not the scale of the fish kind but the musical kind. this is a page from my yamaha guitar course workbook from a long time ago. i don't know why i still keep this when i haven't even played guitar since i left the old country. there was a guitar available to me when i lived in europe and in the sultanate of oman but when i came to canada, i won't even touch anyone's guitar when i'm asked to play. i did once but the owner got so jealous because i could play pick and he could only strum. now there's an s word.
when my little boy came here, he brought my guitar with him but i was lazy to even open the case until two years later. and to my disappointment, the whole thing just collapsed. it maybe from the changes in weather that it endured since i left it. i thought at the time that it was fitting as the person who gave it to me was long dead anyway. and i never wanted to play guitar again. i don't think my arthritic hands and fingers can endure a simple scale now anyway.
in high school, i taught myself how to play the guitar but years later when the first mr. summerfield gave me a folk guitar, i went to yamaha school of music to learn to play pick. my teacher loved me because i could read notes and the symbols in the scale. he included me in the year-end recitals and i played "romance d'amour". my teacher said i started brilliantly until i got in the middle and forgot a cluster of notes but i kept playing until i got it right. he said the only ones who probably noticed were the teachers but the audience, certainly not the first mr. summerfield who was beaming, wouldn't have noticed it. truth was i was nervous so i took a valium before we left the house and another a few minutes before i went on the stage. after my second number, "where have all the flowers gone", i sat backstage half asleep. i got an A- at the end of the course.
The one and only Mrs. Summerfield... you are amazing! Even if in this particular instance, I think I love the story more than the photo. It is a very pretty photo and it gets alive with your story.
Unfortunately, my English is not enough to capture everything in your story in detail. In a language it is very often the nuances that count.
But I imagine I can feel a bit of the magic of your story.
Thank you.
This music reminds me of my experience with piano lessons. The scales book. I never liked to practice and quit lessons after 5 years at age 12.
You have lived a fascinating life and when you compile it as a book, I would like to be in the first group of readers.
What a co-incidence - I played that song for a patient yesterday both in German and in English - Marlene Dietrich. Beautiful song - and congratulations on your A.
Another interesting narrative. You could probably find a guitar teacher who would loan you a guitar for a short while to see if it's something you could [or would like to] try again.
Your narrative makes this picture come to life! And it is never too late to try again, isn't it? But in the meantime, the music makes a great photo and could be used in more pictures, I imagine...
@grammyn - you're biased. my life isn't fascinating. i just write fascinatingly (oh, that's an ugly word!). 🤣
@monikozi - 😂🤣thanks!
But I imagine I can feel a bit of the magic of your story.
Thank you.
You have lived a fascinating life and when you compile it as a book, I would like to be in the first group of readers.