Episode 11 – 🎵doh, ray, me, farh, lah, Shih, Tzu!🎵

 

Elton John Eat Your Heart Out!

My dad was very into music. He had a small recording studio in one of the spare bedrooms. This consisted of several keyboards, an electric drum machine and a huge mixing desk as well as a few different computers. He used to enjoy playing piano almost every night. I would aways follow him into this room and settle down next to his feet. He used to complain that sometimes as I made myself comfortable so close to the pedals on the piano that he could not use them.

Occasionally, when I was less tired, I didn’t like the idea of the piano getting more attention from dad than I was getting. So I would come into the room with one of my toys, long dog normally (see previous blog for more details) and sit next to dad while he was trying to concentrate on the piano. Just at the right moment I would give him two loud “Gruufffs” strategically placed to completely put him off the rhythm of the piece he was playing. Also, I could pitch my “Gruufff” just a little off-key to further distract him.

If this strategy didn’t work, it was time for plan B. I was a good climber and jumper and so if dad had his headphones on which made it harder for me to put him off, I would jump onto his knee mid performance and then place my chin right next to middle C.

This would cause dad to “Gruufff!” a little with me followed by a “Mazie what are you doing?” – What fun!

 I would always put on the huge brown eye routine which would melt dad’s heart and so stop playing the piano and start playing with me – success! Sometimes when dad was trying to learn a tricky bit, he would just throw the toy without really concentrating just to let me go after it so that he could focus. I giggled a little one time when he through it right into his keyboards with a huge bang. Nothing was damaged but he got the message that it was playtime and not time for piano practice.

Just to reinforce the fact that playtime came before piano practice, I sometimes left a little dog biscuit on the piano keys as a way of reminding dad. If crumbs got onto the keys he would grumble: but I’m a Shih Tzu, being cheeky is my job!

As time went by, I got more used to sharing my time with dad and the piano and loved lying next to him every time he played. I found this really soothing and always managed to drift off into a lovely sleep knowing that he was next to me – my best friend!

Anyway, time now to practice my scales and off-beat “gruufffing”

TTFN

Mazie