First-Name Basis

Courtesy of Belinda Fewings via Unsplash.

As part of our unit on hearing and attentiveness, we are listening to great classical works and identifying them by composer. Last week, we did Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. On Friday, I was doing a little review of these with Skipper.

“Do you remember what the two pieces we’ve been learning are called and who they’re by?” I asked.

He looked at me uncertainly.

“Beethoven’s…? Symphony number…?” I prompted.

“Five!” he interjected.

“Right! How about the other one?” Seeing as this had only been introduced the day before, he was even more uncertain about that one. However, he remembered something.

“Peter…” he said. That was as far as he got.

“Right! It’s the War of 1812 Overture by Peter Tchaikovsky,” I elaborated.

He tried to repeat the name, but came out with a mangled version of the surname that is unreproducable in print.

“No, Chih. Koff. Ski. Like a cough, heh, heh,” I said, imitating a dry bark.

He looked at me dubiously. “I just call him Peter.”