A 9 year old female student with a vivid and creative imagination was playing Fur Elise very intensely, and I wondered what he was thinking about or feeling about the piece. The following dialogue ensued, as best as I can recall...


TEACHER: That's really good, very expressive. What are you thinking about, what do you see happening in this piece?


STUDENT: I dunno... some blonde Swiss or Swedish girl. Well she's blonde anyway, from one of those rich countries where everyone's blonde.


TEACHER: I see. What's she like? Is she a nice girl? What's she doing?


STUDENT: She acts nice and all that, but she really isn't. She's stuck up because her Dad's rich. She looks down on everyone. She plays the piano and thinks about how much better she is than everyone else.


TEACHER: (intrigued) Is that in the whole piece?


STUDENT: No, just the first part.


TEACHER: What happens in the rest of the piece?


STUDENT: In this part (F major) she's on a horse, she has a whole stable full of them, and she's happier than when she plays piano, her mom makes her take the lessons. But she's never really happy anyway, she's so rich and spoiled she doesn't appreciate anything.


TEACHER: (very intrigued) How is this scale passage (it ends the F major section) like a horse ride? Doesn't seem like one to me...


STUDENT: The horse hates her and starts running really fast in small circles, trying to make her sick. She gets off the horse, and goes back to the piano. She hates everything. So she thinks about how rich she is, and feels a little better.


TEACHER: How do you feel about her?


STUDENT: She's really pretty (his eyes widened here Kiss Grin ) and she has lots of cool stuff but she's so stuck-up that she's annoying to be around.


TEACHER: Is there anything nice about her except her prettiness and cool stuff?


STUDENT: I guess she's nice deep down, but she's a product of her upbinging. They taught her to be stuck-up so she is. You know, like Pavlov's drooling dogs.


TEACHER: Okay. (needs to get back to the music, but caught up in this little drama) What happens in the rest of the piece.


STUDENT: Here (d minor section) her father comes home. He's been brought to trial on corruption charges.


TEACHER: What does he do?


STUDENT: He owns chemical manufacturing plants that pollute, and he's going to lose everything. He's found guilty, and they have to move and she loses her horses and pianos and friends.


TEACHER: Where do they go?


STUDENT: (hadn't thought about this....) Uh... France.


TEACHER: What do they do there?


STUDENT: He's a janitor. She's all lonely now and has nothing to do but play piano and in this part (a minor arpeggio and chromatic scale) she decides to be really good at piano and is. But they can't afford heat or food. She get's really sick from the unhealthy living conditions, and they have to cut the piano up for firewood. She ends up as a hotel maid for the rest of her life.


TEACHER: Don't you feel sorry for her?


STUDENT: Nope