Alphabet Day 13 - Letter M

May challenge

From Glenda Quiring's blog

Mitch slid his binder out of his bookbag and set it on the stand. He pulled the stand up to the right height and flipped the binder open to "Moon Over the Ruined Castle." He picked up his bow, tightened it, tested it on his strings, readjusted the tightening and set it on the strings again. He breathed out, then slowly pulled the bow across the strings. Shrieks rang out as the bow skittered and bounced along. He regripped the bow, only stopping the shrieks and producing squawks instead. Mitch grimaced and stopped. He held the bow in his left hand, shook out his right, then carefully arranged his right hand over the bow again. The second try was slightly better. Mitch got through the whole piece and started again. His lesson was tomorrow and he wanted to at least sound better than the five year old who had lessons before him. If he was going to impress Val, he had to try harder, do better, sound like something other than a garbage truck braking to a stop. Mitch practiced for another 45 minutes, playing through the piece, stopping to practice difficult sections, practicing fingerings. By 3:30 when his timer buzzed, Mitch's fingers were sore and blistered. He carefully set his cello down, rose and stretched. Then he went into the kitchen, dug through the freezer and backed out with a bag of peas wrapped around his fingers. He'd practice again later, but not he need to collapse onto his waterbed and take a nice long break.