MEET CHRISTINA




This music he knew very well. It was the special Beethoven tune his mother had always played for his mute little sister, Christina. He loved how much she enjoyed music, but it wasn't for him.

Their mother was a highly respected piano teacher throughout her lifetime. So many people, usually grown-ups, had exclaimed, “How fortunate you are to have such a wonderful music instructor in your very own house,” knowing full well he didn’t take piano lessons. He didn’t know why he'd resisted music lessons all these years, he just had. He was thankful his mother hadn’t forced him, like so many parents did. Like his friend Kathy’s mom. Kathy would drag over to his house for her lessons. He could tell her heart wasn’t in it and it showed in her mechanical playing. But she put on the image of “culture” the way she put on her designer clothes.

Tyler really didn't want to get closer to that mansion. But the tune sounded so peppy and full of energy, like a little dog chasing its tail, so nostalgic, that it seemed to be calling to him.Hearing it filled his mind with so many memories. He thought of how Christina danced to that music and how their mother always promised she'd teach her how to play some day when she was a little older.

Unfortunately that day never came. For the last two years Tyler and Christina lived with only their stern father, the Honorable Judge Harrington, and the live-in nanny.


Tyler was finally learning to accept his family's new situation, but he could never forget the last night with his mother before she passed on.

She had had a dark vision of impending destruction which terrified her, but hope lingered in her eyes when she spoke. “Tyler,dear, someday you'll be doing something very important for me—something wonderful for Christina and for yourself. I'll send you a clear sign when it's time. A great teacher will guide you.”

Tyler had clung to that hope, looking high and low for the sign, but two years had passed and nothing remarkable had happened.He was beginning to lose faith.

Until now.

Dr. Fuddle's Musical IQ Test 22

Answers to Musical IQ Test 21

1. a. Pérotin
2. c. Harmonizing the Christmas carol “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”
3. c. Rusian and Lyudmila
4. a. c#
5. b. Philip Glass










Dr. Fuddle's Musical IQ Test 21


Answers to Musical IQ Test 20 

1.   c.  They are all famous Beethoven Sonatas
2.   a.  Gioachino Rossini
3.   c.  return to previous, normal tempo or speed
4.   d.  Johann Sebastian Bach
5.   d.  Sergei Rachmaninoff





Dr. Fuddle's Musical IQ Test 20

Answers to Musical IQ Test 19

1. b.  Johann Strauss, Jr.
2. b.  Jean Sibelius
3. b.  Jacques Offenbach

4. a.  The succession of keys or chords proceeding by fifths

5. c.   Richard Wagner



MEET LEONARD


Kathy and Leonard were two of Tyler's closest friends, too, but he'd really not wanted to include them this time. He knew they'd never believe him about what he'd seen and heard the night before.


"I don't know," Antonio said. "You looked like there was something exciting going on and I thought they'd want in on whatever it is. We’ve always done everything together."

Kathy and Leonard walked up, greeting their friends. Both looked older than their thirteen years. Kathy Goldman was attractive with auburn hair, brown eyes, fine features and had style to burn, always sporting the latest trendy clothes and glasses. Her mother owned an exclusive ladies’ clothing boutique and her father was a prominent surgeon.

Leonard Lang, son of a renowned award-winning biochemist from China, was super intelligent, programmed with his father’s genes that demanded scientific proof of all things. Offbeat, he sensed there was more to Kathy than her obsession with fashion and he admired her technical proficiency on the piano. He had always thought he might like to give music a try. The mathematical precision of it piqued his curiosity; but he just hadn’t found the time with all his science fairs and clubs. "So what's the urgency?" Leonard asked, with a hint of condescension.

"Just come on," Tyler answered, leading them up the street.

Kathy followed, thinking how Tyler needed to rid himself of his preppy image, maybe grow his blonde hair a little longer.

Tyler halted when they stood directly across from the mansion.

"Why are we stopping here?" Kathy asked, staring at the imposing structure set back from the street up on its hill.

The mansion loomed above them with its dozens of arched stained glass windows, topped by a stately cupola jutting eighty feet from the ground. Dark clouds had gathered behind it.

"I thought you avoided this block like the plague!" Leonard said.

"That was before. I've always had a strange feeling about this place, like it was haunted, but now I know. Come on," Tyler ordered. “The coast is clear! Follow me.”

Dr. Fuddle's Musical IQ Test 19

Answers to Musical IQ Test 18

1. a. true
2. c. Johann Sebastian Bach
3. c. Both A and B
4. c. Claude Debussy
5. c. the final movement