Sollen wir das Klavier spielen? - Ja, gerne

A hypothetical situation imagined over a year ago has come to fruition: I am friends with a neighboring family, bring Daisy over to play with 2-year-old Konstantin, and get to teach 10-year-old Lily piano. They are even paying me.

The only thing different from my original plan is that...are you ready for this? Our lessons are in German.

Ha. We just finished our second lesson this week, and I am scrambling to memorize the different terminology, much less simple commands like, "Let's start again at the beginning."

Here is a recent mortifying experience: I taught Lily what sharps and flats were. In the book, a sharp is labeled as "das Kreuz" and a flat is "das B" (***which is maybe why the note "B" is actually "H" in German?). Not knowing what else to do, I started calling notes "A Kreuz, D Kreuz, H B" you get the picture. I was shocked when I found out the real naming system. In Germany, a "C" is "C," "ces" is Cb, and "cis" is C#. Wow, I need to remedy that next week. I actually think that the German naming system makes more sense and is less confusing. You know, when you're singing note names it's often hard to balance two syllables on a single note. How many times have I tried to sing "Bb" as a whole note? (A thousand.)

As a background for how I came to know this family - I met Trixi at a tram stop here in the city as we conversed about our similar baby carriers. She is an English teacher at a local college, but is from here. (Actually, her first husband was Irish, so her English is actually Irish. It's funny to listen to her.) She is the one who told me about the Spielgruppe that we go to, helped me with German questions, invited me to special events at her church, and we've arranged meetings periodically throughout the year. She lives with her husband, 18-year-old Zabby, Lily, and Konstantin just up the hill from us. She and Zabby speak English, but not Lily or Konstantin. Lily needed a music teacher after hers ended maternity leave, so voila. I was employed, with the full limits of my language abilities exposed, and something very fun to look forward to on Monday afternoons. Daisy loves playing with K - they run down the hallway holding hands, love giving hugs and kisses, and D always asks for me to draw "autos" after they go home.