or Noreen or Teacher. Whatever makes you comfortable makes me comfortable." I decided to call her Dr. Ferranti because I try to take every opportunity to be prim. Also, I was impressed that my teacher had a doctorate. I hadn't realized that it took so much schooling to teach a bunch of buffoons about Beethoven.

Looking around me, I decided that everyone, especially myself, fit into the buffoon category. There was an overly intelligent-looking fellow sitting nearby. He was clutching his ergonomic pencil and staring, bug-eyed, at the teacher. I noticed, however, that he had a textbook in front of him while I did not.

Dr. Ferranti had just handed out the course syllabus to all the students. I scanned my syllabus and read: "Required materials include the text book The Enjoyment of Music and the 4-CD set The Norton Recordings." Ugh! Panic rose in my chest and I had a forehead-slapping urge. Now I looked enviously at the nerdy fellow sitting at the table in front of mine. Well, at least I could whip out my own ergonomic pencil (even if mine didn't have a nifty but useless scissor handle jutting from it like his pencil did).

"You can share my book with me for now," a friendly voice said. I turned to the right and smiled back at the fifty-something woman sitting next to me. Her warm manner and puffy blonde hair brought to mind a soufflé.
"You're an angel," I laughed. "I had no idea that I would need a book and CDs. How did you find out that they were required?"
"I popped over to the C.O.D. bookstore before class and asked about the required materials. Don't worry--you can buy this stuff during break. The materials cost about ninety-seven dollars. Steep isn't it?" she asked.
"Shocking," I said. "This is my first college class ever, so everything is shocking to me."

Fifteen minutes after class started, the room began to fill with students. Dr. Ferranti continued her introduction without pausing for late arrivals. The back corner of the classroom was full of joshing black dudes whose conversation was as loud as their shiny red and blue sports jerseys. In the opposite corner of the classroom, the faux-Mumbai boys ruled. They seemed like they came straight from Mumbai with their slicked-back hair and shoulder bags, but I could hear Spanish words, such as la canción (song), dotting their speech.

Do re mi fa sol la ti do… filled the room as Dr. Ferranti, sitting at the black grand piano, played snippets of song to accentuate her lecture. "I want all of you to practice active listening," she said. "Don't let music exist only in the background of your life. By the time you're done with this class, I'll have you recognizing Mozart at the mall and Schubert at the supermarket. Even my dogs recognize the great composers, so there's hope for you all."

Stay tuned...

Love ya!

Lauren