Mood: lyrical
Topic: "Roger Williams Sucks"(2)
For Frodo "Music Appreciation" was not something that he, well, appreciated. Listening to those who could carry a tune talk about their oboes and their trumpets made him wonder if any of them would ever be a part of the "Million Dollar Band" at the University of Texas, and if any of them would ever do anything that didn't involve Half-Time? The situation remained however, that Frodo was forced to identify a specific piece of music and to analyze it in order to satisfy a requirement that separated him from the next plateau in his progressive education.
Some guy named Roger Williams recorded a piece called "Autumn Leaves" which, as Frodo reports, actually did catch his attention because of the rialto format which followed the piano keyboard as if leaves actually were tumbling across the landscape. Frodo used this piece for his analysis, and the teacher was adequately impressed with what was said to graciously allow Frodo to advance. Then again, it may actually be that the old crone would have done anything to get Frodo out of her hair.
Frodo once again recalled that long ago 45-RPM record when he today confronted the completed product of leaf-shedding in the Shire. Time and again Frodo raked and blew leaves onto the tarpaulin which he annually uses to drag the forested by-product into the woods beyond the Shire. Fiona and Mick, the Wonder Dog, who pined so for Frodo during his travels, even grew weary watching the monotony of load after load of fallen deciduous litter. Frodo was also concerned that the Saturday confrontations between the Wolverines, the Buckeyes, the War Eagles, the Tide, the Demon Deacons, and the Hokies might actually occur without his expert analysis and observations of each play. The "Energizer Bunny" in Frodo took full command. Now the Shire is leaf-free.
Frodo once observed that "Autumn Leaves" was designed for the piano, and that even the best saxophonist in all the world would be wasting effort in order to capture the symbolic same audio picture. The same may be said, so he supposes, for raking leaves in July. It would be a waste of time. Today, it made Frodo think about music, and that ain't a bad thing at all.