Nonfiction Monday: Note by Note

If you took piano lessons as a child, or if you have a child who is taking them now, then you'll want to read Note by Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson by Tricia Tunstall (Simon and Schuster, 2008).  I like Tunstall's description of music lessons:  "weekly session[s] alone together, physically proximate, concentrating on the transfer of a skill that is complicated and difficult, often frustrating and frequently tedious, but that every now and then open suddenly and without warning into joy" (3).  And the chapter on recitals is particularly, sometimes painfully, well-observed.

Recommended at Read Roger (see the comments for what readers remember from past piano lessons; Spinning Song, anyone?).  I only wish there were something comparable for violin lessons--that's what Leo takes.  Although Little Rat Makes Music by Monika Bang-Campbell (illustrated by Molly Bang; Harcourt, 2007) comes close, from a child's perspective.  So that's what elementary violin playing looks like!

Miss Malaprop

I'm rereading Little Women for my neighborhood book club (we're reading it together with March by Geraldine Brooks).  I must have been younger than Amy when I first read Little Women; I've reread it (or parts of it) countless times since then.  It's like an old friend to me.

That said, I had forgotten how irritating Amy's malapropisms can be.  They start on p.3 with "label" for "libel"  and don't stop until Amy goes abroad (at least I hope they stop by then.  I haven't gotten that far yet).  She's the literary forerunner of Junie B. Jones, for goodness' snake!  And all the other fictional children who too-frequently mistake one word for another (Clementine, I'm talking to you).  As far as I'm concerned, it's only funny when my kids do it.  Not to worry, though: I won't quote them here.

Poetry Friday: The Farmer's Bride

I love narrative poetry for children, like "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" (Eugene Field) and "The Owl and the Pussycat" (Edward Lear).  Also for grownups:  "The Highwayman" (Alfred Noyes; thank you, Charlotte) and "The Farmer's Bride" (Charlotte Mew).  The latter was the Poem of the Week on the Guardian Books blog this week (thank you, Carol Rumens); like "The Highwayman," it is a dark and lovely love poem.

The Farmer's Bride

Three summers since I chose a maid,
Too young maybe - but more's to do
At harvest-time than bide and woo.
When us was wed she turned afraid
Of love and me and all things human;
Like the shut of a winter's day.
Her smile went out, and t'wasn't a woman -
More like a little frightened fay.
One night, in the Fall, she runned away.

"Out 'mong the sheep, her be," they said,
'Should properly have been abed;
But sure enough she wasn't there
Lying awake with her wide brown stare.
So over seven-acre field and up-along across the down
We chased her, flying like a hare
Before our lanterns. To Church-Town
All in a shiver and a scare
We caught her, fetched her home at last
And turned the key upon her, fast.

[Read the rest here.]

[The Poetry Friday round-up is at Wild Rose Reader this week.  Thank you, Elaine!]

Ms. Hempel Chronicles

Carolyn See reviewed Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum (Harcourt, 2008) in the Washington Post today (9/5/2008).  It's a book for adults, a series of interconnected stories (one of my favorite forms) about a middle school English teacher who actually likes her students.  There's more, of course--Ms. Hempel is new to teaching; new even to her own, grownup life:  according to See, she's "doing her best to fake her way into the adult community" (sometimes I feel as if I'm still doing this myself, and I'm 36).

I'm particularly interested in how this newness plays out in the classroom.  See gives one example:  "She assigns Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life to her seventh-graders, and when a proverbial pill of a mother objects to the strong language on Parents' Night, Ms. Hempel stands up for truth and authenticity in literaure and, unexpectedly, wins the day."  Maybe she should have assigned Old School?  At any rate, (the?) Ms. Hempel Chronicles is on my to-read list.

I should note that the cover is gorgeous, too.