(A/N: So, in the first chapter, we learned that Peach used to play the violin, and she's good at it! Good enough to impress her children. But how impressed are the kids by their mother's skill on the violin? Let's start this chapter and find out!)
A week had passed since Peach started playing the violin again, and it turned out that she was still very good at it. Her skill impressed Mario, the kids, and everyone else in the castle. But no one was more enthralled by Peach's ability than her daughter, Princess Pesca.
The more Pesca heard Peach play the violin, the more Pesca liked the way it sounded, and the way her mama played it. She was so good at it, and that gave the young princess a desire to learn how to play the instrument. The best way to learn was to first ask her mother, and so...
"Mama, I was wondering..." Pesca began one day after listening to her mother play a concert of Beatles songs (which Mario got her the music to).
"Yes, sweetheart?" Peach asked, turning her attention to her child.
"Do you think that maybe... you can teach me... how to play the violin? Per favore? Please?" Pesca asked.
Mario and Peach looked at each other. It pleased them to see that their daughter wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument, but she was at least one year younger than Peach was when she started.
"Why do you want to learn the violin, Pesca?" Peach asked.
"Because... well... you're really good at it, and... I like the way the violin sounds when you play it. You make me want to learn how it's done. I'd love to learn it, if that's all right." Pesca replied.
That was the reply Mario and Peach needed to hear from the little girl. And with that, they knew better than to try and discourage the child from doing something productive. If Toadsworth thought it would be good for Peach to learn how to play something, then it might also be good for Pesca.
"I don't see why she couldn't learn how to play it now. You started playing when you were six years old, and she's only five going on six." Mario whispered to Peach.
"And Toadsworth didn't argue with me when I expressed an interest in learning. He thought it was a really good idea, and what's good for the goose is good for the gander." Peach whispered back.
"That's true. Learning how to play a musical instrument would do Pesca a world of good." Mario said.
Although Mario and Peach were happy with the idea, there was just one problem...
"Well, I don't know if I could teach you how to play, sweetie. I know that I'm good at playing it, but I'm afraid that I may not make a very good violin instructor." Peach said.
"Aww..." Pesca moaned.
"Non perderti d'animo. Don't lose heart, Pesca." Mario said.
"I'm sure that there are some Toads in the kingdom who know how to play it. Maybe your papa and I will ask around and see what we can find out." Peach said.
"So, are you saying I can still learn how to play it?" Pesca asked, her big blue eyes shining with excitement. They were the same shape as her mother's, but they were the same shade of blue as her papa's, and whenever she got excited, her eyes lit up the same way his would.
"If we can find a good enough instructor for you, we'll see. And I'm sure we can find one. I don't think anyone would be able to say 'no' to the privilege of spending time with the Mushroom Kingdom's favorite little princess." Peach replied.
"Yahoo!" Pesca cheered, jumping around the room like her father would whenever he was in a good mood. Despite the fact that she often acted like a prim, proper little princess, like her mother had been as a young girl, Pesca had inherited a few of her papa's traits, like his cheerfulness.
"What about you, Jr.? Do you want to learn how to play il violino, too?" Mario asked his son, smiling at his daughter's excitement at the prospect of learning how to play an instrument.
"No thanks, Papa. I'm not sure what instrument I want to play just yet, or if I even want to play one. But I'll be sure to let you and Mama know if I do want to play one, and which one it is." said Mario Jr. He knew that while he enjoyed singing and listening to music, playing it was another thing entirely.
"Okie-dokie." Mario replied.
"I really hope I can play the violin someday, and be just as good as you are, Mama." Pesca said to her mother.
"That settles it. Tomorrow morning, we'll go to the music store and get Pesca her own violino." Mario said to Peach in a whisper.
"If she wants to learn, she can. I'm not going to discourage her." Peach whispered back, smiling.
Now that Mario and Peach knew that their little girl really wanted to learn, Mario and Peach went to the music store in Toad Town and got Pesca her very own violin.
"Okay, the easy part is done. Time for the hard part: we need to find someone other than me who knows how to play the violin and see if they won't mind teaching Pesca how to play it." Peach said to Mario.
"That's easier said than done, Peach. Until I met you, the only people I knew of who played the violin were the kids who took orchestra class when I was in middle and high school, and that's a class I never took." Mario said.
But then they happened upon a small band of Toads and Toadettes who were playing music in the town square, and one of them was an orange-spotted Toad who played the violin really well. Mario and Peach saw him, and then they looked at each other with an 'are you thinking what I'm thinking' look on their faces. They both had the same idea.
