20
03
2006
Play it again, Sam, and with a little more water, please
Our six-year-old, having taken piano lessons for some seven months now, considers himself quite the little maestro. He loves the damper pedal. Since he only measures 43 inches tall, he isn’t able to reach it without standing up. (We finally invested in a piano pedal extending platform so his posture won’t go down the tubes). He especially likes playing dark, scary tunes.
At piano last week, Mrs Jacks, his teacher, told him that the piece he was working on would require the damper pedal. He was so excited. He blurted out, “Mrs Jacks, I love the damper pedal, but mine is more damp than yours!” 
so very cute. i’d love to hear him play one of his “dark, scary tunes”!!
This may be a new variation on synaesthesia that hasn’t been documented. I once saw a percussion ensemble (those crazy percs!) play “water”. They had several bins of water and they played water by slapping the surfaces. If at the point of composition, one is stuck on an idea, I’ve been told that a good shower helps “hear” the music in a different way. There’s a scene in this movie where our hero finally hears the melody that’s been hauting him. While taking a shower, he takes his 5 fingers across the shower window to draw a staff to write the notes.