Rondeau a Story about classical music - Movement 1

Err.. so my purpose of making this story is only for introducing Classical music :D

                Kaori Himegawa is an amateur violinist. Completely amateur, she never had a proper training with a music teacher before. But her talent is amazing, let’s see… she is also a street musician, she and her jazz band usually perform after school. Kaori herself is not a good student, since her aim is to be a pro violinist, but stranded in a usual public school -_-“ .

                Well, I think that’s the end of the introduction of this story’s main character. And no, I won’t make her looks like one of those “idiot and helpless” shoujo girl =))

Anyway, raise the curtain. This is the story! :D

                                                                    Rondeau

“So, here it is.. another annual national concour¹, eh?”, said the director of a National TV station. This story takes place in Japan, there is an annual national concour here (In my story dimension, since it is a classical-music story :D ).  “Of course, we still have a year before our contract with the sponsor end.” Said the secretary. “But, considering… well, the last 4 years’ concour…”, the director could not continue his sentence. “Well, the sponsors said the same thing too, if this year’s concour will end up like the last 4 years’, they will stop supporting the show.” It’s sad, I want to see more potential young boys and girls to be exposed”. “For this year, we are hiring a very strict talent scout for the concour.” Said the secretary. “Well, then.. I just hope that this year won’t be another mess like the last four year.”

So then, the new talent scouts (which also be the new judges :D ) are Tetsuya Sorimachi (25) a piano virtuoso². Maria Ohka (30) a coloratura³ opera singer and Sir. Lucio Armani a very famous conductor. These people are searching for those talented musicians with an audition. The system is the national TV spreads an invitation to every school in Japan. Music teachers from a school are the responsibles for picking the right students. After that the choosen students will be sent to the capital (Tokyo) for another audition until the final 8 students left.

Luckily our heroine (???) Kaori Himegawa is picked by her music teacher, is she the best on her school? NOT, it’s because she is the only student who can play a musical instrument in her school. Okay, readers must be imagining a small and stranded public school in a remote village, right? Okay, actually she and her band mates are choosen by the teacher, but only Kaori accept the invitation. Since she said that “This is my first step to be a pro violinist.” Well said Kaori, well said.

Oh and to her surprise, she is just realized that this concour is for classical music A WEEK before the audition. She is in a great panic state right now. “Ahh, what should I do!!?? I don’t know that it is for a classical music!” said Kaori. “You fool, that’s why I withdrew from the audition.” Said Yuuki his bandmate. “So do you want to give up?” asked Eri. “NO! this is my big step.. I just, I just don’t know what piece that I’m going to play.” Kaori answered sadly. “Well, my father actually has some of classical music recordings. I will lend it to you.” Said Eri. “Really? Thank you so much!” Kaori answered. “But do you really think, you can keep up with classical? Since we’re a jazz band, and you suddenly want to play one.” Said Yuuki. “I’m fine! Besides, to be a pro I must master all of those genre of music, right?” I will show you guys that I can.

After she listened to some of Eri’s father’s Classical CD. She picked a very simple piece. She picked English folk song’s named “Greensleeves”. “Eri-san please be my accompanist for the audition.” Said Kaori. “Ha? Do you pick a hard song, since the audition is this Wednesday.” Said Eri. “Well there are 3 days left, we should be hurry then :D” said Kaori Happily. Poor Eri doesn’t have any choice but to accept. Greensleeves itself in my opinion is not a quite hard piece to perform, the only question is.. well, if you take a look at wiki and other music source. Greensleeve’s lyric (because this is a song) doesn’t have an exact interpretation….. “Kaori-san so why do you choose this one?” asked Eri. “Hm? Well I’m a classical music beginner so that piece is the only piece that I can play so far”. Said Kaori. What a light-headed person -_-“

So, then the audition begin.. okay, since this is not an anime, and you guys might be imagining violinst and other musicians play a grandeur classical piece, we will just skip to Kaori’s turn. Surprisingly this girl doesn’t get nervous at all o_o . Kaori played the “Greensleeves” very well, and it seems somehow this piece is turned into a jazz tune. Maria-sama asked “Do you know what this song really means?”.  “I have no clue.” Kaori anwered. You guys who are classical music fans must be mad at this scene, surprisingly I’m not lol. So Sir Lucio asked another question “What is your aim then? If I may know, since you can resign if you are afraid to do the audition.” And then Kaori answered lightly “Oh, I want to be a pro violinist, and then I must have more experiences, I never experience Classical music before, so this might be a new step for me.” Tetsuya-sama could only laugh.  You guys might be predicting that Kaori won’t be pass the audition. Surprisingly she is. This is my story after all loll. Okay, I won’t leave this unexpected turn of event go into a mystery, this is not a “Higurashi 2.0”.

“This Kaori girl is very interesting.” Said Testuya-sama. “You would think something like that because she is a girl, right?” said Maria-sama. “Oh not like that Maria, I also think of the same thing. Like, I want to see her performance more.” Said Lucio. “You know what, from what I heard she is an amateur, her knowledge of classical music is very little and she improvised “Greensleeves” into a jazz tune is just…” Tetsuya answered, continued with a happy laugh. “It’s been a while since I saw your laugh, anyway I want to see her more. This girl is pass.” Said Lucio. “Me too.” Said Tetsuya. “To be honest, I disagree with you all, but I do sense something very unique. To my surprise I want her to continue to the main show too.” Said Maria.

Okay, so then Kaori passed the audition (effortlessly, you know what I mean lah). Like you guys might be predicted, her reaction is soo bubbly. “Be sure to watch me on TV right? 7 PM yeah” Kaori shouted it loudly. “Yeah, yeah of course, just don’t mess with being ranked last” said Yuuki. “Oh and thank you Eri-san for accompanying me, you’re definitely my luck charm.” Marked Kaori. “Ehh, I’m not really that fortunate but well, good luck. Play with your hearts, you have the skill, now the only thing left is how you can adapt to classical style. I’m sure you can do it.” Said Eri. “Yep, everyone, I’m going to my new step.”!

Foot note

¹ Concour is well, literally means a competition. The term of concour is usually found in a music competition.

²Virtuoso (from Italian virtuoso, Late Latin virtuosus, Latin virtus meaning: skill, manliness, excellence) is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument.

³ Coloratura is The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare ("to color"). When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and 19th centuries, withruns, trills, wide leaps, or similar virtuoso-like material. In other word, a vocal version of Virtuoso above.