Modern Composition Techniques

*****

-- Modern Composition Techniques --
-- January 20, 1996 --

-- Participants: Master Shinnai
Journeyman Fletcher
Apprentice Seamus
Apprentice Crom

*****

Shinnai smiles. "Nope, not at all, you're just in time for class."
Fletcher all but snatches Seamus by his shirt to pull the Apprentice into the
class.
Seamus grins merrily, "A class? Great! What's the topic of today?" he asks.
Shinnai says, "Early, in fact. Good thing I've already decided what to teach
you. We'll be working on composition today."
Shinnai smiles. "Of course, you're both doing law, but it'll be of use to you
anyway, I think."
Seamus nods with satisfaction.
Fletcher nods general agreement, reciting, "Harpers must wear many hats."
Shinnai glances around, as if trying to decide. "Well, I don't think any of
the others are coming, so we might as well stay in here, I suppose." she
glances at Fletcher with an expression that accuses, 'smart-alec'. "And
don't you forget it, Fletcher." She grins.
Fletcher beams brightly back to his Master. What, me forget?
Shinnai says, "Alright." She sighs. "Well, forgive me if I'm a little slow
starting, I had just decided on the subject a moment ago, so I've no real
lesson plan today.""
Seamus grins, chukling, "No problem," he says.
Fletcher nods slowly in understanding, his hands folded neatly and attentively
in his lap as he regards the Hold Harper.
Shinnai smiles. "Alright, I have it now," she grins, almost mischievous.
"You've both had the basic composition classes, I'm sure, and that's not half
as interesting as what I'm going to teach you now. Instead of going the
traditional route today," she raises an eyebrow, tantalizing, "we're going to
do some experimentation."
Fletcher is clearly intrigued.
Seamus grins his amusement, obviously liking that idea.
Shinnai rises from her chair and walks to the cabinet, from which she extracts
a plain gut string, a long board with a single peg stuck in the end, and a
bridge that should go on a a gitar.
Fletcher cocks his head to the side in a gesture of bewilderment and
curiosity, then slowly nods acceptance of the Master's words.
Seamus takes his seat upon the floor, watching with much interest.
Shinnai says, "First of all," she grins, "let's make our instrument, and tune
it."
Shinnai hands the things to Seamus. "Put it together, will you?"
Seamus takes hold of the various pieces and looks at them quizically at first.
Fletcher chuckles ever so softly at the plight of the Apprentice, watching him
to see how he'll manage THIS one."
Shinnai shrugs, leaving him to do as he will. "Any which way, it really
doesn't matter how."
Seamus hmms for a moment, before winding the string around the peg and
attackhing the other end to the brindge. He looks wonderingly at Fletcher,
"How to attach this?" he asks.
[Harper] Fletcher doesn't exactly know what a gitar bridge is, Master.
Shinnai turns then, back to the cabinet, and takes out a small, very curved
bow strung with runnerbeast hair, as well as a pick made of horn, and a comb
made of bone.
[Harper] Shinnai: It's a very short piece of wood that holds the strings up
Shinnai walks back over to Seamus and Fletcher, sitting herself on the edge of
the desk and placing the things beside her. "Alright," she smiles, briefly
examining the 'instrument', "We're going to compose a piece for Seamus'
instrument, here."
Shinnai says, "So, what's our first step?"
Seamus smiles as he regards the Master with mischief, "Check its tune?" he
asks, grinning.
Shinnai grins. "Well, that's the first step when you're about to play it.
Although, in order to compose for it, we do need to know what it's tuned to,
you're right."
Seamus chuckles as he hands the instrument to Fletcher, "You can do that," he
says, slowly plugging his ears.
Shinnai leans over the desk backwards to open the drawer from the wrong side,
pulling a tuning fork out of it while carefully balancing so as not to topple
over. "Here we have an A," she says, righting herself once more.
Fletcher hmms contemplatively at the instrument, presently content to see how
all this is going about, looking just the slightest bit unknowledgeable about
what's happening. He rolls his eyes at Seamus and takes the makeshift
instrument in hand, eyeing it as he checks the sound against the tuning fork.
Shinnai hits the fork against her knee, causing it to vibrate, then places it
against the desk's surface to project the tone of the clear A.
Shinnai says, "So, what's it pitched to?"
Shinnai refers to the instrument.
Seamus thinks, ponders, and wonders, "E flat?"
Crom strides spookily in from the rehearsal hall.
Shinnai considers. "Almost, but close enough for our purposes. I think it's
between e flat and e, actually, which makes it interesting."
Fletcher furrows his eyebrows and asks, "Is it?" He plucks the instrument a
few more times, checking its tune against the fork.
Shinnai smiles. "Ah, welcome, Crom. We're about to compose a piece for this
instrument that Seamus has just put together," she explains briefly.
Seamus smiles as he regards the new Apprentice, "Greetings and welcome!" he
says, grinning.
Crom nods to all as he walks in, "What is it?"
Seamus says, "I've no idea; a single-string gitar?"
Seamus chuckles.
Shinnai gestures to a funny-looking thing made of a long, thin, board with a
short bridge and a single strig attached to a big tuning peg.
Shinnai says, "It doesn't really matter what it is, we haven't named it yet."
Shinnai grins.
Fletcher holds the odd instrument up for inspection, then looks back to
Shinnai as he passes the thing back to Seamus as if it'd burned him.
Shinnai says, "We've just determined that the string should be tuned between
an e and an e flat."
Seamus grins, sighing at the few pieces he had to work with, "The
Abomination..."
Crom smiles, "I see. And how do you play it?"
Shinnai grins. "Aha! Crom has the next question."
Seamus smiles at Crom, "I was thinkig the comb would produce a rather
interesting sound."
Seamus says, "If not saw through the string..."
Shinnai nods to Seamus and Fletcher. "How do we play it? We have here.." she
holds up the bone comb that Seamus referred to, along with a horn pick and a
runner-hair bow.
Crom grins at Seamus.
Fletcher chuckles softly to Seamus and nods. "I daresay the latter is more
probably with that thing, though the pick has promise..."
Shinnai says, "Or perhaps, we can use all three?"
Crom looks at the bow and rubs his chin, "Interesting."
Seamus nods at the Journeyman, "Yes, but the pick works best on a normal
gitar; this, obiously, is not..." he says, chuckling.
Shinnai chuckles at Fletcher's aversion to the unusual thing. "There is more
than one way to skin a wherry, you know."
Shinnai reaches for the instrument for a moment. "May I?" she requests of
Seamus.
Seamus nods,"Of course!" he says, playfully cringing at the anticipated noise.
Aligore hugs Fletcher! Fletcher eagerly accepts your embrace and returns it
with great warmth, happy that you took the time to care.
Seamus says, "Fletcher?"
Fletcher hmmms? "Hello, yes?"
Shinnai takes the comb in one hand, the instrument in the other. She
hesitates for a moment before placing it standing on one knee, peg up in the
air. She draws the comb softly across the string, causing a sound rather
similar to a fast 'whapwhapwhapwhapwhapbuzzzzz'.
Seamus notes that he's the one holding the thing...
OOC: Fletcher says "No, I gave it to you."
OOC: Seamus says "Oh, you did. Duh. :P"
OOC: Shinnai says "Doesn't matter, I've got it now, buahhahahaha!"
OOC: Fletcher laughs!
OOC: Seamus eeks! :)
OOC: Crom is amused.
Shinnai chuckles at the cringes she gets. "So, that's the comb."
Seamus winces, "Interesting, yet oddly terrifying," he says, sighing with
amusement.
Crom watches Shinnai carefully, watching her experiement with the instrument.
Shinnai puts the comb down. "Then, there's the bow." She draws it across,
creating a wispy, wind-like sound with strange overtones to it as the string,
somewhere between an e and e flat, vibrates freely.
Fletcher still keeps this amazingly amused expression on his face as the
watches all of this going on.
Seamus nods his appreciation, "Much better..."
Crom raises an eybrow at the sound, "I like that."
Shinnai puts the bow down on the desk. "And, there's the pick." She takes the
horn pick and plucks the string, giving a sharp 'twang' sound.
