Bitsy by Ellen Miles

Author:Ellen Miles [Miles, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-03-22T04:00:00+00:00

“Great Job, Charles!” said Mr. Craig as Charles picked out the notes. “See? You’re already playing a song!”

Charles grinned up at him. This was fun. He was making music! The tune was really simple, but it was a tune. And Charles was reading the music and playing it, on Mrs. Davies’s shiny black piano. He liked the way the glossy white keys felt under his fingers. There were black keys, too, and he knew that Mr. Craig was going to teach him all about them, but for now all Charles wanted to do was play the tune again. So he did.

“Whoops!” he said a moment later. He’d hit the wrong key, and it sounded terrible.

Mr. Craig nodded and smiled. “Don’t worry about mistakes. My music teacher always used to say, ‘If you’re going to make a mistake, make it big. Then smile and move on.’ ” He pointed to the music book propped up on the piano, to the black notes that marched up the lines that went across the page. “The cool thing is that you knew you made a mistake. That means you have a good ear for music.”

Charles felt his cheeks get warm, and knew he was blushing. “I do like music. And I like to sing,” he said. “Especially with other people.”

“So do I,” said Mr. Craig. “It’s the best. How about if we sing the song we worked on at practice? ‘Do-Re-Mi’?”

“Sure,” said Charles.

“And you can play the melody,” said Mr. Craig. “That’s the part most piano players use their right hands for. It’s the way the song goes, like this. He sang as his long fingers danced over the keys. “The left hand is usually playing chords, like this.” He played three lower notes at the same time with his left hand, making a sound that seemed to hold up the melody notes he was still playing with his right hand.

“Wow,” said Charles. “I’ll never be able to do that.”

“Sure you will,” said Mr. Craig. “It’s not so hard. But we’ll start you off just playing the top part.” He played it again, slowly, so Charles could see which keys he was touching. “See? It’s very simple.”

They sat together on the piano bench. Charles played the keys that Mr. Craig pointed to. “Good!” said Mr. Craig. “Use your number one finger for that note.” He began to play chords at the other end of the keyboard, and they began to sing as they played. They got all the way to the end of the song and went straight back to the beginning to do it again. “Yes!” said Mr. Craig as they came to the end. He held up his hand for a high five.

“Bravo!” called Mom. She and Mrs. Davies stood in the doorway to the living room, clapping their hands. “That’s amazing,” Mom said. “You can do that, after one lesson?”

Charles beamed.

“He’s musical,” said Mrs. Davies. “I could tell when he was in the play, and when I saw him singing in the supermarket the other day it reminded me.

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