often enough you heard the tender tones of a violin or a luscious flute across the cobbled way. as the notes floated down towards the sugary mint tea arab grocery stores, they elided, accepting the offer of the fourteenth-century clerestory bay. it was 1989, and your "super appart" was on the second floor of the oldest residential building in montpellier… 2 rue terral, at the corner of rue de l'amandier, one street downhill from the cnrm (conservatoire national de région de montpellier). that season at the comédie and elsewhere, you saw sellars' mariage, heard caballé sing vivaldi, richter play schumann, gruberova as zerbinetta… but the music that affected you most was the scales and études, the rehearsals and solfèges that accompanied your daily life. mi mi mi mi mi mi miiiiiiiiiiii.