Seamus says, "I think it'd break the string if used repeatedly."
Seamus smiles.
Crom shrugs, "The bow is better."
Shinnai grins. "And, there's the fingers." She puts the pick down, then plucks
it with the flesh of her fingertips.
The sound is softer than the pick sound, clearer than the wind sound, but it
still sounds unusual, somewhere between an e and an e flat.
Seamus thinks that would work for hollow notes.
OOC: Crom says "The speed of sound is much slower on computer."
Fletcher watches the variety of devices put to the poor string, idly wondering
if they should ask the string if it really likes this treatment? Does it get
satisfaction more from the bow or the pick? Exactly why does it like being a
string, for that matter? He shrugs all of these off and comes back down to
reality.
Shinnai nods. "Indeed. I think they'll all have their uses."
Shinnai can't help but grin at poor Fletcher's tortured expression. "So
now, we're going to use these techniques in our composition."
Seamus hmms thoughtfully, "Never know 'til you try, I s'pose."
Crom shrugs and looks on, "Composition?"
Shinnai nods. "This is a composition class, Crom." She grins. "We're going to
jump you ahead today, but tomorrow I think you'll likely go back to the
traditional theory class."
Crom nods, "So what is the definition of Composition?"
Crom hopes he isn't asking old information.
Shinnai says, "Composition... well, it's putting together sounds, as far as
music goes, that is... sounds and silences, in order to convey an idea."
Shinnai says, "So, the question at hand. What idea do we want to convey?"
Shinnai grins. "What idea *can* we convey?"
Crom nods.
Fletcher supplies, "Help, help, I'm in pain?"
Shinnai chuckles. "We can do that easily, I think. Too easily. Something
else."
Shinnai looks to Seamus or Crom.
Seamus smiles, "With that bow I think we can get something good." He turns and
makes a face at Fletcher, "Making fun of my instrument?!? Hrmph!" he grins.
Crom thinks a bit, "Contentment, Excitment?"
Seamus shakes his head, "birth..."
Shinnai grins. "Excitement. That's a good one. "
Shinnai says, "Birth is also a good one. "
Shinnai smiles. "In fact," she gestures with the bow toward Seamus and Crom.
"There's excitement in birth, don't you think?"
Crom raises an eyebrow in question, "Birth?"
Seamus grins, "Wonder would be easy to convey, just look at the instrument..."
Shinnai chuckles again. "There's also pain, for Fletcher."
Fletcher chuckles to Shinnai and nods agreement.
Shinnai says, "So, there's our topic. The next thing is," she proceeds, "How?
How do we put that concept into sound?""
Seamus says, "So, we have: The Painful Birth of Excitement or The Excitement
of Painful Birth..."
Crom shrugs, "That instrument reminds me of torture. Or maybe Individuality."
Fletcher likes the latter but fails to say so as he puts forward to the
Master, "Mmm, find tones that match the emotions evoked?"
Seamus grins, full of mischief, "We use the bow for the wispy aspects of the
notes, plucking the string with our fingers later, then smash it to pieces
for its pain!"
Shinnai turns to Fletcher. "Rather, I'd say, find tones that evoke those
emotions. The idea is to *cause* emotion."
Crom looks at Seamus questioningly.
Shinnai gives Seamus a quieting look. "Enough, you," she grins.
Seamus says, "The comb made that ominous sound too. Sorry, Master Shinnai."
Seamus grins.
Fletcher tosses a side glance to Seamus, starting to wonder what sort of
Apprentice he's gathered here. He turns back to Shinnai and nods agreement
slowly.
Crom leans back against the wall, looking tired (or possibly bored).
Seamus smiles, regarding his instrument, "I think the bow would work the best
with this, in all seriousness."
Shinnai says, "So." she goes through each 'technique' again. Comb, bow, pick,
fingers. "What do these techniques express? What do they evoke?""
Crom nods in agreement with Seamus.
Seamus ponders a moment, "The comb was definitely pain, the bow was
excitement, pick and fingers were rather hollow, dead."
Shinnai considers, "Do you agree, Fletcher?"
