fandomtownies | High Strung, Friday Afternoon [OPEN]

High Strung, Friday Afternoon [OPEN]

The door to the shop swings open as a young NPC townie exits. Her face is tight, and not two steps away from the shop she bursts into tears.

Inside, Beethoven may be found back at his piano; a discarded violin lies on a chair next to him, and bits of manuscript paper are scattered on the floor by his feet. He hums silently to himself while he writes, his mind completely off of any scene that might have taken place just before.

[OOC: *feels terrible*]

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Paige walks in smiling, "good afternoon Ludwig," she says loudly

((*snuggles* if you have to rush off no worries))

Beethoven glances up from his work and gives Paige a tight, though pleasant smile. "Good afternoon, Miss Matthews. Have you decided to take up my offer?"

She smiles back "yes I thought singing lessons might be fun and I have to sing for one of my classes. Are you free now? And please, it's Paige"

((oh right, that's okay then *was worried* it was only an NPC!))

He's never going to get used to this modern notion of referring to ladies by their Christian names- but he will indulge her.

"Singing lessons, alright zen. As it turns out, I haff a lesson slot zat's just become available. Do you think you could return at zis time every veek?"

As he waits for her answer, he walks over to a small filing cabinet behind the counter. Rummaging through one of the drawers, he pulls out several folders containing sheet music and a few bound volumes.

"Alright, Miss Paige, tell me- vhat sort of training haff you previously been subjected to? Can you read music?"

"yes I'm sure I could come every week, I don't have much to do at the school on fridays."

Sge thinks for a moment, "I've not had any training before, so I guess you'd say I'm slef taught, but no I don't read music, will that be a problem?"

((lol, he's very hard to control isn't he? First the dancing now this!))

He thinks for a moment as he shuffles through the books. "For now, no, you von't need to read anything. I should like you to learn though- starting today, in fact. Here." He hands her a small volume on basic music theory, and a thin book of manuscript paper. "For next veek, study the different clefs. You vill mostly be concerned vith the soprano, but you should make an effort to study them all. For practice, please copy down scales into zis notebook."

"Now, in regards to your singing...you are self-taught? Vell, let's see vhat bad habits ve haff to break. If you vill, please, sing me zis note." He walks over to the piano and presses the 'A' just above middle C.

Paige takes the books and puts them in her bag, "thank you, Ludwig, I'll do all that."

Paige sings what she hopes is the right note, it's a little off, but isn't bad. She bites her lip and looks at him, "how was that?"

Beethoven listens to her sing, then plays the same note- only an octave lower.

"Again."

She sings the note almost hitting it, "I'm better with whole songs" she tells him looking nervous

He shakes his head. "How can you sing a whole song if you cannot even sing vun note? You are close, and your voice is strong, but that vill not be enough. You must learn to hear vhen you are off key; you will train your voice and your ear. Again, please." This time, he presses the C above middle.

"I wish to hear your register, for now. You could be an alto, or you could be a soprano. Let us hear how high that voice can go."

Paige repeats the note for him and then sings the highest note she can, it's pretty high and she smiles at Ludwig, "so what do you think I am?"

((OMG the mun knows nothing about music *sads*))

Ludwig nods. "You are definitely a soprano. To varm your voice up, we vill begin with very basic scales. Sing along vith me as I play each note on the piano."

He plays the middle C again and waits for her to match the pitch; he moves in this way through the major scale.

Paige sings the notes for him, matching them until they get towards the high end of the scale, "are there any vocal exercises I could do?"

((oh yeah, my sister has a degree in jazz, so I should know something, also I did a bit of a music course for my degree, but the teacher taught us nothing clearly!))

He pauses, thinking. "You sound as you though you haff good relative pitch. To exercise your voice, ve shall start vith the basics- you will practice scales and arpeggios. Try to do this each day- ve'll cover them in lessons, but if you truly vant to improve your voice, it is imperative that you practice on your own."

He crosses over to another shelf, where a small collection of CDs are displayed. "Here- I honestly haff no idea how zis vurks, but I've been assured by Miss Belmont that it should be helpful to any students." The cd is a simple recording of different tones, scales, and arpeggios to practice the voice against.

"Alright, let's try zis again- and I vant you to really listen closely to your own voice and the notes I am playing."

She takes the CD from him, then does the exercise, listening to the notes and really thinking before she sang it herself, she hits most of the notes and the ones she doesn't are very close.

"Good. Keep doing this- listen to the notes, and if it does not sound right, or you are not sure, then fix something. Adjust your voice until it is right. Listen to the correct tone, and match it. Close is not good enough- use your ear."

He plays several more notes- this time in a different scale- and listens as she matches the pitches.

After each note she thinks carefully and tries to match the notes, if she doesn't hit it first time she tries again until she, before she sings the notes almost perfectly and smiles at Ludwig "that was okay right?"

He nods. "Yes- but could you tell that they vere right? It is important that you learn to hear on your own if you are off pitch. But you are doing fine so far. Practice and listening should help you to develop zis skill."

He sits back down at the piano. "And now that you are varmed up, I vould like you to sing something for me. Anything- your choice. Begin when you are ready."

Paige nods, "well I thought they were right, but I figured you'd know better than me."

She bites her lip for a few moments thinking for something to sing before deciding on It's No Good by Depeche Mode

Gonna take my time,
I have all the time in the world,
To make you mine
It is written in the stars above
By God's decree you'll be right here by my side
Right next to me,you can run but you cannot hide
Don't say you want me
Don't say you need me
Don't say you love it's understood
Don't say you're happy
Out there without me
I know you can't be
Cos it's no good

She hits all the notes, mainly because she sings this song to herselkf all the time in her room

He smiles. "Ah, but I vill not alvays be able to tell you so, my dear. Today, you are lucky."

He closes the lid over the piano keys and leans against them while she sings. The lyrics, the melodies- they're so different, so unlike what he's used to, but her singing is enough for him.

"I...am afraid I am unfamiliar vith that particular composition. But you seem to have passion for your music- sometimes, that is more important than intonation. The ideal, of course, is to have both. A good first lesson, Miss Paige. Do you haff any questions?"

Paige smiles, it was one of her favorite songs so being able to sing it well made her pretty happy.

"I don't think I have any questions, I know what I need to do to get better and you've given me everything I need until my next lesson. Is there anything else I should I should know?"

((hmmm lunch perhaps at the diner?))

"I think we haff covered enough for vun afternoon. So, ve can plan on zis same time next veek?"

He heads back behind the counter to refile the folders. "Oh, and if you do have any questions, you may leave them in my voicemail. That, or speak vith Miss Belmont- I believe she's had a bit of training, and could help you vith the theory."

((yeah have him ask her please, it'll be all over te radio whatever, but never mind! And no worries))

Paige smiles, "I'll do that, thanks I see Sonia quite a bit at the school, ~~she one of the few people still speaking to me!~~ Thank you Ludwig, I enjoyed that."

"You're most velcome, my dear."

He glances up at a clock hanging on the wall, and nods over to the NPC worker re-stocking violin strings.

"I vas just about to go into town for an early dinner. If you haff no immediate plans, vould you care to keep me company?"

Paige smiles, Sawyer probably freak out, she trusted Ludwig like the gentleman he was. "that would be lovely, thank you. I believe Luke's diner is open now if you'd like to try there?"

((I'll wait til you get back, if the diner thread gets posted I'll write us an entrance and leave you a link in your voicemail))

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High Strung, Friday Afternoon [OPEN]

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