A Real Musician is Born

Meet AnnaGrace.
Eight year old spitfire.  Blonde hair, blue eyes full of adventure.
When she was a toddler she would ride the family dog like it was a horse through the woods over to her neighbor's house.  Her mother would have to search high and low.

Now she rides horses.  Every week I get to hear another adventure. Her eyes ablaze, this little dynamo sputtering with excitement over a bonfire, a dance, a horse show.

She had talked about a boy the week before.  The next week she came in. She practically burst, "I wrote my first song!"

I smiled.  I was sure it was going to be about Billy and his lunch tray.

This epitome of girlish innocence stands like a rooster at dawn and spouts out
"Pirate walk the plank.
Into the shark's mouth.
Then you will be dead."

I howled with laughter.  It was just so good!  The tune was simple.  We figured it out on the piano and sang it together.  I showed her how to change keys.  She found "pirates" and we acted it out.

It became the studio theme song.  Someone will say, "I can't decide what to sing..." and I'll start tapping the keys..."Pirate walk the..."
"NOT THAT!".  Oh well.  Worth a shot.

I introduced AnnaGrace to the next student one evening and said, "This is the girl that wrote Pirate Walk the Plank."

After she left, my next singer stood in awe and said, "I feel like I just met someone famous."

AnnaGrace studies guitar.  She was studying with another student/friend.  It was hard for her dad to find a way to get over there, so the lessons fizzled.

She loved to take one of my guitars and she'd just play random notes and sing and say, "Wait, I almost have it!"  or just be happy with the song she'd found.

Lately, she's been asking me to teach her guitar too.  So, last week, she brought in her beautiful small six string.

She showed me she could play a G chord.   I got out her favorite song, and showed her there were G chords in it.  So, we decided to play and sing together.  When it was time, I'd yell out G and she'd pipe in with her guitar.

I have never seen her so focused.  She kept bringing her copy of the music over and saying, "So, let me get this straight.  First we do this line and it goes this way.  Then we drop down here.  I play here then you play here, got it?"

The song was "All The Pretty Horses"  a lullaby.   She decided to change the wording so it was "All the pretty ponies" because a big horse might be too much for a tiny baby.

"Hush a bye, don't you cry, go to sleepy little baby.
When you wake you shall have all the pretty little ponies."

"Now", she said, "What on earth does a baby need with ALL the ponies? "   "I think he would be happy with just one.   Oh well."

And off we'd go.

We played the song over and over, laughing.

At the end, she put her guitar down and said, "Wow, NOW I'm a real musician."

Hello world.  Meet AnnaGrace.  A real musician if ever there was one.