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Chapter 13:
Rules and Notes
Walker stood in front of the porch steps, dressed in a suit.
Vacation was over, now it was time to return to work. His three sons
were lined up side-by-side, sitting on the
porch steps.
“Okay, guys. One last time. What are the rules?”
“Never, ever, go swimming in the ocean,” six year old Taylor offered.
“Our boundaries are between the white house up there,” Ike said pointing up the beach, “and the pink house down there.”
“Can’t swim in the pool, unless Mommy is with us,” Zac piped up.
“Anything else?” Walker questioned.
“Help Mom as much as we can.” Ike added.
"Right! Okay, guys, behave yourselves and have fun.” Walker
exclaimed and he kissed or hugged each of his boys.
The boys waited until their fathers car was out of sight and then
they made a dash for the house. They had spent the whole first week
of being in their new home under the watchful eyes of both their mother
and father and as much as they like spending
time with their parents they wanted to explore on their own.
They were almost out of the house when they were stopped by their Mom.
With more warnings and cautions and after a careful application of sun
protection, they were finally allowed out on their own. Ike and Taylor
walked up the beach, stopping to investigate every shell and sea creature
in the sand. Zac wasn’t satisfied just to look, he wanted to keep
all his shells and rather than listen to him cry, his brothers wound up
carrying them for him. The boys got to explore for several hours
before they heard a whistle and that was their signal to return home.
Diana wanted the boys inside and out of the sun during the hottest noontime time hours. She and Walker had devised a schedule that would allow for plenty of playtime for the boys and yet also secure their safety. They would allow the boys to play freely during the early morning hours before the sun reached its peak, and then during its most dangerous period, she would give the boys their lessons and let them practice their music and keep the afternoons free for plenty of swimming time in the cool waters of the pool. And, if she was lucky, she would even be able to talk them into taking a nap after they had exhausted their energies playing out on the beach.
This new schedule worked out well for the boys, except for the nap
idea. That was a bust. Zac would occasionally drift off to
sleep when he had expended his energies
but they were short and he usually woke up totally renewed and ready
to run. Ike and Taylor both thought they were too old for naps and
were both very verbal with their complaints. So, they spent their
time working on their music. Ike and Taylor were now each spending
a half-hour daily just practicing scales and usually another half-hour
picking out their own notes and piecing them together for their little
music bits and pieces that they were writing and singing.
Ike never complained about the practice sessions. Taylor complained
endlessly. He didn’t like playing scales preferring to tinker with
the keys to find the notes matches
he was looking for. Diana tried several different tactics
to make him understand the importance of learning scales and practicing.
Finally, she just resorted to the age old mother tactic. If Ike had
to practice scales--Taylor had to practice scales. Mommy said so.
“Mommy, why do I have to play scales? I hate playing scales!” Taylor complained banging on the keys.
“Hating is a terrible thing Taylor,” Diana admonished mildly. “You need to practice the scales in order to learn the notes properly.”
“But, why? I can find the notes on my own!” the boy exclaimed.
Diana sat down beside her son at the table and picked up a
pen and drew several lines across the page. Then she drew some notes
on the lines. She knew she had Taylor’s
attention because he was trying to watch her as he pounded on the
keys.
She then put the piece of paper on top of the keyboard and placed
her fingers
on the keyboard and began to play the notes.
‘Show me,” Taylor exclaimed.
“I can’t,” Diana said. “Until you know where the keys are without
looking down at them, you won’t be able to read the notes and play at the
same time. If you
have to read the note, and then look down and keep hitting keys
until you find the right one, it won’t sound the same.”
“What does that one mean?” Taylor asked pointing at a note on the paper. Diana hit the B note.
“That one,” Taylor exclaimed pointing.
She hit the G note.
“That one!”
She hit the A note.
“That,” Taylor exclaimed excitedly pointing to the note on
the written page, “Means that!” he said hitting the keyboard. “And,
that means that,” he said hitting another key
correlating the written musical note to the sound he was making.
“Exactly,” Diana exclaimed. “But, if you’re going to
play the piano you can’t look down at the keyboard. You have to read
the music. You can only look down occasionally to
make sure of your hand positions.”
And with that simple explanation, Taylor was hooked.
Practicing was no longer a chore to him. Everyday she gave music
lessons to Ike and Taylor and the only problem she had with them
practicing was breaking up their occasional arguments
over who’s turn it was to play the keyboard. The boys afternoons
and evenings they usually spent in the pool and by the time they went to
bed at night they were exhausted.
The boys were tanned and healthy and happy. Living in Trinidad was living in paradise for the Hanson family.