Feline Pianist, Jeremy Cat

9th November 2016 by bbbbb bbbbb lifestyle, music, Personal

I wasn’t fond of cats when I met and married my wife. Something she needed to learn was – no cats! She didn’t learn, rather, I was the one who learned and became fond of our little feline children when I realized they are smart and have interesting personalities, to say the least. I learned they are interesting creatures and I sometimes wish I could probe into their little minds when they give those cat eyes as if to say, “Oh yeah, says who?” just so you know who’s really boss. Of course, I really am the boss – when my wife and the cat decide so! Don’t tell them, but when I decide so!

The life span of a cat is much less than of people, so as you can imagine, I have now been the … well, I guess I’ll say it – proud dad of a few felines through the 32 years of marriage to my wife, who always had cats when she was growing up, so she is very fond of them. Let it be clear, however, I do have my two dogs which take me for a morning stroll up my long, long driveway each day, bright and early. The cat isn’t much into that, although my wife pulled a fast one on me and took our cat to the beach with us recently to my family reunion! She actually wore a leash (the cat, not my wife) and walked around!

Jeremy was a big member of our family for a few years. He had been de-clawed and it was planned for him to be an indoor cat, but he had other ideas – he loved the outdoors. He could climb a tree as good as any cat!

One night I was doing one of my favorite things, playing the piano, only I was playing a keyboard because it had a built-in recorder and I was recording a song.

We had noticed that Jeremy had an interest in piano and had seen him slip up on the piano bench and paw around on the keys. We knew he had potential because he wasn’t like other cats who tried to be like Jerry Lee, with their feet, walking up and down on the keys – no, Jeremy was more into classical and jazz, this was a given, seeing his approach. He stayed firm on the piano bench with his hind feet and raised up holding his front paws in proper position moving smoothly across the piano keys. Whenever I left a music book up, Jeremy tried to read the music. You can see this by observing him in his picture.

I was well into my recording this particular night, all was going well, no mistakes, it would be a take! Then into the room walks Jeremy. He made his way across the floor and before I could give any thought, He jumped up, almost like a basketball player leaping in the air, and throwing out his paw he slapped down on a couple of keys, playing them one after the other, not together – just in the proper beat and right at the perfect timing playing his part in sync with me! It was a take! I could no longer claim full credit for the song – now Jeremy had to be included on the label with me as co-recording artist!

The news got out… as told by my wife… and the story hit the local newspaper … Jeremy made the front page of the PETS section, of course – he was an overnight STAR!

This was the only recording Jeremy made, after his big thrill, he retired to more ‘catly’ things, like hunting and climbing trees. He’d had his one big recording success and apparently that was all he needed. Every now and then we’d see him climb back on the piano bench and dabble around, but he must have decided he’d leave the serious playing to me because he didn’t pursue music much farther. But then, that’s what I’d expect of a cat! We still loved him all the same even though he decided to be less ambitious – he was, after all, a feline, though he thought he was human. Sometimes, to us, he was, I’d say.