My three-year-old granddaughter, Tegan, went with her parents to a family gathering at the home of her other grandparents. Everyone was having a wonderful time visiting and catching up on all the latest family news.

    Like most children, Tegan was having a good time playing with all the toys that were different from her own and that were kept for children to play with at her grandparents' house. In particular, Tegan had found a little tea set and had begun pretending that she was having a tea party. She set up all the place settings and arranged her table with the great care and elegance that only a three-year-old can create. Meanwhile, her Daddy concentrated on conversation, and as he continued to chat with his family, Tegan would hand him a cup of "tea". Her Daddy, who always tries to participate in her games, would pause for a few seconds from his conversation, and say all the proper words and gestures for her tea party which would thrill Tegan. He would request two lumps of sugar. He would tell her how wonderful her tea tasted, and then he would continue his adult conversation with his family.

    After going through this routine several times, her Daddy suddenly awoke to reality as he had a flash of concern in his mind: "She is only three years old, where is she getting this 'tea' that I've been dutifully drinking?" He quietly followed her, without her knowing, and his fears were growing stronger as he saw her turn and go through the bathroom door. Sure enough, there she was stretching up on her tippy toes reaching up to get her 'tea' water out of the container of water that grandpa used to soak (浸泡)his false teeth!

    When I was a kid in the 1960s, my parents had a country store in the small town of Frankfort, Maine. No neighboring houses could be seen From our place， and new salesmen were always amazed at the amount of business we did. Dad's motto was, “We sell everything.” If he didn't have something in store, he would pick it up for customers on his weekly trip to Bangor.

    One time Dad was in Bangor getting shoes for someone at a shoe factory, He saw big boxes full of shoes and asked about them. They were the mates(一双鞋中的一只) to faulty shoes that had been thrown away. He looked through the boxes and realized that there were usable brand-new shoes in there. He offered the manager five cents a shoe, Dad made the deal and got the manager to reserve any future boxes for him.

    Of course Mon, his business partner, was more practical, and her first reaction was, “But what are you going to do with them?” Dad bought an old school bus. He cleaned it up, removed the seats and placed big containers down both sites of the aisle(通道). When all was ready, the whole Family helped to put the shoes in place. At first， it looked like we had plenty of room on the bus, but Dad kept bringing home more boxes.

    There was no sign on the Shoe Bus. 'The only advertising Dad did was to place a piece of paper beside the store exit that read “Shoes $1 a pair. "When folks asked about the deal. They learned it wasn't that easy because they had to find their own pairs. The attraction was a combination of getting a good deal on a quality pair of shoes and the thrill of the hunt.

    To this day I still run into people who talk about the fun they had searching for pairs in Dad's Shoe Bus.

    The arts, especially music, should be part of every school's lessons at every grade level. Students would be much smarter if they had musical experience. They could improve their classroom skills, like paying attention and following directions. People develop all these skills when they learn music. Making music also lets children use their imagination. It provides students with a chance to try out their own ideas.

    Music not only makes children better students, but also gives them something positive to do. In a music program, children can be part of a band instead of joining a gang(团伙). Parents can enjoy listening to their children's music instead of seeing them glued to a computer or TV screen. In a school band, students get to be part of a team. They can get along well with old friends and make new friends through music.

    Music builds self-confidence, too. It gives children a sense of achievement and success. Making music is something for them to be proud of. And it lets kids practice performing in front of an audience. Music gives children an opportunity for self-expression, and that helps develop their self-confidence.

    Once again, music is important because it can make children better students, give them something positive to do, and build their character. That is why music should be offered in every single grade in every school.

    This March is a busy month in Shanghai. There's a lot to do. Here are the highlights.

Live Music - Late Night Jazz

    Enjoy real American jazz from Herbie Davis, the famous trumpet player. He's coming with his new 7-piece band, Herbie's Heroes.  Herbie is known to play well into the early hours, so don't expect to get much sleep. This is Herbie's third visit to Shanghai. The first two were sold out, so get your tickets quickly.

    PLACE: The Jazz Club DATES: 15-23 March PRICE: ￥80,120 TIME: 10:00p.m. till late! TEL: 6466-8736

Scottish dancing

    Take your partners and get ready to dance till you drop. Scottish dancing is fun and easy to learn. Instructors will demonstrate the dances. The live band, Gordon Stroppie and the Weefrees, are also excellent.

    PLACE: Jack Stein's DATES: every Monday PRICE: Y60 including one drink TIME: 7:00 - ~0:00 p.m. TEL: 6402-1877

Exhibitions - Shanghai Museum

    There are 120,000 pieces on show here. You can see the whole of Chinese history under one roof. It's always interesting to visit, but doubly so at the moment with the Egyptian Tombs exhibition. There are lots of mummies and more gold than you've ever seen before. Let us know if you see a mummy move!

    PLACE: Shanghai Museum PRICE: ￥30 (￥ 15 for students) TEL: 6888-6888 DATES: daily TIME: Monday - Friday 9:00a.m. - 5:00p.m., Weekends 9:00a.m. - 9:00p.m.

Dining - Sushi chef in town

    Sushi is getting really big in Shanghai. In Japan, it's become an art form. The most famous Sushi 'artist' is Yuki Kamura. She's also one of the few female chefs in Japan. She'll be at Sushi Scene all of this month.

    PLACE: Sushi Scene in the Shanghai Hotel DATES: all month PRICE: ￥200 TIME: lunch time TEL: 6690-3211

    For a full listing of events, see our website.

At Englands University of Plymouth, Professor Eduardo Miranda has been programming pairs of robots to compose music. Miranda's robots have simple " vocal cords" (声带)and are programmed to sing and to listen to each other. The robots' unique warbling sounds (颤音) do not perfectly match the human voice, but each machine is exactly sharing music with the other in a new and unique way.

Each robot is equipped with speakers, software that mimics the human voice, a mouth that opens as it "sings," a microphone for ears, and a camera for eyes. The robots also move. Miranda hopes that by studying his robot vocalists, he can discover something about how and why humans create, perform, and listen to music.

When the robots sing, first one robot makes six random sounds. Its partner responds with more sounds. The first robot analyzes the sounds to see if their sequences (序列)) are similar. If they are, it nods its head and commits the sounds to memory, and the second robot notices and "memorizes" the musical sequence, too. If the first robot thinks the sounds are too different, it shakes its head and both robots ignore the sounds. Then the process continues.

Miranda set up an experiment in which he left the two robots alone in his study for two weeks. When he returned, his little warblers had, by imitating each other, not only shared notes but combined them. The product of their cooperation was far from symphonic, but the robots had begun to combine the notes into their own self-developed "songs".

With the help of his warbling robots, one of Miranda's goals is to create music that no human would ever compose. Miranda believes the robots are ideal for this purpose because they would not be influenced by any existing musical styles or rules.