We are having one of those crisp, clear winter days that seem to follow a snowstorm like clockwork in this part of the world. We got up early, bundled AJ into his winter coat, big red boots, hat and mittens (to a continuous narration of his displeasure for the operation), grabbed a hunk of stale bread and took off for the pond.

This was AJ�s first outing in his new boots, and he was not at all certain he liked the idea. While his red boots are extremely cute and warm, they do not flash excitedly when he walks in them the way his sneakers do. After complaining bitterly about the boots, he finally realized that we would neither let him take them off nor stay inside. Resigned, he proceeded to stomp his way up the drive to the street. He hopped from clod to clod of snow on the side of the road all the way down the hill to the pond, where we were met with a raucous quacking. These ducks know us well. Within seconds we were surrounded by hungry mallards who gobbled up every crumb we had to offer.

We crossed the footbridge into the nature preserve and stopped to admire the way delicate frost covered each tiny stem of watercress that protruded through the ice. AJ looked up suddenly and said, �Look, Mommy, reindeer!� and we found ourselves face to face with three young does, still and silent among the trees. They fled as we proceeded up the pathway, dodging shrubs hanging low under the weight of yesterday�s snow. We left the preserve the back way and slid down the hill to our house, stopping to gaze at the steady stream of children shrieking with delight as they sailed down the sledding hill down the street.

This afternoon I�m taking a little break from my dissertation to work on the piano. I have to take an exam in figured bass in a couple of weeks, and I haven�t practiced in quite some time. For those unfamiliar with the concept, figured bass is essentially a shorthand method of notating harmony above a bass line (think guitar tablature with a little more nuance). It�s commonly found in music of the Baroque and early Classical eras. It may seem a little archaic for a 20th century specialist to have to take an exam in this particular skill, but it is actually a wonderful thing to have to learn if you like to think about music.

I started playing violin at a young age, but I never formally had piano. I more or less taught myself. When I was in high school, I bartered lessons here and there from our church organist in exchange for turning pages for him at Sunday services. When I got to grad school, a friend and fellow student helped coach me through the basics well enough to pass the piano sight-reading exam. I spent a summer studying at a conservatory in France which gave me a few months of France�s legendary music pedagogy, but no piano lessons. As a choral director and composer, I have always muddled my way through what I needed at the piano, but I have always felt woefully inadequate. I am not a pianist by any stretch of the imagination. But while I find I get my fingers in knots trying to sightread piano music and scores at the piano, I find figured bass remarkably clarifying. I like the simplicity of it all � a single row of notes with the occasional numbers above. From this you tease out both harmony and � and this is the creative part, if you are skilled � a melody. It�s amazing to me how quickly my fingers recognize the basic patterns and fall into cadences naturally, without my thinking about it. When I�m trying to read piano music, I get bogged down in minutiae. I am obsessed with inaccuracies of individual notes and have trouble thinking things through the whole gesture. Figured bass is all gesture, so if you have less keyboard facility, you simply leave out the fancy stuff. As you improve, you can put it in and make things sound nicer.

Figured bass also appeals to the part of my brain that enjoys a good crossword puzzle. Rules of melodic leading limit ones options at each chord change. Sometimes there is just one solution, sometimes there are several. Figuring out the puzzle on the fly is part of the fun.

I�m not at all certain that I have a prayer of passing the exam, giving my recent lack of dedication to preparing for it, but I�m enjoying having an excuse to get out of books and onto an instrument for a while. Playing is, after all, why I came to do what I do. Even if it�s not necessarily part of the job at the moment.

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