Crom nods in agreement with Seamus.
Fletcher mmmms thoughtfully and suggests, "I think the wider range of sounds
we can produce, the better. That may mean using all four in not exactly
formated areas. The comb may be ideal for creating a certain tone during the
excitement stage, for example."
Shinnai nods. "I agree, that's the kind of thinking we need," she praises
Fletcher.
Seamus grins at the Journeman, "What of the others?" he asks, smiling.
Fletcher looks a bit uncomfortable and stirs in his seat, he didn't REALLY
expect to be agreed with. He leans forward a bit towards the instrument,
eyeing it thoughtfully.
Shinnai says, "We have a full range of sounds that we can produce. We can
also," she notes, "change the pitch of the note by shortening the string..."
Shinnai puts a finger down, pinning the string to the board and playing again,
a higher pitch.
Seamus smiles at Fletcher as he looks ready to pounce... "No, I've questions,
Fletch, I'm just waiting to hear the rest of your interpretations."
Fletcher hmms at Seamus. "Pardon? I don't see what you're saying,
Apprentice."
Shinnai says, "And now," she smiles, "Let us not limit ourselves to just this
string, shall we?"
Shinnai gestures to Seamus. "How else can we play this instrument, given the
tools that we have?"
Seamus says, "Well, the comb for example, how did you see the excitement?"
Fletcher nods to Shinnai. "I was thinking hitting the wood itself for a sound
might work..."
Shinnai nods. "Very good, Fletcher."
Seamus is just wondering.
Seamus nods with Fletcher, "That's something I've not thought of." he smiles.
Shinnai notes that the comb can definitely be exciting. She places a finger
on the string, for example, and pulls the comb quickly across the string in a
series of ascending slides, each starting and ending higher than the last in
a way to build tension.
Fletcher scowls at Seamus for a moment before explaining, "I hadn't thought
that any one tool might be used in any area of the composition. I didn't
think where it might be used, but I didn't limit myself to that thinking.
Apply what I've taught you to your every-day thinking, including music."
Seamus ahs, nodding, "I see," he grins, then looks at Fletcher, smiling, "Of
course!"
Shinnai says, "Back to our composition itself. What's our structure?"
Crom noticably shivers at the sound Shinnai makes with the comb.
Fletcher nods to Shinnai's demonstration and then grimaces at THAT question,
trying to look small.
Shinnai continues. "A common structure is, of course, A, B, A."
Seamus is unfamiliar with composition, "Structure?"
Crom says, "How the music is put together."
Shinnai nods to Seamus. "How the piece is put together. Songs, for instance,
are often based on a 'verse, chorus, verse' strucure."
Seamus nods his understanding.
Fletcher ahhs and nods slowly.
Shinnai says, "A and B refer to two different sections in the music, defined
by theme, or key, or emotion, or all."
Crom nods.
Crom says, "I knew that."
Fletcher is starting to look excited now, learning something completely new.
Shinnai says, "A-B-A is often used, as I've said. It introduces a theme, then
departs from it to introduce a new theme, then returns in what we call a
recapitulation."
Seamus watches on, remembering everything that's happening for future
reference.
Shinnai says, "The recapitulation, or returning A section, serves to return
the listener's memory to something which was familiar."
Fletcher nods to the wisdom of it. So musical Harpers aren't all airy-heads.
(:))
Crom says, "Like a trend in the music?"
Seamus chuckles.
Shinnai raises a discerning eyebrow at Fletcher dubiously.
Fletcher smiles disarmingly back.
Shinnai nods. "Rather so," she answers Crom. "It's something which the
listener can latch onto, can say, "Yes, I know this." It's familiar."
Seamus nods too Master Shinnai, "I begin to see..."
Crom notes that people are scared of what is unfamiliar.
Leanna hugs Fletcher! Fletcher eagerly accepts your embrace and returns it
with great warmth, happy that you took the time to care.
Shinnai says, "Often, the recapitulation is changed in some significant way to
reflect progress. Both the familiarity and the contrast are then used.
Perhaps the subject of the song has changed in the B section, or perhaps
simply our way of looking at it has changed."
