The Birds' Singing Lessons

Birds have been responding to my singing lessons this year by trying to out sing my pupils. Firstly a blackbird took up song near the back door and sang so loudly whilst I was teaching that I had to shut the door, which is always open in the summer. A few days later, a blackbird hopped into the kitchen during a lesson. I was focused on my pupil, when it's sudden appearance in the kitchen caught my eye. We stopped and both stared in delight as the blackbird pecked about at the tiles a bit and the hopped out. This happened a second time a few days later.

Now a crow has taken up it's very dull persistent creaking song from the top of a neighbour's silver birch. Again, it was so loud yesterday that I had to shut the door.

These birds seem to be competing or joining in. I'm not sure which. It's a funny story from the life of a singing teacher. There are many funny stories and anecdotes and also many poignant ones, but they are about humans and our private time in the music room together. It isn't so easy to tell those tales. I can tell that somebody said they felt they came alive this week in their first singing lesson. I can tell that I get hiccups frequently because I am often inadvertently breathing in sympathy with my pupils when I am not actually going to sing. That gives me hiccups. I can wonder what on earth it sounds like to the neighbours over these years of Koo Koo Koo-ing and Lah Lah Lah-ing and Taaaaaaaay-ing

Maybe the birds are telling me.