Music in the Making

Writers: Chelle, Leigh M-F.
Date Posted: 20th November 2014

Characters: A'kua, Nokala
Description: Getting down to business.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 9, day 12 of Turn 7

She'd set aside the things she thought she needed. Today was to be lesson
one-to determine where he was and what he wanted to learn. Nokala was very
conscious that she might lose him to the next Hatching, but that was life
in a Weyr. Either way, it gave her something to occupy her time and maybe
she'd help the boy along the way. A harper's work was never done.

Aluka was so happy, he was practically skipping, composition book in one
hand, gitar in the other. A challenge at last! Time with a real Harper! He
hadn't had either in turns. This was the best day of the month, and it
wasn't even in the middle of it yet. Not even the persistent chill could
dampen it. He swung into Nokala's office with one of his rare smiles. "Good
evenin'!" he said cheerfully.

"Or afternoon," she said with an amused smile. She gestured for him to sit
in one of the chairs she'd arranged around the fireplace. Nokala was still
freezing in this mountain Weyr despite the layers of clothing she'd
obtained. She had been a tropical girl and her body still hadn't adjusted.

"Eh,'s dark enough it could go either way," Aluka said with a shrug. "I'm
all tuned up and ready to start."

"Did you bring the sheet I gave you?" It was a basic skills assessment to
find out what he was capable of. That gave Nokala a starting point and she
didn't have to waste time listening to him play and examining his reading
skills to know. She could start by introducing something new first.

Aluka set his gitar on a chair, opened the composition book and fished out
the folded form he had been given, handing it over. "There ya go."

She took it and quickly scanned it over, using her reading skills to
process what he had written. **Good profile. Areas of improvement and
interest.** When she was done, she set it atop her desk and took the other
chair. "So you're more interested in improving your vocals and your
playing. What about other instruments?"

Aluka cocked his head. "What other instruments?" he asked. "The gitar's
what I'm interested in. It's the one that captivated me as a kid."

"Well there are the strings like the harp, the pianoforte, the violin, the
mandolin..percussion such as the drums or bells...you're probably not a
woodwind person though it would improve your vocal abilities.." She watched
him, judging. **Did he show any other interest?**

Some of that did sound tempting, but he shook his head. "Thanks, but no.
The gitar's my favorite, so that's what I'm stickin' with."

"Very well. Before we work on your gitar skills, let's try to improve your
vocals. First thing is first-you need to know your craft. When I ask you to
sing alegretto do you know what I mean?" Nokala's tone wasn't accusatory,
but she was going to make sure the boy was prepared and preparation in the
area of terms was easy enough.

Aluka frowned. There was nothing wrong with the way he sang. Why did she
think he needed to improve when she hadn't even heard him sing yet? "No,"
was all he said. "The harper who taught me didn' get into all that
technical stuff. He just corrected any faults he saw with playin',
composin', and singin'."

"All that technical stuff is what we call direction. If I'm reading sheet
music and it says alegretto, then I know how to change my voice. If he
never told you about direction then have you ever composed a song with
vocals included, or just notes and lyrics?" She was curious. It seemed like
the boy's education was slightly lacking though he had the basics.

Aluka handed her his red composition book. It was indeed full of lyrics and
sheet music. There were some notes of "sing louder here," "play softer
here," "all the passion you can muster here," "use tenderness at this
line," "you're angry; make the audience feel that," and even "sing like you
actually care about someone other than yourself," along with other such
statements, but with none of the technical terms harpers were familiar with.

"Okay then we just need you to learn it. That way you know what the
possibilities are and then your compositions will be proper for performance
by others. It's especially important when you have a choir since things can
get complicated with rounds and other lovely things." Nokala got up and
went back over to her desk and pulled out a bound stack of hides. It was
rather thin. Within, the hides were a glossary of vocal terms. She walked
back and handed it to him. "I want you to read this and memorize it. Then
we'll apply them. In the meantime, let me show you some fretwork you may
not know." She pulled up her own gitar and placed her hands, indicating for
him to copy.

Hoo boy. If Nokala thought he would ever perform with a bunch of other
people, or let them butcher his work, she had another think coming. It
wasn't that he got stage fright; he simply didn't care. He wanted to sing
and play on his own terms and have fun with it, and also get better at it.
But Aluka held his tongue, as he didn't want to chance alienating the
teacher he needed so soon, and picked up his gitar as well.

Last updated on the November 28th 2014

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Music in the Making