Ruby Sings the Blues CBeebies Bedtime Stories

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BLUES MUSIC PLAYS

What's that? Hold on, I'll just turn down this music.

Hello, I'm Michael. Sorry, I was just listening to some music.

But it probably was a little bit loud, wasn't it? Hmm.

Do you like music? I do! I like all sorts of music.

There's a girl in tonight's story

who discovers she likes music, but not just listening to it.

The story is called Ruby Sings The Blues.

Ruby was loud. Very loud.

"Hi everybody, I'm home!" When she hollered down the street,

the man on the top floor yelled, "Keep it down, loud mouth!

"I'm trying to sleep!" The student on the middle floor shouted,

"Hey, boom box! I can't hear myself think."

The saxophonist and jazz singer in the basement looked at each other.

"Awesome!" they said.

At home, Ruby's parents tried to stay calm.

"Ruby, dear," they said, "do you think you could be a bit quieter?"

-HE SHOUTS

-"Like this?"

"Just a teensy bit down," said Ruby's father.

"How's this, Pops?"

"Lovely!" they said. "Now, do you think you can keep it like that?"

"OK, I'll try, Mumsie."

But in class, Ruby was loud, head-splittingly loud.

"Hey, Miss Nightingale! May I answer that question?"

At playtime, Miss Nightingale spoke gently to Ruby.

"Let's pretend you're a sound blaster,"

said Miss Nightingale, pointing to three buttons on Ruby's blouse.

This button is your ON button. This one is your OFF button,

and the one in the middle is your volume control.

Miss Nightingale gave Ruby's middle button a twiddle.

"Right, let's hear you, Ruby!" she said.

"Am I on now, Miss?"

"You're always on, Ruby, and always loud," said Miss Nightingale.

"So why don't we turn down the volume a bit?"

"Is this better, Miss?" "Much better, Ruby!"

"Now go and play," said Miss Nightingale.

Ruby ran outside, turned her volume control right up

and blasted across the playground,

"I'm a sound blaster!" The other children couldn't bear it.

They turned round and shouted,

"Switch it off, Ruby! You're hurting our ears!"

No-one wanted to play with Ruby.

She was just too loud to have around.

Switched off and sad, Ruby walked home.

No-one in the road, even knew she had come home.

That whole day, Ruby kept quiet. Her mum wondered if she was ill.

But Ruby wasn't ill - she had the blues.

When the sax player and the jazz singer didn't hear Ruby upstairs,

they knocked on the door and asked, "What's up, Ruby?"

In a teensy voice, Ruby explained how nobody wanted to play with her

because she was too loud.

"We think your voice is awesome," said Bernard, the sax player.

"Yes!" said Zelda, "I'd love to teach you how to use it.

"Would you like to learn how to sing, Ruby?" asked her mother.

"Awesome!" Ruby's mum smiled.

There was nothing wrong with Ruby.

Every day, after school, Ruby took singing lessons

with Bernard and Zelda.

She copied the musical notes made by Bernard on his saxophone.

Zelda taught Ruby how to use her volume control

so that she could sing sharp zooming notes,

like the sounds of the city,

and gentle breathy notes like a cool evening breeze.

Most of all, she taught Ruby to sing with feeling.

When the man on the top floor heard Ruby, he said,

"What a beautiful voice!"

The kids on the block came out and danced on the sidewalk,

chanting, "Go, Ruby, go!" And Bernard looked at Zelda and said,

"Listen, Ruby's singing the blues."

And when Ruby sang at her school concert she was...

..well, just awesome!

But, once in a while, when the neighbours least expect it,

she turns it right up.

"Hi, everybody! I'm home!"

Just to check that her volume control's still working.

And that story was called Ruby Sings The Blues. Hmm.

Now, I wonder if I can find some blues music on my radio.

While I do, it's time for you to go to bed, and I'll see you soon

for another story. Now maybe if I turn this on really loud...

-BLUES MUSIC PLAYS

-Hey, yeah!

It's like the student says, "That's cool, man!"

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd