Story 10 - The Spy Who Rocked Too Hard (35🎸)
Gold String crossed his arms. “No matter what realm soone is in, they need to be conscious for music to heal their soul.”
I grinned. “How do you know that?”
He paused. “Everyone knows that.”
I could explain that research was done in my past-past life that showed that comatose patients responded to audible stimuli, but I decided to put it in terms he would understand.
“If you play offensive music to soone in a forced sleep, would that hurt them?”
“Of course it would.”
“Then why shouldn’t healing music help them?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it. His brow furrowed, then he paled. He coughed up a half-mouthful of blood. “I’m going to need a mont.”
With a flick of his sleeve, he turned before jumping onto his flying brush and vanishing deeper into the sect.
Everyone looked at .
“…”
Well, this was awkward.
I coughed. “That was unintentional.”
How the fuck was I supposed to know that enlightening soone on a simple truth would cause them so much emotional damage that they’d cough up blood? Whatever.
“I’ll check on him and make sure he’s alright. In the anti, why don’t you two teach Senior Verdant Spring how to play ‘Everything Will be Alright?’”
The kid grimaced. “Sister Linlin, I’m always willing to learn anything you’re willing to teach , but maybe we can wait until junior Gold String Delicate Touch is back? It’s a bit….”
I huffed. “If I let other people’s uncomfortableness prevent from studying, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”
“That explains so-so much.”
Dread Lotus and Azure lodic River nodded as if they agreed.
I glared at the three brats.
“Fine, I’ll learn!”
“We’ll teach!”
I grinned in satisfaction.
It took a while to catch up to Gold String Delicate Touch, but I found him sitting at an outdoor table surrounded by tall ancient trees. Actually, now that I noticed the walls nearby, I was sure this was his small courtyard.
[Image Link]
“Ah, it must be raining a little today.”
He chuckled and wiped his cheeks dry. “It’s just a light sprinkle. That’s all.”
When I turned back, he seed completely recovered. Though, now that I had realized what he’d gone through, I knew he couldn’t possibly be okay. But we all kept going. Increasing our strength. It was the only path to stay alive.
“Gold String Delicate Touch! Tell ! Are you ready to go make rock history as one of the first composers of a new rock song?”
“You an in this sect?”
“... Yes.” I ant in this tiline, but whatever.
“I am, band leader!” He paused. “But before we start composing anything, I want you to teach us the song you promised.”
“The one that lts faces?”
He told ‘obviously’ with just his expression.
Well, Little Spring was there, so this was the perfect ti to do it. I grinned. “Sure. But be prepared. It’s faster than you think.”
He scoffed. “I’m not worried. I can keep up.”
... he did, in fact, have to worry, but I would enjoy the look on his face. Muahahaha!
Oh! “But, before we start crafting our healing song, you all will need so music theory.”
***
After we returned to the group, I taught everyone that particular lty song. Once I was sure they could practice on their own where it would be safe and not fucking lt anyone’s face off, I began to teach them about the various structures rock songs had and gave them the language to describe each part.
I clasped my hands behind my back. “… So, what makes a rock song rock?”
Little Spring, who was used to my style of lecture, called out, “The instrunts!”
I pointed to him. “Close! While they are important, you can always add more than the traditional guitar, drums, and bass.”
Azure, who lounged languidly on a chair she’d pulled out of her bag, had figured out how I prefer to handle things. “Is that why you wanted to add a keyboard to your band?”
“Exactly! Because what makes a song ‘rock’ is more than the instrunts used to play it, though they are still important since each instrunt and how you play them, brings a different texture to the music.”
Dread Lotus, who was fanning herself gently with a red spiritual fan, snapped it shut and casually raised it toward . “Ah! That explains why Azure lodic River usually plays the most during so of the more emotional parts. But that still doesn’t explain what makes up a rock song.”
I nodded. “You figured it out. For starters, when writing a rock song, you need to make sure it has a strong backbeat.”
Azure casually propped her chin up as if she was trying hard to not look at soone she really wanted to. “Which explains why Senior Dread Lotus’ drums are so important.”
“And why, in general, Gold String’s bass should lock in with her beat and stick to a tight and completely badass pattern.”
The two I ntioned glanced at each other and nodded as if agreeing to cooperate.
“And most importantly,” I held up a finger and grinned, “the guitar is almost always the main voice in rock... aside from, you know, the vocals. Though that could change depending on the goal of the song.”
I kept lecturing like that for several more hours, but once I finished I turned to Gold String. “So, have you thought about the base lody already?”
I wasn’t expecting much, but he nodded. “Actually, there was a song that my family used to play. I overheard it once, but it stuck with this whole ti for how good it always made feel. I think we should use parts of it in the one we make.”
This guy definitely wanted to immortalize part of his clan’s history in rock. That was a fantastic idea!
“Let’s hear it.”
He brought out his zither and played a portion of a lovely lody. It had a slightly sad feeling that also began to build up a healing energy. “Considering that you asked us to consider how we could show the wound first before we treat it, I think we should begin with this part.”
I took what I thought was the main point of the lody and began to play it on my guitar repetitively. I even had my inner Qi flow through my body and instrunt in a way that would enhance the feeling.
His eyes grew wide, and he pulled out his bass and played the deeper parts my portion lacked.
“Don’t start without !” Dread Lotus almost flew over to her drum set, grabbed her sticks and brought a beat to the intro that complinted what we’d started.
I decreased the complexity in the guitar and added nonsense vocals, just to get the notes out there. We could add lyrics later, but for now, the emotion of the song was important.
“When we write the lyrics, we’ll have to consider if we should talk about the injury outright or use taphor.”
“I think taphor would be best for a piece like this,” Gold String said. “That way, even though it’s about a specific person, others can appreciate it.”
I nodded. “Agreed. Now, I don’t know how others do it, but I prefer to know where we begin and where we end, so we have a goal to work toward.” I played a series of uplifting chords that gave off the feeling of being healed, but were reminiscent of the intro.
Everyone froze for a second, then I repeated the notes. “Of course, we’ll have to design the ending fully once we get closer, but sothing like this is our goal.”
Gold String pointed at and began to play his zither again. “There was another portion of the song that goes like this.”
The outro he played used a very similar chord progression to what I’d played. I grinned.
Music was still music. And I choose my band wisely.
“Perfect! Now all we have to do is the hard part. The middle. Which is always a damn struggle.”
“That’s because it’s most of the song,” Dread Lotus pointed out.
She wasn’t wrong. “It includes the Pre-Chorus, Chorus, bridge, possibly a break, and a second chorus at the very least, as I discussed earlier.”
Everyone looked like I’d just hit them with a ton of bricks and they weren’t happy about it. Well, we were already off to an incredibly fast start that I doubted any mundane composer could match.
“Our middle should express the struggle of healing.”
I began to play sothing I thought might make for a good pre-chorus, considering where the song was heading.
“Wait!” Gold String changed what I had played a bit. “What if it went like this instead?”
Once again, I picked up what he was playing and modified it to better match up with the guitar. Gold String then added his bass to it, enhancing the sound, but there was sothing missing.
Azure lodic River’s eyes grew wide. “Oh! I got this!” She placed her hands on the keyboard and practically took over the song for a brief, heartfelt mont.
We all grinned knowingly.
Oh, yeah. It was coming together.
I missed these joyful monts that I used to have with my old students. Creating music with everyone was the fucking best.
Now I just needed to prevent these brilliant musicians from having an argunt about artistic differences. How hard could that be?
Reviews
All reviews (0)