Let's write another story (paragraph-length contributions)

[thalberg]

  Please read these rules 

1.  Each contribution should be 3 lines.  No more, no less.

2.  Always build on what other people wrote, never cancel or negate previous material

EDIT:

Rule 3:  Please, no consecutive posts by the same person

[thalberg]

Jake sat in the hallway of the college watching all the women walk by.  "Which one will be my teacher?" he thought.  He was nine years old, and had begged his mother for piano lessons for the past 2 years.  Today he would meet her for the first time.

[ted]

Perhaps she would have Palings Albums. There was one piece called "Butterfly Study"; what a curious name. Did the composer study butterflies ? Perhaps he was a scientist. His father couldn't play it but Auntie Betty could. That was the sort of music he wanted to play.

[pianistimo]

how could he have known martha agerich could be so rude.  his mother tried desperately to save what was left of his tatterred ego after the interview.  she made him look like somekind of smoked out piece of bacon.  she literally laughed in his face about butterflies.

[pianistimo]

his only redeeming quality seemed to be that they shared the same hometown.  buenos aires.  excepting that he came from the district where women didn't smoke.  he wasn't sure he could handle this teacher.  or her demands.  butterflies suddenly went into his stomach.

[pianistimo]

the first lesson was all about messed up hair.  occasionally she would walk by and just brush her hand across the top of his head.  what made it terrible was that he always put some kind hair gel in - so it would stay exactly as she left it.  it was distracting.

[pianistimo]

she wasn't at all as he had expected.  kind.  gentle.  persuading.  she made him look ridiculous at every turn.  and, he had almost had enough after the second lesson.  he wasn't used to women getting the better of him.  even though he was only nine years old.

[pianistimo]

the third lesson he decided to make her sit up and listen (rather pace the floor and listen).  he put literally 10 hour a day into some funky latin salsa tune that he picked up from listening to aunt betty when she played for the local dance hall.  he tapped his feet, too.

[pianistimo]

to his surprise, martha went completely quiet.  she said, 'you're coming with me to my next argerich music festival. bring a costume.'  he wasn't quite sure what to think.  she began playing 'iberia' and de fallas 'nights in the gardens of spain.'  she said he would also play.

[pianistimo]

she told him to turn his piece into a 'story' because the theme of the 9th annual argerich festival was going to be 'music and story.'  he would be travelling with her to beppu city, japan.  he tried to think of a story all night.  nothing came to him.  was he without imagination?

[pianistimo]

luckily that night, he had a dream.  it gave him the needed spark to his 'aunt betty' rendition of agony aunt salsa.  if it wasn't for his aunt betty - he would never have been able to handle martha argerich.  they were both high spirited and feisty. 

[pianistimo]

the salsa told the story of a latin dancer who, despite years of painful knee surgeries and odd lacerations from paper cuts (due to glass bones and paper thin skin) survived the 60 odd 'master salsa' dance classes and turned into a world class salsa dancer.

[pianistimo]

thankfully, she liked the story so much that she insisted he also prepare another piece to give her some respite between performing and speaking.  she said it had to be of a completely different character.  she told him to go to the library and find a japanese novel.

[pianistimo]

he went to the bookstore instead (always forgetting to return library books and getting hefty fees).  unfortuately, he got sidetracked on 'manga' comic books and had to use one of the plots.  hi hi puffy ami yumi were the two main characters.

[pianistimo]

'the genie and the amp' was the tune he chose for a theme and variations.  he felt martha argerich could then speak about how stories can be told in many ways and differently by each person who tells the story.  and, how performers are storytellers.

[pianistimo]

she went with the idea and included this into her lecture - planning to pick 10 random pianists to play the same piece and yet for each to tell a different side of the story.  she told them to bring out different places in the music.

[pianistimo]

he had to teach martha the basics of the 'tartovsky style' - of which she was doubtful existed until she wikipediad it.  sure enough - it was j-pop phenom.  and, she had to learn quickly to relate to all these young up-and-coming japanese pianists.

[pianistimo]

when the date arrived - she was in amazement at how the japanese students had prepared a quiet stage and water features to give grace to her presence.  also, each had prepared at least one piece of latin music.  most of them had chosen malaguena.

[pianistimo]

fortunately she had met ernesto lecuona in person.  in fact, she had enough information on this man to give the entire lecture on his person.  but, declining to bore those who wanted to get to the 'end of the story' - she had 10 students play malaguena one after the other.

[pianistimo]

not to be outdone, nine year old (now known as 'blue tiger') decided that he must quickly learn malaguena, too.  he decided to practice in the hotel lobby until he could play it the next day in conjunction with his 'the genie and the amp' variations.

here is an exerpt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0LIrUhlL70&mode=related&search=

the inspiration for genie and the amp came from his watching this cartoon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVROldO0hak&mode=related&search=

[cmg]

Jake, totally exasperated by Martha's teaching assistant -- pianistimo -- who had renamed him "blue tiger," ragefully stomped his feet and shouted:  "Pianistimo!  You are nothing more nor less than a walking, talking, piano-playing Dada Manifesto!  I want 'blintz' to be my new teacher!"

[dnephi]

Suddenly, in strides a slender, handsome young man, without any webbing between his fingers.  He looks at Jake, tells him to practice dim7 arpeggios, octaves, scales, repeated notes, double-notes, trills, Chopin Etudes, Czerny, and the Liszt etudes.

[pianistimo]

'blintz'?  i forgot who that was.  thalberg?  who?  thalberg used to model.  i suppose he doesn't have WEBBING!  what!?  dada manifesto?  what is that?

[thalberg]

I was blintz.

[pianistimo]

assuming the webbing referred to the spider webs between her fingers, she proceeded to ring the 'glockenspiel of hell' to have nine year old 'blue tiger' (formerly called jake) quit on her.  perfunctorily she assisted martha in the clean-up efforts as that was her assisting job.