Midterm season drew to a close this afternoon with the completion of the exam in Ear Training. The first of our transcriptions was some Bizet work (Carmen, to be more specific). The second excerpt, also well known but less so, was from Gershwin's An American In Paris. Though we didn't concern ourselves with them, there are lyrics to the song from Carmen; An American in Paris, on the other hand, is a verbally unadorned tone poem. Having completed the transcriptions with time to spare, moved by the melodious midterm muse, I made up some words — fittingly (I thought), in French:

”Ah bonjour! Un secret: je ne suis pas parisien. Savez-vous que je suis venu par les États-Unis? Oui, c'est vrai.”

Exactement the right numéro de syllables. I sniggled to myself. (Quietly, of course! My classmates' ears are well trained.) For Mme. Murail I left one further note: “Amusez-vous avec mes mots inventés: je suis compositeur formidable!” Pas encore, mais peut-être bientôt…