Reflections: Good Advice

A Piano Lesson:

“Curve your fingers,” Viola said. She took Jenny’s hand and made it into a claw. She shook it at the wrist. “Relax a little.” She showed Jenny how to play a scale.

What she wanted was even fingering. She wound a metronome to demonstrate. She and Jenny clapped along. “Don’t love any of the notes more than the others, “ she said. “Every note needs just the same amount of time to breathe.”

“I don’t love any of them.” Jenny didn’t mean to speak. It just came out.

“I see,” said Viola. She gave Jenny an appraising look. “Don’t hate any of the notes more than the others, then.”

~ from Sister Noon, by Karen Joy Fowler