Francis Scott Off-Key

This evening before leaving for mutual, Ryan was tuning Erika’s mini guitar. (I taught him this skill last night.) Amanda was in a bad mood and she wanted him to stop making noise. Rather than just ask him to stop, she angrily asked what he was doing, and then commented that he couldn’t be doing it right, since he wasn’t tuning it to anything. I told her that as long as the six strings were tuned correctly relative to the others, it would sound OK. Grasping for a point, she pointed out that he could not accompany someone lest he risk being on the wrong key. Ryan and I shared a look, and then I conceded this point and told Ryan not to accompany anyone while working on Citizenship in the Community merit badge. (He wasn’t taking the guitar, and since he doesn’t play, chances are pretty slim that he would be asked to accompany.)