Fletcher hmmms thoughtfully, nodding at the information.
Seamus grins.
Shinnai says, "So, our subject is birth. What's our structure? What are the
emotions, and what order to we want to present them in?"
Seamus sits bak, thining.
Shinnai looks to Fletcher, and to Crom.
Crom thinks a bit, "Well, you need pain, joy and fear."
Fletcher hmmms, then suggests: "The excitement of the impending birth, the
actual birth itself with all of its components, and then a return to the warm
fuzziness of the post-birth excitement?"
Seamus nods to Crom, "And wonder, if we were to start at the beginning."
Shinnai nods.. "What's our scope, in that case? Are we dealing with the whole
process, or only the event itself?"
Seamus says, "The exploration of concepts and ideas..."
Crom says, "And it should all climax at the end, then go into like a smooth
fuzziness like Fletcher was talkin gabout.""
Seamus looks at Crom and Fletcher.
Fletcher hmms and proposes, "I think covering the time slightly before and
after the birth is good to include."
Crom shrugs, "It just depends."
Shinnai looks to Crom. "But what is the ending? A 'smooth fuzziness' implies a
finish. But rather, birth is just the beginning, is it not?"
Seamus nods to Fletcher, "Maybe after the concept... The beginnings of the
birth so to speak."
Crom says, "Well, I think you really have to examine the definition of birth,
first.""
Shinnai suggests, "The beginnings - the first stirrings of life, the pain of
the gestation and birth, and the joy of the outcome?"
Seamus smiles at Crom.
Fletcher mmms and replies, "I hadn't thought of that. I think, if we're
talking about the actual birth, it should end after the end of the birth, and
not start up again."
Shinnai grins. "And you're going to end making people think it was a
miscarriage?"
Seamus nods at Shinnai, "Exactly, I believe the conceptualization of ideas
would go too far back..."
Fletcher hmmms at the point and nods, lapsing into thoughtful silence.
Crom says, "Well, I think you really need to look at the OVERALL birth and not
dwell on single parts of it.""
Shinnai nods to Crom. "Alright. What's your structure based on, then?" She
asks.
Seamus nods to Crom, "Is that our scope then? The entire process of birth:
from concept to work to finish?"
Fletcher points out, "Having a child is a life-time commitment. How long are
we going to be writing this, again?"
Crom sighs, "The overall. The emotions over a period of time before and after
the birth."
Shinnai chuckles. "Just today, Fletcher."
Seamus smiles at Fletcher, "We could always compose for the 'childs'
highlights, so to speak."
Shinnai nods to Crom. "Yes, but this work is inherently based in time, Crom."
Shinnai says, "Music isn't one or two-dimensional, as a painting is."
Shinnai thinks, cocking her head slightly as she leans against the edge of her
desk, the instrument beside her.
Shinnai says, "It's more the *process* of creating a painting, if we're going
to make an analogy to art."
Crom agrees with Fletch, "If you trully want to capture the overall, you need
to express the whole life of the child until its death. Then you have to show
everyone elses life that child effected...It goes on forever."
Fletcher grins and suggests, "Within the scope of the music, I think a
pre-birth, during-birth, and after-birth setup would be fine."
Crom nods.
Shinnai grins. "Although, Crom has an idea. Another often-used structure is
a cyclical one. The music will make a complete circle before it's through -
and that is what, I believe, you're talking about here. The whole birth-death
cycle.
Shinnai says, "Again, we need to decide on our scope."
Crom grins, "Thats what life is about."
Shinnai pushes to get this part decided on. "We're not creating a masterpiece,
here," she grins. "We're experimenting on an exercise."
Fletcher smiles in agreement and nods.
Shinnai says, "So, let's do a cycle. nothing to birth, birth to life, life to
death, death to nothing. Sound good?"
Seamus nods his appreciation.
Fletcher nods agreement. "Indeed, Master."
Crom nods with the rest.
Shinnai says, "Ok, structure and scope decided. Large scope, cyclical
structure."
Seamus nods vigourously, enjoying himself.
Shinnai says, "Now comes the how. " She turns to Fletcher. "Fletcher. How
would you evoke the concept of 'nothing', on this instrument?""
