Once again, my musical imagination has run away with me. Of course, I *did* just spend two weeks at a music camp, so that might have something to do with it. Can't say much about this one because you need the element of surprise.
She knocked on the door of his office, but there was no answer. She opened the door.
"Declan? Are you there?" Still no answer. Funny. He was usually there at that time of day.
Something caught her attention. Of course, how could an upright piano in the middle of the room *not* catch her attention? To the best of her knowledge, it hadn't been there before, and she was a very observant person.
She looked over the piano. It was obviously very old, and it had beautiful flowers engraved all over its wooden surface. The white keys were a little yellowed and the black keys a little faded. The metallic enamel on some of the pedals was worn off, showing the dull, bronze-like metal underneath.
She ran her fingers over the keys, finally resting on an E ... the one that's on top of the treble clef, as she remembered.
She played the note. The piano had good tone quality. She then played the D sharp right under it.
E, D sharp, E, D sharp, E ...
Those notes were the beginning of Für Elise ... one of the many piano pieces she had learned as a child.
She sat down on the piano bench and began to play.
E, D sharp, E, D sharp, E, B, D, C, A ...
She brought her left hand into the song, while pressing down on the sustain pedal with her right foot. She was soon lost in her own little world of music.
The first refrain ended and she went on to the first "fast part" as she liked to call the little interludes in the piece. This part was a little hard. She had to play broken triads with her left hand while keeping the melody going with her right, which was fairly easy in most pieces, but Beethoven had a way of making easy things hard.
Then there was the steady flow of 32nd noted that she hadn't worked on in such a long time that they came out choppy and she had to stop and start about ten times, but then the refrain came back again, and she was once again playing with ease.
Then came the second "fast" part, which was a little easier than the first because the left hand was playing repeated low A's while the right hand played chords.
Then there were the triplets. Beethoven sure liked to end his "fast parts" with a bang, didn't he?
A, C, E, A, C, E, D, C, B, A, C, E, A, C, E ...
Then the chromatic scale downwards leading to the refrain one last time.
As she played the familiar notes, she let herself get carried away. She even closed her eyes and let her fingers run by themselves, then the song ended on an A.
She let the soft sound ring out and fade away before lifting her fingers.
"Miranda?" she heard a familiar voice calling surprisedly from the door.
She quickly got up and turned around, but said nothing.
"I didn't know you played the piano." Declan said, still sounding very surprised.
"It's a nice piano. Where did you get it?" she asked, purposefully changing the subject.
"One of my friends has an antique shop." Declan said proudly, "He lent this to me to show the class."
She again said nothing.
"Where'd you learn to play the piano?" Declan asked.
She should have known that he wouldn't give up that easily. "I took lessons when I was young." she said simply.
"Really?"
"Mm-hm."
"Why?" Declan persisted.
"I gotta get to class." Miranda said as she rushed out the door, leaving Declan completely dumbfounded.
He sighed and sat down at his desk, setting his newly retrieved mail somewhere in the mess. He would probably never figure her out.
See what I mean by the element of surprise? Okay. How many of you actually guessed that it was Miranda? How many of you thought it was someone else?
She knocked on the door of his office, but there was no answer. She opened the door.
"Declan? Are you there?" Still no answer. Funny. He was usually there at that time of day.
Something caught her attention. Of course, how could an upright piano in the middle of the room *not* catch her attention? To the best of her knowledge, it hadn't been there before, and she was a very observant person.
She looked over the piano. It was obviously very old, and it had beautiful flowers engraved all over its wooden surface. The white keys were a little yellowed and the black keys a little faded. The metallic enamel on some of the pedals was worn off, showing the dull, bronze-like metal underneath.
She ran her fingers over the keys, finally resting on an E ... the one that's on top of the treble clef, as she remembered.
She played the note. The piano had good tone quality. She then played the D sharp right under it.
E, D sharp, E, D sharp, E ...
Those notes were the beginning of Für Elise ... one of the many piano pieces she had learned as a child.
She sat down on the piano bench and began to play.
E, D sharp, E, D sharp, E, B, D, C, A ...
She brought her left hand into the song, while pressing down on the sustain pedal with her right foot. She was soon lost in her own little world of music.
The first refrain ended and she went on to the first "fast part" as she liked to call the little interludes in the piece. This part was a little hard. She had to play broken triads with her left hand while keeping the melody going with her right, which was fairly easy in most pieces, but Beethoven had a way of making easy things hard.
Then there was the steady flow of 32nd noted that she hadn't worked on in such a long time that they came out choppy and she had to stop and start about ten times, but then the refrain came back again, and she was once again playing with ease.
Then came the second "fast" part, which was a little easier than the first because the left hand was playing repeated low A's while the right hand played chords.
Then there were the triplets. Beethoven sure liked to end his "fast parts" with a bang, didn't he?
A, C, E, A, C, E, D, C, B, A, C, E, A, C, E ...
Then the chromatic scale downwards leading to the refrain one last time.
As she played the familiar notes, she let herself get carried away. She even closed her eyes and let her fingers run by themselves, then the song ended on an A.
She let the soft sound ring out and fade away before lifting her fingers.
"Miranda?" she heard a familiar voice calling surprisedly from the door.
She quickly got up and turned around, but said nothing.
"I didn't know you played the piano." Declan said, still sounding very surprised.
"It's a nice piano. Where did you get it?" she asked, purposefully changing the subject.
"One of my friends has an antique shop." Declan said proudly, "He lent this to me to show the class."
She again said nothing.
"Where'd you learn to play the piano?" Declan asked.
She should have known that he wouldn't give up that easily. "I took lessons when I was young." she said simply.
"Really?"
"Mm-hm."
"Why?" Declan persisted.
"I gotta get to class." Miranda said as she rushed out the door, leaving Declan completely dumbfounded.
He sighed and sat down at his desk, setting his newly retrieved mail somewhere in the mess. He would probably never figure her out.
See what I mean by the element of surprise? Okay. How many of you actually guessed that it was Miranda? How many of you thought it was someone else?