In music class, for a homework assignment, the twenty-five seniors had been asked to compose both the melody and the lyrics for an original song.
“Writing music” their instructor had told them, “is like writing a letter, but instead of communicating ideas, you are communicating melodies, and instead of using words, you are using notes.”
First up to sing is Celeste. Her song is a ballad about true love and the perils one faces while searching for it. The girls, her classmates, try to restrain their laughter, as they know it will soon be their turn to stand up and sing.
Sandy is next, and her song . . . a rollicking composition about living life to the fullest . . . is a big hit with the class. And the refrain of, “Just point me in the right direction. I aint gonna stop, no sir. I don’t object to your correction. Just let me go along with her.” brings a smile to even the instructor’s face.
As the class progresses, they move on to what the girls call “The note test.”
It is when the instructor sits down at the piano, calls out the first name of one of the students, and pushes down on one of the piano’s eighty-eight keys.
The student is then expected to correctly identify the note being played.
Instructor: Carol . . . (note is played)
Carol: A-sharp
Instructor: Good Carol. Celeste . . . (note is played)
Celeste: D
Instructor: Good Celeste. Laurie . . . (note is played)
Laurie: G-sharp
Instructor: Good Laurie.
The class comes to an end, and, as they are filing out into the hallway, the girls are singing, “Oh, I aint gonna stop . . . no sir, no sir . . . just let me go along with her.”