Crom grins, turning to Fletcher.
Shinnai passes the instrument to Fletcher, giving him his choice of tools.
Seamus watches Fletcher, smiling, "I like his music," he says grinning.
Shinnai chuckles.
Shinnai says, "Actually, what I'm feeling right now is 'uncertainty',
wondering if he's going to play anything yet."
Seamus grins at the Master, "He's conceptualizing; bringing the nothingness to
mind."
Fletcher takes the instrument in hand, eyeing it all over as if guaging what
could be used. He answers eventually, "I prefer an even, unchangingly deep
tone for nothing, Master..." He demonstrates with the bow, sliding it across
the string slowly, drawing out a smooth, even tone that begins to fade off
into the background of the room so that it seems like it's not even there.
Shinnai raises an amused eyebrow at Seamus.
Seamus nods with eager satisfaction.
Fletcher rolls his eyes at the two after the demonstration.
Shinnai nods. "That's not bad at all. Ok, Seamus, you're next. 'birth'."
Shinnai gestures that Fletcher should hand the instrument to Seamus.
Fletcher merrily passes The Instrument off to Seamus, as if giving the
friendly Apprentice a life sentance.
Seamus takes hold of the instrument and the bow, closing his eyes in thought.
Shinnai reminds Seamus, "Use anything you like on it."
Crom looks nervously at Shinnai . o O (I hope I don't have to do that.)
Seamus's smile is envident as he pulls a slow, raspy note from the instrument,
slowly, it builds in tempo. The soft rasp turns to an energetic melody that
surges through the room.
Shinnai captures the melody in her mind for future reference. "Good."
Seamus continues, drawing the melody forth. The haunting rasp echoing the
fear and uncertainty of a new world. Softly, abruptly it comes to a halt,
finished.
Fletcher has to smile proudly at his Apprentice for the approval from the
Master.
Crom smiles at Seamus, "Good job."
Seamus opens his eyes, regarding everyone present, "Fascinating."
Shinnai considers. "That's a bit long for a single gestures - considering the
limitations of our instrument, we can't rely on traditional techniques. "
Seamus nods at Master Shinnai.
Shinnai says, "I might shorten it to something like... " she reaches for the
instrument. "If I may?"
Fletcher nods general agreement with the Master.
Seamus hands the instrument to the Harper.
Shinnai accepts instrument and bow, and, placing it on her knee, pulls for the
raspy note. That grows into a portion of Seamus' melody, then halts; starts
the melody again, in a similar gesture, raspier, as he made it echo the fear.
"Something like that. If we were creating a longer piece, we'd embellish
and develop it further, you understand."
Crom nods.
Shinnai looks to Crom. "I know it's your first lesson, Crom, but how about
giving it a go for 'life'?"
Crom shrugs, "I'm not a very good musician. But, I'll try."
Shinnai grins, eyeing The Instrument. "I don't think it matters, considering."
Shinnai hands over the isntrument.
Shinnai says, "What would you like, bow, pick, comb?"
Seamus chuckles under his breath, "No, I'd think not..."
Crom tests the instruments notes, experimenting, "I'll take the bow."
Shinnai hands him the bow.
Crom takes a deep breath and starts playing...
Seamus watches Crom intently, smiling his reassurance.
Shinnai waits for Crom to do something interesting. :)
Crom plucks the string delicatly, arousing a playful but still raspy note. He
goes on with the playful notes, then melts the bow onto the string, repacing
the palyfulness with long sorrowful notes...
Shinnai nods. "I like that gesture, Crom, that's good."
Seamus smiles at Crom, "Excellent!"
Crom finishes up and hands the instrument back to Shinnai, "Thank you."
Shinnai accepts the Instrument again, and thinks for a moment. "Ok, my turn...
'death'. How cheery," she quips lightly, taking both bow and pick in her
hand, readying them to use alternately, it seems.
Fletcher seems to perk up. You tend to remember most of the Journeyman's
songs do have a death note to them.
Seamus smiles at the anticipated display of dexterity...
