Alice’s Rain Music

Alice and Tom listen to rain tapping the classroom roof. Their teacher, Mr Reed, brings a drum and a rain stick. “Could we make a rain story?” asks Alice.

Alice chooses the drum. Tom turns the rain stick slowly. Soft sounds fill the corner. Alice pats the drum with both palms. Her sound covers Tom’s gentle rain.

She stops and looks at him. “I cannot hear your part,” she says. Mr Reed asks them to listen to the roof again. The drops are quiet now.

Alice tries her fingertips. Tap, tap. Tom turns the stick once. This time they can hear both sounds. “Our little rain is starting,” Alice says.

Soon they want the rain to grow. Tom turns the stick a little faster. Alice adds a steady beat, keeping it gentle enough for Tom’s sound to come through.

They try the whole story, but they do not finish together. Alice stops while Tom is still playing. Then Tom stops and Alice begins again. They both laugh.

“We need a sign,” says Alice. She shows Tom an open hand for the start and a closed hand for the end. They practise watching one another.

Their next rain story begins softly. It grows for a little while, then settles into slow taps. Alice closes her hand. Both sounds stop, leaving a quiet pause.

Mr Reed closes his eyes to listen once more. “I heard the rain arrive and go away,” he says. Alice asks Tom which part he liked best.

“The quiet at the end,” says Tom. Alice nods. They exchange instruments for another turn. Their new rain story will have a beginning, a middle and an ending too.