When the music was done and the crowds had dispersed, Mario and Peach approached the Toad violinist as he was packing up his instrument. The Toad was surprised when a shadow fell over him, but he was even more surprised when he turned to see what made the shadow.
"Oh my goodness! Your Majesties! What can I do for you?!" the Toad exclaimed in surprise, bowing when he saw the king and queen standing before him.
Peach told him how their daughter, Princess Pesca, wanted to learn how to play the violin.
"How wonderful! The Royal Family gets another musician!" said the Toad.
Then Peach asked him if he would like to be Pesca's violin instructor.
Well, the Toad was more than happy with the idea of teaching the little princess how to play a musical instrument, but he was also a little nervous about this idea. Pesca was only 5 years old, after all, and most children that age have the attention span of a rodent.
"That may be so, but you should be there whenever we watch the Disney Princess sing-alongs. Pesca watches those with rapt attention, and as a result, it didn't take long for her to learn all those songs by heart." Mario told him.
"Really? Okay, then. Starting next week, I'll come to the castle and give her violin lessons Monday through Friday, for one hour every day." the Toad said.
"Sembra abbastanza giusto. Seems fair enough." Mario said.
"We'll see you at the castle next Monday. And what's your name?" Peach asked.
"It's Henry." the Toad said. He also wrote down his home and cell phone numbers and gave them to Mario and Peach, saying, "My numbers, just in case you ever need to reach me."
"Okay. Thank you." said Peach.
When Mario and Peach returned to the castle, they had good news for Pesca.
"What's the news?" Pesca asked.
"Look what we got while we were in Toad Town!" Peach said, showing Pesca the violin case and opening it, revealing the violin and the bow.
Pesca gasped in surprise and said, "Un violino! Is that for me?!"
"It sure is! Your very own violin!" Peach smiled.
"Wow! Thank you, Mama! Thank you, Papa!" Pesca exclaimed, hugging her parents.
"We also found a Toad in town who plays the violin. His name is Henry, and he said that he would be glad to teach you how to play it." Mario said.
"Really? This is going to be so cool! I'm really going to learn!" Pesca exclaimed, jumping up and down in her excitement. Then she stopped jumping and asked, "So, when do I start learning how to play my new instrument?"
"Your lessons will begin the following Monday. Be ready by then, la mia piccola principessa, my little princess." Mario told her.
"I will, Papa." Pesca smiled sweetly.
So the following Monday, Henry came to Mushroom Castle to begin teaching Pesca how to play her new instrument. At first, Poochy was wary of this stranger, but after Mario explained why he was there, the dog understood. He panted happily and let Henry off, allowing him to enter the building.
Once inside, Mario led him to the castle's music room. Fortunately, Peach was already in there, with Pesca ready and waiting for her teacher Then Mario and Peach quietly left the room so Henry and Pesca could get acquainted.
"So, you're going to be my violin teacher?" Pesca asked Henry.
"That's right, Princess. You may call me 'Henry'." said Henry.
"All right. And you may call me 'Pesca'." said Pesca.
"Very well. Now, Pesca, tell me: why do you want to learn to play the violin?" Henry asked.
"That's easy. My big brother and I heard Mama playing "So This Is Love" and a bunch of other neat songs on her violin not too long ago. She's been playing it a lot lately, and you should hear her sometime. E' davvero brava. She's really good." Pesca began.
"You're telling me that our queen also plays the violin?" asked Henry.
"Oh yeah! She made me want to learn." said Pesca.
"Huh. This is news to me. I knew that the queen played the guitar, but I had no idea that she also played the violin." said Henry.
"Neither did I. Not until my brother and I heard (and saw) her playing it. She said that she started learning how to play it when she was six. I also liked the way the violin sounded when she played it." Pesca said.
"Well, if you ask me, those sound like good enough reasons for you to want to learn." said Henry, looking impressed. The young princess seemed to be following in her mother's footsteps, even though she did have quite a bit of her papa in her. But Henry had no time to think about that. He had a mission to carry out, and it was teaching Pesca how to play the violin. The first things he taught her were simple things, like how to tune the instrument and rosin the bow.
Now because she was still very young, Pesca was not all that good at playing the violin right away. It didn't sound that great. The instrument sounded really screechy as she practiced it, even though she was doing just as Henry had been showing her.
