Musick hath Charms to sooth a savage Breast

2006-09-14T21:46:41+00:00

Here in our house, one of us amuses herself by captioning the small furry inhabitants. Often this goes something like this:

T: Someday, I will defeat you, Old Master! I will master your Ear Fang Grasp Technique and use it to bring the world to heel!
Q: You are confident but foolish, young one! No one can stand against my sleeping wrath!

Sometimes it is less dramatic, and more like this:

T: Whatcha doooin’?
Q: Eating your food. Leave me alone.
T: Will you be my frieeeeend?
Q: No! You smell bad! Learn to wash!

As you can tell, Qubit is grumpy a lot of late.

But today, the dynamic was different, for today there was a soundtrack. I took out my hautboy and decided, rather than playing in my messy playspace, to play out on the landing — if not en plein air, then, optimistically speaking, en demi-plein air (half full air! I kill me.) The response from the felines was immediate. Whilst we of the double reed are more used to being told we sound like snake charmers — and, indeed, to emulating them in some pieces — the mammalian audience was fascinated. They paced back and forth looking curiously at the instrument. Each of them in turn climbed a nearby desk and put out the super-tentative ‘is it alive?’ paw to touch the bell of the instrument. Neither seemed particularly to trust the sound, but neither was particularly inclined to leave, either.

That was while I was warming up and playing exercises. When I broke out my adored Mozart Concerto (K 314), things changed. Soon, Tazendra started circling me and mewing in a desolate tone little befitting a warrior. Just as I was beginning to think the mewing meant something was actually amiss, Qubit charged the kitten and…started washing her face. For the rest of the oboe practice, Tazendra continued to stare at me in a disturbed manner and occasionally mew plaintively, and Qubit continued to snuggle up against her, wash her reassuringly, and generally act as if she actually liked her. She also wreathed my calves appreciatively.

It was simply bizarre. Odder yet, Qubit looked at me longingly after I stopped playing, and haunted the site where the music stand had been until at last she concluded I wasn’t going to play anymore. At that point, she ran across the room and started a fight with Tazendra. So apparently Qubit likes Mozart to the point of personality change…. That’s actually kind of creepy.

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Musick hath Charms to sooth a savage Breast