[Menvi-discuss] Speaking of Music Critics...

[Chela Robles]

Hello all I just stumbled across a post and thought I'd share it with 
you since it is regarding music but in the mm ost fascinating, yet 
interesting way.
 From Chicken Soup for the Soul: I Can't Believe My Cat Did That!
Mewsic Critic
By Janet Ramsdell Rockey
A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or 
another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.
~Ernest Hemingway
My tuxedo cat, Squeakette, greeted me with her usual meow and happy 
dance around her food bowl when I came home from choir practice one 
night. I gave my snuggle-puss twenty minutes of undivided attention. We 
played catch with her favorite mouse until she tired of it and curled up 
into a black-and-white ball on the sofa.
"Good," I said to myself. "Now I can practice unhindered."
My singing voice fell woefully short of Juilliard standards. Studying 
opera for two years in the music department at a community college gave 
me enough confidence to join the church choir.
"The only times you don't have to practice," my voice instructor had 
said, "are days you don't breathe." According to her standard, I hadn't 
drawn a breath in more than four years.
"Not quite ready for the Met, am I?" I said to Brian the choir director 
at my first rehearsal.
"You'll be fine." He offered a wistful smile and placed me in the 
soprano section, close to the altos. Perhaps I wavered between the two 
octaves.
Six weeks before Christmas, Brian handed out sheet music to the John 
Rutter piece he selected for our cantata. As the holiday drew closer, he 
gave us cassette tapes of the orchestra to practice on our own.
Now Squeakette snoozed peacefully on the sofa behind me. I popped the 
cassette into the tape player and sat cross-legged in the middle of the 
living room floor, breaking another opera-teacher rule. Sheet music in 
front of me, I followed the melody with my index finger. When the music 
reached the soprano part, I took a deep breath and stretched my torso 
upward, remembering at least one point my voice professor taught me — go 
high and come down on the note.
I sang the Latin words in my best soprano voice, "Gloria in excelsis, Deo."
Squeakette sprang out of her nap and rushed at me, meowing.
"Not now, Squeakette. I have to practice." I petted her and continued 
singing.
She climbed across my legs and, pressed one front paw on my chest, 
covering my mouth with the other. Her ears went flat, and her eyes 
turned to amber slits. She scowled her harlequin-mask face. I didn't 
know cats could frown.
"Are you trying to tell me something, Squeakette?"
I rewound the tape. This time when I attempted to hit the high note, 
Squeakette bit my elbow. Not a bite that broke the skin, but more of a 
warning nibble. She stood on her hind legs and put both paws over my mouth.
I stopped the tape and stretched out, patting the floor next to me.
She snuggled in and rested her head on my shoulder.
A newspaper headline flashed in my mind: OPERA SINGER'S CAREER RUINED BY 
CAT'S PAWS. I chuckled at the thought. Stroking her silky black fur, I 
said, "Do I tell Brian I can't practice at home because my cat bites me 
when I sing?"
If cats could speak, she would've answered, "Don't give up the day job, 
Mom." Instead she purred and kneaded under my arm, her eyes no longer 
slits. I didn't know cats could smile.
Everyone's a critic, but none quite as honest as my Squeakette.

All I know is that my cats are good at knowing when it is time to get 
out of my room when I start playing my trumpet...need I say more?

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"Passion is a great motivator. Music is a life-long learning experience."
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Chela Robles a Nationally Certified person in Customer Service, certified by the National Retail Federation Foundation (NRF): http://www.nrffoundation.com/
E-mail: cdrobles693 at gmail.com
Windows Live Messenger: cdrobles693 at hotmail.com
Skype: jazzytrumpet
A Lady And Her Trumpet Learning Ally Blog Entry: http://tinyurl.com/d3okj95 please request me to send the two sound clips via email since the site has changed somewhat
I volunteer for Bookshare, to find out more and to volunteer with us,visit: http://www.bookshare.org/
Need more space, come join dropbox and start with two gigs of free space and 500 Megabytes as is this is my referral link to you: http://db.tt/XpUTe0E
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