Crotchet equals ten. Chapter One.

 

Okay, a bit of background for non-musicians. A metronome is a device used, by musicians, to practise 'playing in time' - that is, playing at a certain tempo and not speeding up or slowing down. If you set your metronome to 60 (beats per minute), the metronome will click on every second. If you set it to 120 (beats per minute), it'll click twice for every second. 

If you set it to 10, which most musicians will probably never do, it'll click once every six seconds. That is extremely slow! I repeat, extremely slow, and probably not of much use for people practising music. 

Adem Petravac came to Aotearoa many years ago with a very young family. He was from Bosnia and spoke three languages (Bosnian, Croation and Serbian), but his English was abysmal. His first born, a son, had been named Petar Enis Petravic. Petar was chosen because it was a popular family name. Adem had always preferred Enis, a Balkan name, and began calling his son that. To keep his family happy, he added a 'P' and called his son P. Enis. Remember that this guy had very little English.

P. Enis went to school in Wellington. The family lived in Island Bay, so his primary schools were in that area. Most of his classmates called him Petar because that was the name that teachers called out at roll time. He was a happy little boy and soon picked up quite a kiwi accent. 

At some point Petar was introduced to the violin. For him it was love at first sight and he was very keen to have lessons. His mum bought him one at a school fair. He was eight years old when he had his first lesson. The first piece he learnt was called 'The Little A and B March'. It only contained the notes A and B, on the A string. Petar did a regular amount of practice, but he was also interested in getting a girlfriend. Unfortunately, his other two siblings were both boys, so he knew very little about girls. He did try to find out more when he was younger.

The older girls at his primary school used a classroom that was up some outside steps. Petar was five at the time. He looked up, from under the steps, to see what mysteries girls hid under their skirts, as there was open space between each step. He was caught and firmly chastised by one of the older girls. Petar soon realised that, for him, getting a girlfriend had just been put way on the back burner. Hence the interest in the violin.

To be continued.