Dotted Half-Note

At choir last week, the woman sitting next to me, who is new this season and whom I do not know because I was in New Zealand for the first few weeks of rehearsal, turned to me, held her music and a pencil to me and earnestly said, "Look, here are the markings I made to make sure I know that a dot next to a circle note with a stick equals three beats. Maybe you would like to make these markings in your music, too? I don't know if you read music or not, but it's really helpful to write this stuff out."

Dumbfounded, I stammered, "No, thank you," and uncomfortably shifted in my chair.

Suddenly my job as a piano teacher and the thousands of dollars and many years I spent getting a B.A. in Music seem so...invisible.