In the evening, at diner, Simon shared that the construction workers would start tomorrow at 7:30. So he himself would have breakfast earlier, at 7.

Annerieke reacted: "And I will join Simon for breakfast as well, at least as cozy. If you want to, feel free!"

Both couples looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, then from tomorrow we'll have breakfast together at 7 o'clock!" Simon decided, "And to be honest, that feels good! Our whole family together, sweetheart!"

Annerieke laughed happily and then told Simon that she and Simon had listened when Sjaak and Lisa played music. "We were inside, just in the house, when you started playing, Lisa. It's so beautiful, across the open plains of our landscape the music carries far. Margreet and Huib, could you hear it too?" She continued as they both nodded enthusiastically, "We put a window ajar so we could hear your violin playing better. And then Sjaak surprised us with his piano playing. And later, piano with cello, wonderful! Who was the composer of what you played?"

Sjaak and Lisa looked at each other and burst into laughter. Sjaak answered, "I tend to say that Lisa was the composer of the first piece, and I of the second, but actually that's not true. We were the composers of both pieces together. Lisa began to play, I began to recognize her chorus and tried to play along. And after a while I felt freer to do more. And the other way around, the same thing happened. It was really a big surprise for us. It was great to do."

He looked at Lisa again, and saw that she was nodding violently with wide eyes. "It was so special," she added, "so special. I didn't know such a thing existed! I only knew of people who played together, that they played something that was on paper. Maybe they didn't have that paper with them then, but it was on paper somewhere, I mean it was always an existing piece that they had memorized."

Simon responded, "I did hear something like that, such free play. It was two guys who both play cello. They call themselves '2Cellos' as a result. Those two play mostly existing pieces and songs, classical, pop, rock. In my opinion, you can set that duo to play anything! The extra I liked about them was that they fantasized on existing music, sometimes very subtly, by slowing down or speeding up a bit, or by adding a few notes here and there, but also larger fantasies. Look them up on YouTube, they have their own channel there. Ideal while working or relaxing on the couch. The latter is often best, because then you can also see them on your screen. Rarely have I seen musicians who had so much fun in their work, and also put up so much craziness while playing."

Huib asked what exactly that duo was called, so he could look it up on his computer. Sjaak clicked on the YouTube app and typed in 2Cellos, as Simon spelled it out for them.

"Ha, yummy couple to look at, you should see that fierce hair!" when he saw their rendition of Thunderstruck.

Sjaak clicked on the picture he saw and turned on the sound.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT3SBzmDxGk

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Lisa bent over to watch with him. The video started with people going to a concert, dressed like from the baroque era. Sjaak clicked on the square in the corner, which gave him the full screen, and held his mobile phone away from him so that the others, who had come to stand around them, could also watch.

Both the cellists, too, had changed into such clothes and began to play a classical piece neatly, but…

Lisa's mouth dropped open when she saw how much fun they were playing along. Their facial expressions, just mischievous, so different from what she was used to with classical music.

The family listened and watched. Their reactions were very different.

Huib was grinning at the way the men played and turned the 'serious' classical music into a piece of rock music.

Annerieke clapped her hands to the beat of the rock piece and whispered, "Great!"

Sjaak sat open-mouthed, staring in amazement at the amazing musicians.

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When this piece ended, Sjaak scrolled on, looking for another piece of music. He discovered "Shape of my heart" and clicked on it:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7qZRbbfraw&list=PLpJWDZ1vXVS4mRnBsnzkryB-pW6LC8cvW&index=100

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Annerieke soon had tears streaming down her cheeks, because the music touched her so much.

Margreet moved softly to the rhythm of the music.

Lisa hummed along, sometimes against the music as if she was adding a new voice.

Simon enjoyed in silence.

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And Sjaak, a desire grew in him to play together with Lisa much, much more often…

To chapter 183. Cooking together

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