Yesterday was my monthly eye injection for macular degeneration and while the injection itself went smoothly, my eye started burning when I left my doctor’s office. Not good — as I waited patiently for the music I would be playing today.

OF COURSE, I had to have one more task before getting on an early morning flight to London tomorrow — and that was to join Kaleb and Naomi Barrett in teaching a first grade class about Early Music. It was part of a grant proposal that was submitted to the Atherton Foundation from Early Music Hawaii.

As it turned out it was 8:49 pm when I got the first piece and not until this morning when I checked my email at 5:28 am that I received the second piece. I wrote back to Kaleb, “You have a lot of faith that I can sightread this piece for tomorrow! No worries, I’ll get through it!”

I only panicked slightly when I saw what pieces they sent: “Charmant papillon” by Andres Campra, and the fourth movement from Bach’s “Coffee Cantata,” not the easiest pieces to sightread. Fortunately I found both pieces on YouTube because there was no time to practice.

It turned out to be quite an adventure because never have I moved my little harpsichord out of my apartment. Even though it is called a spinet harpsichord it’s still pretty heavy but thanks to a mover’s dolly I had purchased for my little pipe organ, and thanks to my neighbor, pianist Mark Russell, we were able to wheel the harpsichord to the elevator and then down to the loading dock where we met Ian Capps and Jeannette Johnson of Early Music Hawaii. Ian drove us to Pearl Highlands Elementary School where we were ushered to the class of Jeannette’s niece, where she teaches first graders.

Kaleb and Naomi had driven to the wrong school (Pearl City Elementary School instead of Pearl City Highlands Elementary School) and arrived only about 5 minutes before the class was going to start. We had only one run-through before the kids started coming into the class.

Kaleb explained briefly that Early Music was music that was REALLY REALLY OLD! and how people used to tell stories using music instead of watching TV or YouTube videos for entertainment. Everyone asked if it was a piano, even the teachers!

We figured out that the harpsichord had reverse color keys (black naturals and white sharps/flats) and that the range was only 54 notes instead of the standard 88-key keyboard of the piano. I played Frescobaldi’s “Corrente” and Vivaldi’s “Trumpet Tune” and Naomi and I managed to get through her two pieces (I really had to fake it during the Bach “Coffee Cantata”) but what we were all amazed at was the kids attentiveness during the 45-minute class. A really long time for 6- and 7- year olds!

A couple of interesting questions the kids asked me: “What was the very first piece I learned to play on the harpsichord?” (Can’t remember!) and “How old was I when I played my first harpsichord?” (Probably about 17 when I went to college).

I think the piece they liked best, however, was that I played the theme from Harry Potter, to show them that all kinds of music can be played on these old instruments.

Now I can get on the plane tomorrow with all my responsibilities FINISHED!