04.02.10
The alternate grader's fingers rip across the keyboard, creating an ear-splitting finale that tests the sufferance of his piano teacher.
The teacher, Chris Kwok, 15, is not amused.
"OK, with what you want," Kwok says, momentarily defeated.
Brendan Chambers, 7, flips on the electronic drum divert and bangs as many keys as he can.
It's not quite what Kwok had in mind for the week's deterrent. Not even a measure of what he expects for his free services.
But when the cacophony subsides and the ears prominently, Brendan settles down to learn quarter notes as quickly as Kwok's older students.
The two are back on task.
Kwok, a Dana Hills Elevated School sophomore, doesn't have to spend his Fridays teaching piano, gratis, at the Boys and Girls Ally of Capistrano Valley. He could be with his buddies playing golf, or by himself, cramming for an exam.
He even could be practicing Chopin's etudes on the household's Yamaha upright, a necessary and welcome part of his own budding musical craft.
Source: California Chronicle