"What is the time signature on this song?"
"Wait, let me listen."
She watched him counting, or rather, trying to. They had an ongoing fight/joke about who was really leading the beat, which apparently, was something he was adamant about. He liked to think he was the authority, and was excellent at reprimanding the drummer for every variation in tempo. She was rather hopeless, and could basically follow when required, but could be relied on to screw up if she ever had to think about it consciously.
This song was a trick question. Overlapping time signatures, one kept by the percussion, another by the strings. Both were complex and from an obscure South American tradition. The percussion in fact included a donkey jaw bone. His brow furrowed. She decided to distract him further by picking one rhythm and dancing to it. Shaking everything she could, ever so slightly, enough to have him want to change the subject.
"I had a dream last night. We were on tour with a big band. The backup singers were on a tremendously high platform, and one was standing with her back to the edge, her heel over the edge, balancing. As if she didn't care. I later asked her how she did that, because I have dreams of such high walls. And in the dreams, they are terrifying,"
"What did she say?"
"She didn't answer. And then we were in Northampton, and I felt the sunshine, I mean I FELT it. Inside of a dream. I was alone at a canoe rental place by the shores of a lake. But then the sun went behind a mountain, and then everything got so cold. But even then, in the cold, I still saw people from tour, and didn't feel alone,"
"I don't think we'll be in Northampton this time,"
"And then you were there, that version of you before we knew each other. And I spoke so openly to you, so clearly. And you responded so easily."
"What did we say?"
"You know my friend who has all those boyfriends, she was telling the end of her story, and you asked about me, if I had any significant other. I said, no, the world is too full of crazy cynical people for me. You said something about that being a rather sad commentary on the world. I recognized what I was saying and admitted that it reflected less on the world than on my peculiar stubborn and cynical view of it. Says more about me than about the world. We were at lunch and we both laughed. I was hoping we could talk more like that, but then we had to get back to work,"
He looked at this woman in front of him, so easily seductive on so many levels, yet behind so many walls. He had no idea how to get inside her.
Confident of the only thing he knew, he began to speak.
"It's 6/8 against 3/4," he said.
*Born with a Broken Heart by David Wax Museum
"Wait, let me listen."
She watched him counting, or rather, trying to. They had an ongoing fight/joke about who was really leading the beat, which apparently, was something he was adamant about. He liked to think he was the authority, and was excellent at reprimanding the drummer for every variation in tempo. She was rather hopeless, and could basically follow when required, but could be relied on to screw up if she ever had to think about it consciously.
This song was a trick question. Overlapping time signatures, one kept by the percussion, another by the strings. Both were complex and from an obscure South American tradition. The percussion in fact included a donkey jaw bone. His brow furrowed. She decided to distract him further by picking one rhythm and dancing to it. Shaking everything she could, ever so slightly, enough to have him want to change the subject.
"I had a dream last night. We were on tour with a big band. The backup singers were on a tremendously high platform, and one was standing with her back to the edge, her heel over the edge, balancing. As if she didn't care. I later asked her how she did that, because I have dreams of such high walls. And in the dreams, they are terrifying,"
"What did she say?"
"She didn't answer. And then we were in Northampton, and I felt the sunshine, I mean I FELT it. Inside of a dream. I was alone at a canoe rental place by the shores of a lake. But then the sun went behind a mountain, and then everything got so cold. But even then, in the cold, I still saw people from tour, and didn't feel alone,"
"I don't think we'll be in Northampton this time,"
"And then you were there, that version of you before we knew each other. And I spoke so openly to you, so clearly. And you responded so easily."
"What did we say?"
"You know my friend who has all those boyfriends, she was telling the end of her story, and you asked about me, if I had any significant other. I said, no, the world is too full of crazy cynical people for me. You said something about that being a rather sad commentary on the world. I recognized what I was saying and admitted that it reflected less on the world than on my peculiar stubborn and cynical view of it. Says more about me than about the world. We were at lunch and we both laughed. I was hoping we could talk more like that, but then we had to get back to work,"
He looked at this woman in front of him, so easily seductive on so many levels, yet behind so many walls. He had no idea how to get inside her.
Confident of the only thing he knew, he began to speak.
"It's 6/8 against 3/4," he said.
*Born with a Broken Heart by David Wax Museum
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