Music as Substance and Form in Grace Notes In Bernard MacLaverty's novel Grace Notes, Catherine's growth as an artist throughout the story provides both substance and form to the story. Early in Catherine's life, she was educated and influenced by people close to her. Miss Bingham was his first formal teacher. He taught Catherine things she seemed to know beforehand: "Miss Bingham says it's all in her head and all she has to do is get it out" (99). Miss Bingham also gave Catherine her first manuscript notebook, setting her on the path to becoming a composer. Catherine's family also had a great influence. Granny Boyd taught Catherine the songs they would sing "around the kitchen" (145). Unlike Miss Bingham and Granny Boyd, it appears that her father wanted to have more control over her musical interests. Her father, listening to the Lambeg drums, called it "Pure bloody bigotry" (258), but Catherine found it interesting with the complex rhythms. The strongest influences on Catherine, as on most children, come at an early age, and for Catherine it all happens in her hometown. There are also external influences on Catherine's development as an artist. Catherine first saw Huang Xiao Gang during a composition seminar at university. Huang talked about "pre-hearing and inner hearing" (33) and other ways of thinking about music in very non-Western ways. Catherine recalls “pre-listening” and “inner listening” several times later when she has ideas about music. Catherine also learns while visiting the composer Anatoli Melnichuck in Kiev. He doesn't actually learn directly from Melnichuck, but he learns things when he's there. When he visits the Refectory church he hears the bells of the belfry, which emit a reverberant "Tintinnabulation" (124). Caterina also hears the monks singing in the church. The song came without warning, "it wasn't a sacred song, there was a certain lightness" (125). The singing there in the Refectory church reminded her of Granny Boyd singing "The Bell Doth Toll." The external influences in Catherine's life have given some contrasts and some interesting aspects to her music. The influences and teachings of his life all come together to create Vernicle, which is played for the BBC at the end of the novel. His music is divided into two parts, like "the bilateral symmetry of a shell" (273).