A Musical Discovery...Of Sorts

{Actually written: Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 3:32 PM Swiss time}

The house is a bit disorderly today, as the gosses {kids} are going back to school on Thursday. “La rentrée” {the first day of school} is a huge deal here; there are signs all over the roads saying to watch out for kids crossing the street,

It literally says "Think of the children!"

and huge sales in all of the stores that sell clothes, books, bags, or any other item for which the returning schoolchildren might have the slightest need. Carole spent 350 Swiss francs {about $350} on books yesterday, and Isabella is incredibly tense today, trying to prepare everything {they actually had a fight over what Carole was making for lunch, which has never been an issue before}. To make matters worse, Albert and Alexandra have been here for two days, so Nathalie and Alex spend all of their time being 14-year-old girls, and Albert, Nicolas, and Philippe have, as Virgil says, doubled in volume despite there only being one extra child. The weather is grey, and there aren’t really any opportunities to leave because Olivier is at work and Isabella is busy. Fortunately, I can always take a walk, hang out with Carole when she gets back from the doctor’s office, or write here, as there’s much to catch up on. If I sound disdainful, I don’t mean to; it’s just been very tense all day.

Yesterday was also fairly normal, but it turned out to be fun despite the lack of grand excursions. The sun shone, and there was a bit of a breeze, which put everyone in a good mood. While hanging around the house between breakfast and lunch {around 2 PM}, we all had some fun teasing each other; when Isabella told Virgil he should shave, he said “Les femmes, elles préfèrent les vrais hommes, pas les petits gamins” {“Women prefer real men, not little boys”}. At this, I let out a sound that I’m pretty sure can qualify as a chortle {Jessica, I imagine that this pleases you}. When Marie walked in, Virgil chastised her for not speaking, at which I quipped, “Peut-être qu’elle n’a rien à dire. Nous, il ne faut pas parler en chaque moment, comme toi” {“Maybe she has nothing to say. Unlike you, we don’t have to be talking every second”}. I kind of felt awesome after that.

The females and I then left the house to get Carole’s books in Bulle, and were essentially followed home by Emmanuel, a friend of the family whom I’d met when he joined us for meringues the other day {edit: He’s actually married to Sophie, Isabella’s sister who has dropped in a few times, and they live nearby}. A professional organist, he was telling Virgil about a master class that he’d attended, taught by a famous Parisian organist; he carried on for some time and, when I finally got an opportunity to talk, I told him about my school’s reputed conservatory and all of its master classes and concerts, and how I have a friend who is an organ performance major and, in fact, a video of her playing the LU Chapel organ, on my computer. He was both surprised and delighted, and I thus stole the conversation away from Virgil with my superior knowledge of the Physics of Music {thanks, Professor Cook}, along with my recent acquisition of some minor flute-playing skills {merci, Melanie}, and my {mostly successful} attempts to translate said knowledge into French. Finally, we hit a snag: he started to talk about the “flûte à bec” {literally, “flute with a beak”}, making a motion with his hands like he was playing a clarinet. I suggested that the translation was thus, but he protested vehemently. “Non, non, c’est une flûte!” {“No, no, it’s a flute!”}, he insisted. So I thought of a recorder, which I said functions physically like a clarinet, but he rejected that as well. An oboe? Nope. Saxophone is a cognate…ah ha! Emmanuel then said he was sure that there was a flûte à bec in this very house! We must find it! I quickly followed him downstairs to the music room, anxious to discover this new, foreign instrument. Alas, we found no flûte à bec in the music room, so we ran upstairs to find Carole, who allegedly owned this bizarre contraption. “Carole!” I cried. “Où sont les flûtes à bec? Ta mère a dit qu’il y a au moins deux dans cette maison!” {“Where are the flûtes à bec? Your mother said there are at least two in this house!”} “Il faut les trouver, parce qu’elle veut connaître cette chose qui s’appelle la flûte à bec!” {“We must find them, because she wants to understand this thing called the flûte à bec!”}, added Emmanuel.

Carole regarded us as if we were two nut jobs…which we were, but we were two nut jobs on a mission. “Mais moi, j’en sais rien!” {“But I don’t know anything about it!”} she responded. “Vous savez, il y a aussi quelque chose qui s’appelle le dictionnaire.” {“You know, there is also something called the dictionary”}. We paused to reflect. She was right. Emmanuel began to protest, but I told him that in fact, I did have a dictionary, in the very next room! Our quest thus continued, and I flipped the pages with fervor as we both stared at the mangled Larousse in anticipation.

flûte [flyt] ◊ nf -1. mus flute; ~ à bec recorder

All drama and mystery fled the room like fro m a piece of literature with a bad ending. The recorder, yes. I told him how it functioned more like a clarinet than a flute, and that “flute with beak” was therefore a bad name for it, but no worse than “recorder”, as it does not actually record anything. And he said that it’s not a very important instrument; kids just play it in school when they are young {badly, I added, and the same songs over and over, but I don’t know the translation of “Hot Cross Buns”}. At any rate, we had a good laugh, and it added an element of adventure to an otherwise adventure-less day. As it turned out, we also watched “Taxi 4” {an action comedy that’s part of a four-film series} and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” {on TV and dubbed}, both without subtitles, so I felt pretty good, understanding what was going on, and most of the humor {though understanding the plot of an action movie, no great feat, I know}. So, all in all, the day was not without merit. Next Monday is Carole’s first day of school, so we’ll have to see how I manage to entertain myself without les petits and visitors running all over the house.