Shinnai pauses, then takes Crom's 'sorrowful' gesture with the bow. As she
pulls it across the string, though, she speeds it up, making the sound at
once gradually louder and rougher. As the bow pulls off the string, it
leaves it vibrating violently. With the pick, she gives it another go, a
lound *whang* sound followed by another bowed note, similar to the first.
Again, she plucks the string after, then plucks it again! Three, gradually
louder knocks on the back board, then a finger pluck, another... softer..
Shinnai stops, then takes the bow again, reproducing Fletcher's 'nothing'.
Shinnai raises an eyebrow. "And there's our piece."
Fletcher grins and soundlessly puts his hands together a few times.
Seamus is obviously overwhelmed by the Master's tune and sits there,
speechless.
Shinnai chuckles. "Ok, you guys'll have to give a recital on this tomorrow..."
she winks.
Fletcher's eyebrows shoot up in mock amazement.
Shinnai says, "So, do you have any questions left, or has this creation
startled them all out of you?"
Fletcher chuckles and shakes his head negatively. "No, ma'am, not for me."
Shinnai raises an eyebrow at Fletcher. "Not a one??"
Fletcher rolls his eyes and points out, "Not about the lesson, then."
Shinnai chuckles. "Oh, alright. Crom? Seamus?"
Crom shrugs, "I can't think of any."

Harper Office
The office is bright, outside light coming in through the window to reflect
off whitewashed walls and ceiling. A pattern mimicking musical notation in
colors runs along the tops of the walls, shelf upon shelf rising from the
floor to meet it. Desks and filing drawers are arranged about the room,
workplaces for those whose job it is to keep the harpers and hall in order.
The air is fresh, tangy with sea and hides and well-seasoned woods.
The glows are lit, illuminating the work of the harpers as they go about their
daily tasks.
It is a summer midmorning. The sky is a pastel blue, clear of clouds.
Watching from a high shelf is Rhymert.
You see Staff Tackboard, a sandtable, and Sign-up Sheet for B'var's Orchestra
here.
Shinnai, Fletcher, Seamus, and Crom are here.
Obvious exits:
Shainman Rehearsal Hall Ballroom

Shinnai nods. "Alright, so you now completely understand everything that we've
done here today?"
Crom says, "What is going to happen to this thing?"
Crom motions to the instrument.
Crom understands.
Shinnai grins. "Aha! Well, that's easy. It'll come apart, same as it went
together. Unless you really want to give a recital on it tomorrow..."
Fletcher slowly nods. "I believe so, Master. I'm not as good about
memorizing musical things as with others, but I know I've learned from the
lesson."
Crom raises his eyebrows, "No no no. I was just curious."
Shinnai smiles. "That's the point of a lesson, is it not?" she replies to
Fletcher. She smiles to Crom, then, as well. "I'll just take it apart and
put it back in the cabinet where it came from."
Crom looks at the instrument, "It seems a shame..."
Shinnai grins, holding in her laughter. "Oh, it's easy enough put together
again, if we care to torture ourselves again."
Crom grins, "I personal like the Instrument."
Shinnai gathers up the various things - comb, pick, bow, and tuning fork, and
gets up from the desk to put them back into the cabinet or drawer from which
each came. "Well, it's not exactly what I'd use every day - it wouldn't carry
too well in a crowd, for one thing." She notes the absence of a sounding
chamber, thereby making the sound rather dull.
Crom nods and smiles, "I guess youre right. Thank you for the lesson, Master."
Shinnai unwinds the string from the tuning peg, taking the other end from the
notch that Seamus had fastened it with, removes the bridge from the flat
board, and puts the pieces away. "If we want to, we can make it again."
Crom nods, then bows hummbly to the Master, "I don't mean to be rude, but is
the lesson over with?"
Shinnai closes the cabinet door. "I think so, unless you've got any other
questions?"
Fletcher smiles about from his position on his chair, looking as though he
isn't too motivated to go very far at present.
Crom shakes his head, "Not at all. Thank you again." He turns to leave,
nodding to Fletcher on his was out.
Crom strides spookily out into the ballroom.
Fletcher nods back to Crom politely.