The good news was that Pesca was learning how to read music, and she had managed to learn some basic and easy songs on the instrument. The only problem was that she couldn't play them without making the violin sound screechy and squeaky throughout. Anyone who walked by the music room started running away from there when they heard Pesca playing.
After a month of practicing, Pesca wasn't getting any better. And she was getting very discouraged that she wasn't as good as her mother seemed to be.
"Mama-mia, Henry... Am I ever gonna be able to learn how to play il violino without making it sound bad? Mama played it so well, and she made it look easier than pizza pie." Pesca said, near tears during a difficult day of practice. Playing the violin was turning out to be so much harder than it looked... and sounded...
"Don't lose heart, Your Highness. I was no good at it myself when I first started. It took me a while to learn how to play the songs without making the violin squeak or screech. You'll get the hang of it sooner or later. Everyone does." Henry reassured her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"You think so?" Pesca asked, turning to look at him.
"I'm sure of it. And if you persevere, like I did, you might even get to be better than your mother is at the instrument." Henry promised.
"Better than Mama?" Pesca asked. She wasn't sure if she liked the sound of that.
"As long as you keep practicing the instrument, little princess. Plenty of practice makes perfect." Henry said.
"Okie-dokie. I'll do it." said Pesca, putting the bow to the strings once again.
But a few days later, after another tough lesson, Pesca was beginning to wonder why she even bothered trying to play the instrument. She was just no good at it, so what was the point? And Peach noticed that her little girl was clearly upset about something, due to the way she trudged off to the nursery, which she and her brother shared.
"What's the matter, sweetie? Please tell me." Peach said as she walked into the nursery, where Pesca had flopped onto her stomach on her bed, feeling miserable. The queen sat down on the edge of the bed and placed a gentle hand on her child's back.
Pesca said something, but Peach couldn't quite make it out, for the child had her face buried in her pink, heart-shaped pillow, which muffled her voice when she spoke.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Peach asked.
Pesca took her face out of the pillow, turned to her mother, and said, "Mi arrendo. I give up, Mama. I don't know why I even bothered."
"What do you mean? What are you talking about?" Peach asked, concerned.
"Playing the violin. I can't do it! I do everything just as Henry shows me, but somehow it all comes out wrong! I just suck at it!" Pesca replied, hanging her head and trying not to cry.
"Now, honey, that's not true. You don't suck at playing the violin. You're still new at learning it. You should know that no one is going to be good at playing a musical instrument right away." Peach told her.
"But Mama, I've been practicing the violin for over a month, and I can't make it sound good like you and Henry can! I'm never going to be even half as good as you are!" Pesca exclaimed, clearly upset that playing the violin wasn't working out for her. Then she threw herself in her mother's arms and burst into tears.
"No, Pesca, please don't cry. I know you're upset, but I also know that learning how to play is not as easy as you hoped it would be. You have to know that these things take a lot of time to master. Just ask Toadsworth. He can tell you that I wasn't really good at the violin when I first learned how to play it." Peach said as she hugged her daughter close and stroked her golden hair.
"You weren't?" Pesca asked through her tears.
"I was terrible at it." Peach told her.
"How can you say that you were bad, Mama?! Didn't you hear how beautifully you played the song "So This Is Love"? You nailed it perfectly, and I can't even play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" without making the violin screech! I'm just awful!" Pesca reminded her, and the very thought unleashed another round of sobbing from the child.
"Sweetheart, do you want to know why I nailed that song?" Peach asked in a soft voice as she rubbed Pesca's back in a bid to calm her.
"Because you're so much better than me?" Pesca whimpered.
"Don't say things like that about yourself, Pesca. You are a wonderful, special little girl, and it's not just because you're a princess. But the reason I nailed that song is because I was determined to master the violin." Peach told her.
"How did you do it, Mama? Can you tell me your secret?" Pesca asked, risking a glance at her mother.
"Well, it's not really much of a secret. I kept practicing the instrument more and more, long after my lessons for the day had ended." Peach said.
"You did?" Pesca asked.
"That's what determination does, Pesca. It tells you to never give up. I wouldn't have been able to play the songs you heard me playing if I had given up." Peach told the child as she held her at arm's length.
"So, what happened when you did that?" Pesca asked, sniffling.
"I got to be much better at playing the violin. And so will you, if you keep practicing, and believe in yourself. Never give up." Peach said.
"Non lo so... I don't know, Mama... It's just so hard to play..." Pesca replied, hanging her head once again. She looked as though she was about to start crying again.
"You know, maybe I can help you out." Peach suggested.
