TA-TA, TEE-TEE, TA-A
neither of us were truly tired, i think the slight humidity in the air made it a tad uncomfortable for sleeping. but thinking air conditioning was unwarranted, we grinned and bore it, tossed around, talked, giggled, and reminisced.
something we spoke of triggered a memory from my childhood, my days in music class with mr. asbury. we were learning how to read music, being introduced to the note structure for the first time.
whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and then eighth notes! so much to embrace as a 3rd grader! we were given recorders and expected to memorize jingle bells and up on the housetop for the christmas concert. man, we had it rough.
but even before we could begin actually playing notes and memorizing our parts, we had to know what it all meant. what were these black dots strewn across five lines? some had dots. some had flags. some were strung together. and what in the world was that 4/4 at the beginning? wtf!
and thus began the chanting of TA-TA-TA-TA. TA-A, TA-A. TEE-TEE-TEE-TEE-TA, TEE-TEE-TEE-TEE-TA. that was our illustration for how long each note was to be held.
even as 3rd graders, we giggled at the ridiculous monotone sounds that came from our wee little voices. but i have to hand it to mr. asbury, the method must have worked considering that some 22 years later, i remember vividly the preparation of our musical learnings.
i later went on to play clarinet and win numerous first place awards at the illinois state music competitions. not too shabby. though i do regret to some degree that i didn’t continue in high school. it wasn’t that band wasn’t cool, because in fact, it was highly regarded. i just literally couldn’t squeeze it into my busy schedule.
but hey, at least i still have my TA-TAs. :)