The boy who spoke music
Idea for a story:
If an alien came down to earth and found a piece of music, he/she/or it could be pardoned for thinking it was our language, and in fact music is a language. But, not that the notes, quavers and semi-quavers, spell out words with specific meanings, but rather it is a different kind of language conveying feelings and emotions from sounds. As far as we know the aliens have been working on deciphering the meaning of music for a thousand years and so far have not yet succeeded.
Mrs. Jeanette Cauliflower was obsessed by music from her childhood, and when she was pregnant she played her piano all day long. Then after the birth she kept her baby, whom she named Amadeus, sitting in his baby-chair on the piano. When he was a toddler, in order for her to practice, she kept him tethered to the leg of the piano. So it was not a great surprise to her that when he reached the age of 3 and she tried to communicate with him, he didn’t reply in words, he replied in music. That is to say, at first not mature coherent music, but the music of a child, incoherent and incomprehensible. But, as he grew older his music became more coherent and more harmonious.
It was about this time, at the age of 5, that her pediatrician advised her to seek specialist help. After all, it was quite unusual for a boy to speak music, and he confessed that he had never heard of such a case and he was not qualified to deal with it.
Jeanette took Amadeus to a specialist in pediatric speech, and told him the problem. When Amadeus opened his mouth to speak, music issued forth, not always easy to follow, but clearly a musical composition. The specialist was quite taken aback. After he had recovered his composure he asked the child to open his mouth so he could check his vocal cords, and what he saw amazed him. Instead of having just two sets of vocal cords that vibrate when air is passed thru them, Amadeus had a whole orchestra of cords, like a harp.
First, he asked the child to speak and of course, was astonished when musical chords burst forth. Then he asked the child to speak in a composition, and the child brought forth an amazing cacophony of sounds that included what sounded like trumpets and violins. It was astounding, he had never heard of such a thing before, this was clearly a unique mutation, a result of cause and effect, nature and nurture combining in an amazing way.
After they had left he browsed the literature in his computer, but could not find a precedent. There were children who had made musical sounds, but never anything so comprehensive as this. The boy was a veritable orchestra. It occurred to him that this child could not only be a musical genius, he could be an absolute money-maker, a fount of funds. He could eclipse Michael Jackson.
If an alien came down to earth and found a piece of music, he/she/or it could be pardoned for thinking it was our language, and in fact music is a language. But, not that the notes, quavers and semi-quavers, spell out words with specific meanings, but rather it is a different kind of language conveying feelings and emotions from sounds. As far as we know the aliens have been working on deciphering the meaning of music for a thousand years and so far have not yet succeeded.
Mrs. Jeanette Cauliflower was obsessed by music from her childhood, and when she was pregnant she played her piano all day long. Then after the birth she kept her baby, whom she named Amadeus, sitting in his baby-chair on the piano. When he was a toddler, in order for her to practice, she kept him tethered to the leg of the piano. So it was not a great surprise to her that when he reached the age of 3 and she tried to communicate with him, he didn’t reply in words, he replied in music. That is to say, at first not mature coherent music, but the music of a child, incoherent and incomprehensible. But, as he grew older his music became more coherent and more harmonious.
It was about this time, at the age of 5, that her pediatrician advised her to seek specialist help. After all, it was quite unusual for a boy to speak music, and he confessed that he had never heard of such a case and he was not qualified to deal with it.
Jeanette took Amadeus to a specialist in pediatric speech, and told him the problem. When Amadeus opened his mouth to speak, music issued forth, not always easy to follow, but clearly a musical composition. The specialist was quite taken aback. After he had recovered his composure he asked the child to open his mouth so he could check his vocal cords, and what he saw amazed him. Instead of having just two sets of vocal cords that vibrate when air is passed thru them, Amadeus had a whole orchestra of cords, like a harp.
First, he asked the child to speak and of course, was astonished when musical chords burst forth. Then he asked the child to speak in a composition, and the child brought forth an amazing cacophony of sounds that included what sounded like trumpets and violins. It was astounding, he had never heard of such a thing before, this was clearly a unique mutation, a result of cause and effect, nature and nurture combining in an amazing way.
After they had left he browsed the literature in his computer, but could not find a precedent. There were children who had made musical sounds, but never anything so comprehensive as this. The boy was a veritable orchestra. It occurred to him that this child could not only be a musical genius, he could be an absolute money-maker, a fount of funds. He could eclipse Michael Jackson.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:11 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home