A new torment has afflicted my life.
The small 22-key Optimus electronic keyboard was a Christmas present from Grandpa Adams several years ago, before Alex was old enough to appreciate music. Grandpa loves to send the boys gifts that will help develop their musical abilities: the recorders (hidden in a dresser drawer), the lap harp (blessedly quiet), and the Optimus electronic keyboard, which was, until recently, devoid of batteries and hidden away for when the boys got older.
Well, they’re older.
A new torment has afflicted my life.
The small 22-key Optimus electronic keyboard was a Christmas present from Grandpa Adams several years ago, before Alex was old enough to appreciate music. Grandpa loves to send the boys gifts that will help develop their musical abilities: the recorders (hidden in a dresser drawer), the lap harp (blessedly quiet), and the Optimus electronic keyboard, which was, until recently, devoid of batteries and hidden away for when the boys got older.
Well, they’re older.
Alex has been asking for a piano for a while now, so when he uncovered the keyboard and begged me to put in the 8 size C batteries it requires, I thought “why not.” Now I know “why not;” the thing has about 100 pre-recorded tunes that you can manipulate a GOOGLE ways from Sunday and all of them sound like an ORGAN even when you select VIOLIN or BANJO and in case you didn’t know I suffer from “POST TRAUMATIC "ORGAN":http://gooblink.com/blog/index.php?id=33 DISORDER" after, as a child, my mom replaced our old upright piano with an organ, thwarting my budding career as a famous concert pianist. Well, okay, I was begging her to let me quit piano lessons already, but, an ORGAN? She might as well have just visited me in school wearing cold cream, hair rollers and a bathrobe.
The organ hasn’t dissuaded my sons’ interest in music, though. The first thing Alex and Chris do in the morning is hunt down that keyboard and flip on a snappy rendition of “Yankee Doodle” followed by “When the Saints Go Marching In,” or, depending upon their mood it may be the haunting tune of “Danny Boy” in the tone of a bassoon. They especially enjoy “La Cucaracha,” stepped up to a 32 beat tempo, while they're getting dressed. Just to see how purple my face can turn, they may blast out at full volume the Russian “Troika.”
And don’t forget the rhythms! Have you ever experienced Fusion accompanied by a Piccolo?
So if you see me in public, and my right eye is twitching and I’m looking a bit confused, you will know that those 8 size C Energizers are still going…..