"How are you going to do that?" Pesca asked.
"We're going to go back to the music room to do some extensive practicing. I'll see if I can't give you some pointers on the instrument to help you get better at playing it." Peach said, giving her daughter a kiss on the head to try and help her feel a little better.
"O-okay..." said Pesca.
"But first things first." Peach replied. She took Pesca to the bathroom and washed her face. Then they went down to the music room, where they kept the violins, and the guitars.
"Are you ready, Pesca?" Peach asked as she took up her own violin and rosined the bow.
"Yes, Mama." said Pesca as she took up her instrument and did as her mother had done.
And they did. Peach gave her daughter a few pointers, which helped the child greatly. Pesca did feel a little better, and Peach also offered encouragement to the little girl by playing the song "There's Always Tomorrow" from "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer".
"This isn't something I like to play until December, but you need to remember this song." Peach said after she finished playing the song for Pesca.
Henry decided that after that last week, he and Pesca needed a break. So he was taking the week off. That was all right with Peach. She was going to spend that week helping Pesca.
The week passed perfectly, and thanks to Peach, Pesca was starting to get much better when she practiced the violin. She practiced the instrument for hours that week. Pesca was impressed to find that her violin didn't sound so screechy after the many hours of extra practice. Peach smiled at Pesca and gave her the thumbs-up sign when she found that out!
Then came the day when Pesca played through a song, and the violin didn't screech even once! Granted, the song she played was rather short, but for her to get through it and not hear the screeching or squeaking that she always heard when she played... that was a big deal.
"Did I... did I just play that song... without making the violin screech?" Pesca asked her mother.
"You did." Peach smiled.
"Lo sto facendo! I'm doing it! I'm finally doing it!" Pesca screamed in excitement. Peach picked up her child and hugged her close, glad to see her face light up with happiness.
Because it was the weekend, Pesca would have to wait until Monday to tell Henry what she had done! She couldn't wait to tell him!
"Your father and I could always call him up and tell him." Peach said.
"Don't do that! Henry will never believe it! I've got to tell him myself and show him that I'm doing it!" Then he'll believe it!" Pesca said.
"You're right, Pesca." said Peach.
When Henry showed up at the beginning the following week, Pesca was thrilled to see him. She was waiting at the door when he arrived.
"Boy, am I glad to see you! Venga con me! Come with me!" Pesca said to Henry, grabbing his free hand and practically dragging him to the music room.
"What's going on, Pesca?" asked Henry when they reached the music room.
"Over the weekend, I had a breakthrough on the violin! I'm finally getting the hang of it." Pesca said, her voice taking on a higher pitch from excitement.
"'The hang of it'? Whatever do you mean, Pesca?" Henry asked, slightly confused.
"Mama has been helping me out long after my lessons are over so I can do it right! And she helped me out all last week! Ascolta questo! Listen to this!" Pesca replied, still excited. She then showed him what she meant by playing the scale, and the violin didn't screech even once. She also played "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and there was no screeching or squeaking from the violin.
"Ah, I see what you mean now. You're getting much better on the violin, Princess. Keep up the good work!" said Henry, sounding very impressed, which had the little princess beaming. Her lesson that day went very well, and they smiled at each other when Pesca made it through a song with no troubles.
About 3 months later, Pesca started to get a lot better at playing the violin. Now that she could play it without making the violin screech, she was looking at her mother's old sheet music to see what else she could play on the instrument. As it turned out, there were lots of songs she liked to play! The princess knew that it would be a while before she could play the songs as good as her mama could, but practice made perfect.
Today, Pesca had found the music for the song "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Music", and she decided she would start playing that song. She'd heard the song before, and she liked it a lot. She also wondered if she could play it as well as she could sing it.
"I can hear that you're trying to learn the song "Edelweiss". That's a nice one to learn." Peach said as she watched her daughter practicing one day after her lesson had ended.
"It is. Which is why I'm trying to play it." said Pesca.
"It might really please your aunt Daisy if she knew that you're trying to learn this song. "Edelweiss" happens to be about a flower, and you know how much your aunt loves flowers." Peach said.
"I know. I'm pretty sure that's also how Daffy and Amaryllis got their names." Pesca said, referring to her twin cousins, who were born when she was only 3 years old.
"Yes. That's exactly how they got their names." Peach smiled.
So Pesca got her own violin, and as she learns to play the violin, she learns that practice makes perfect. The princess is getting better at the violin, but the story still isn't over! Yup, there's going to be another chapter, so stay tuned!