The cellist

I don’t know if y’all have noticed it or not, but Jenworld is a pretty casual place.

We’re not fancy people with fancy tastes.

We rarely dress up and much prefer our casual clothes — except Elegant, of course.

And, we are classic rock people, most definitely not opera or orchestra people.

Or so I thought.

Graceful had her first cello lesson yesterday.

It had never occurred to Pete or me to put the girls in music lessons. Graceful, on the other hand, had different plans. In her gang of friends, she is unique in that she is, as far as I know, the only one who doesn’t play the piano, the violin, or the cello. Yes, there is one particular friend who plays the cello and I place Graceful’s interest in the instrument right at this friend’s feet. The friend’s family is very musical and they have a music room, complete with a variety of stringed instruments. They don’t have a cello; they have a few. As I understand it, whenever Graceful goes over to this friend’s house to play, they invariably spend a few minutes fiddling around (so to speak) on the cellos. The friend’s mother is a musician and it is she who will be instructing my daughter on how to sound like Yo Yo Ma.

Graceful had her first lesson yesterday and now there is a cello in my living room.

This week, Graceful’s focus is pizzicato — plucking. So, no bow work yet. She can pluck the first half of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and I’m really hoping she learns the rest next week so that we can have some closure during her daily practice sessions.

During yesterday’s lesson, Graceful also learned how to take care of the cello, including exactly how to put it away and how it should be stored. I was also instructed and now I’m feeling slightly paranoid that we’re going to ruin this fine wooden instrument.   So I’m contemplating keeping the cello in a vault that can only be unlocked with my retina scan and thumbprint.

I should probably also mention to the girls that the cello is not to be used as a prop in any sort of doll game, nor is it ever to be used in their no-rules-all-contact version of lacrosse. One would think that this sort of instruction would be unnecessary, but you have to trust me when I tell you that it is.

Above all, I should tell you how very happy Graceful is to have started cello lessons. She’s becoming a musician, just like her friends. She’s learning something interesting. And, I swear I am not making this up, she is on her way to becoming a Renaissance Man Woman. Yes, she really wants to be well-learned and good at a variety of things and music is part of her plan.

And, she’s bringing a little class to Jenworld in the process. Perhaps I should start wearing something a little nicer than my favorite worn-out khakis all the time.