Chan sat calmly in a black chair with metal legs. He had his mahogany colored cello in between his legs, and he had his matching bow placed gently on the black stand across from him. There was no music on the stand, yet.
He sat there with a warm, yet vacant expression. He was obviously happy, yet he was lost in his own happiness. He glanced up at clock, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the yellow car. He rolled the car gently over his cello. On the sides, under the fingerboard, below the fine tuners, up and over the scroll, then the door opened.
Chan quickly shoved the car into his pocket and help a look of innocence in his eyes. His cello teacher saw the car, and smirked at Chan's attempt to hide it.
He walked over to Chan's music stand and placed some music onto it. Then he placed himself directly behind the stand.
"Hello Chan. We have not properly met before. You can call me Sovann, and I will be your cello teacher." And with a smile on his face, he extended his hand to Chan.
Chan took his hand and smiled up at his teacher. He replied with a warm smile, "Hello. Pleased to meet you, teacher Sovann."
Sovann started to pace around the room with his hands clasped behind his back. "So Chan" He started, "This being your official first lesson, we probably should first get to know each other, then start with the basics.
"I personally have a Doctorate in music education. My first instrument was cello and that's what I majored in. Ever since I got out of college I have been teaching very talented students and each one of them I have seen move on successfully in music.
"Now I get to teach you. First off, when you picked up the cello for the first time and played it, how were you able to play it?" Sovann asked questioningly.
"Well," Chan started,"Like I said I've had no lesson before this one. When the orchestra came and played though, I watched the cello players' fingers. I recognized the note and I matched the fingering they used for the note, and then I memorized the fingering and the note's pitch. Then when I played the cello afterwards, I used the memorization and the pitches that I already knew to play."
"Do you know of any musical influence that you've had before? Did you have a parent, any family member, or a close friend who you heard play cello before?"
Chan's face fell. His eyes sunk to the knobbly grey carpet beneath his small feet and endpin-stopper. "Well, I have vague memories of a ringing hollow sound. The sound was notes that I can now play on my cello. The notes I play I have heard before in a beautiful singing melody.
"My mother told me that I would sit at my father's feet whenever he would play the cello. I would stare up at him with my big, choclate-brown eyes and watch every gesture he would make on the cello.
"My mother also told me that I had my father's hands. She said the long, thin fingers that we both had were perfect for cello playing. She told me that one day, hopefully she could get a cello for me to play.
"See, my father had a beautiful hand-carved sycamore cello. That's the one he would play when I was a young child. My last memory of him was when he had to leave to fight in the war. I came with him when he sold the cello. Shortly after that he left. He sold it to help support us until his first paycheck from the military came. It never came.
"I suppose that's where I got the notes of the cello into my head. From my father. Even though he's gone, he can still live through me." As he finished, Chan looked down at his hands, and clenched them. "He'll live through the sounds of the cello."
~~~~~
Sovann sat across from the matron and Doctor Krat. Sovann had just finished telling them what Chan had said in their first lesson.
"Chan has absolute pitch. This is where he can hear a note, and be able to identify it and play it. Since he was exposed to cello music at an early age, it stuck in his head and that's how he was able to play the cello when the orchestra came."
The doctor nodded his head slowly. "I think this cello playing is really good for him. It obviously has significantly helped his PTSD, and he's revealing details about him that we couldn't get out of him before. "
"I have noticed a change in his education as well. Now that he's playing the cello, he's participating in his classes and he's actually excelling." The matron chimed in.
Sovann added in, "It's not taking anything from me to help him, like I said. This is a form of therapy, called music therapy, and I don't want to cost you for something simply to help. I will come two times a week on mondays and thursdays to teach him. Is that all right with you, matron?"
"It sure is. Anything that can help him I am willing to do."
"Alright it is settled then. Doctor Krat, if you ever want to sit in on our lessons to watch his improvement, just let me know."
"I shall, Sovann." The doctor replied. Then he stood up. "This has been a great opportunity for us to help Chan. I'm glad we discovered this talent. Matron, could I possibly talk Chan sometime soon? I can't right now for I have to get back to the hospital, but any free time that he has just let me know."
"Okay doctor. If you want to come in on Friday and talk, he's free then."
"I'll come in then. Please excuse me now, I need to head back"
"Alright, see you later doctor." The matron said.
"Thank you for all of your work doctor. Goodbye." Sovann added., closing the door with a familiar wooden whack.
