Louis Valois
October 11, 2016 1:19 PM
Room 5: The orchestra's first meeting! by Louis Valois
Since starting Sonora, Louis had considered it a shame that there was no school orchestra, or even any type of music club. The logical step was therefore to start one himself, but initially he hadn’t been sure he was willing to put in the effort that running such a club would require. However, that summer he’d thought about it again and, after duetting with Gwen Fintoc on the piano whilst staying with Emmy-Lou, he’d decided it actually was something he wanted to do. He didn’t want to go any longer without playing with other people.The piano was normally Louis’s instrument of choice. He’d started piano lessons at a very young age, originally just as part of his education, but he’d quickly come to love the instrument, finding it a way of expressing the so very many emotions that just weren’t shown in the Valois household. The piano had been his confidante, but also a source of fun, and the many hours he’d practised showed now when he played. He was also familiar with a wide range of other instruments, some of which he’d had a few lessons in, and others he’d made an effort to learn more about over the course of the summer. It would be difficult, he imagined, to conduct instruments he knew little about. Conducting was also another skill he’d partially picked up over the summer. His grandmother, hearing of Louis’s orchestra plans, had hired a professional conductor to give him a few lessons, which made him much more confident for the task he was about to undertake.
However, Louis knew the success of the club would not lie with him. In order for them to actually make a go of it, they needed players, and ideally a wide range of instruments. Obviously he couldn’t expect to find decent players for every section of a normal orchestra, but he was prepared to make changes to scores so as to best use the resources they had. He personally hoped they would be able to form some variation of a chamber orchestra, but knew there was a possibility that they’d have to down more of a small ensemble route.
Over the summer, Louis had scoured the streets of Paris, finding a plethora of little music shops and compiling a file of possible pieces for the club to play. He would be more than happy for members to suggest pieces, but wanted to get a good stock to start off with.
Having put up posters around the school in the first week back, detailing the initial meeting that was to take place in the second week, Louis arrived early at the MARS room feeling pretty confident. He’d obviously chosen room five as the location, and members would be able to find plenty of seats and music stands upon arrival. He spent the next few minutes making sure everything was properly arranged, reorganised his stack of scores, then sat there staring impatiently at the door until he accepted that he’d got there too early, and gave up doing nothing in favour of going over to the grand piano. He managed to sufficiently distract himself with some Chopin he’d been learning recently that he lost track of time, only brought back to reality by people starting to trickle in.
“Hello everyone, welcome!” he began, starting the meeting at the exact time specified on the posters. What was the point of putting a time if you didn’t begin then? “I’m sure you all know what’s going on, but in case you’ve missed the posters and just randomly happened to be here now, we’re starting a music club. I’m hoping we’ll be able to call ourselves an orchestra, but obviously that depends on numbers – both of people and instruments.”
Moving over to a table to the side, he picked up a piece of paper and a pen. “I’m going to pass this around, and if you’re interested in being part of the club, could you please write down your name and the instruments you play. Don’t worry, this list isn’t legally binding - yet.” He grinned slightly at his own joke, and passed the list to the person nearest him.
“Right, so here’s how things are going to go. I’ll conduct, and also provide the music – although if anyone has any suggestions for pieces, I’m happy to see what we find. We’ll have practices once a week, and I’m going to talk to staff about us playing at events. Long-term, we can also play at things like Midsummer events.”
He paused, trying to remember if there was anything else he had planned to say. “I think that’s it for now so, without further ado, shall we try running through a piece? I’ve chosen Alla Hornpipe, from the suite in D major of Handel’s Water Music. Hopefully it shouldn’t be too hard, although I’m not expecting anything amazing from the first run-through! I’ll obviously adjust the level of playing as needed, and hopefully this week will give me more of an idea of the pieces we can play in the future.”
Taking back the list of players and instruments, Louis scanned through it and then handed out the sheet music accordingly, directing musicians to sit with those playing the same instrument (and type of instrument) as them. “Whilst you’re all getting your instruments ready and tuning up, does anyone have any questions, need any help with their part, or play an instrument that doesn’t have a part?”
OOC: Pianos, fight for the two harpsichord parts (don’t worry, we’re using pianos and not actual harpsichords for this rehearsal!). Sorry that I can’t provide enough parts for all pianists!
If a character is friends with Louis, feel free to say he asked them to come along.
For reference, a video of the piece being played can be found here
Subthreads: Re: Room 5: The orchestra's first meeting! by Ayla Tremaine
Woo! by Dustin and Makenzie Newell with Tasha DuBois
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Room 5: The orchestra's first meeting!
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Ayla Tremaine
October 19, 2016 6:29 PM
Re: Room 5: The orchestra's first meeting! by Ayla Tremaine
Ayla was a little disheartened when Professor Xavier hadn’t mentioned any type of music club at orientation. Sure, he’d listed off several other options she was interested in, but music was a good portion of the 11 year-old’s life. She sang along with it, danced to it, played it, and made it. She very nearly squealed in delight when she noticed the flyer for music club, and had she been alone, she very well may have. She needed to maintain an even keeled public appearance though, as it wasn't ladylike to appear too loud or excitable. She would just have to gush about it to her friends later.The morning of the meeting was a long one, so it seemed to the anxious first year. She pulled her blonde hair back into a high sleek ponytail and decided on a light pink cardigan with white ruffled tank underneath and a navy blue skirt with music notes on it. It was one of her more kitschy outfits, but she thought it was fitting for the club. She left early to give herself plenty of time to arrive, and was a little surprised to find she was still one of the first two show up.
Ayla smiled at the older boy at the piano as she entered and found herself a seat. He looked kind of familiar, and while the girl considered herself good with faces, she couldn't quite place him. She shrugged it off as having just seen him around school somewhere. The first year waited patiently for the meeting to start, and set her bag in the a seat next to her incase Gwen or Kit showed up. Or Sawyer for that matter. Or even Victor. Maybe she should save a few seats? Before she had a chance to save an entire row, it was time to start and the club leader addressed the group.
Ayla lost herself in the older boy's accent, and then it hit her, and her green eyes widened. She knew where she'd recognized him from. The boy leading music club was Louis Valois. Shut. Up. Ayla was going to school with Emilia-Louise Scott AND Louis Valois? She nearly asked someone to pinch her. She couldn't breathe, let alone be expected to play the piano when her hands were shaking like they were. Oh Merlin. She needed to pull it together if she was going to make music with an international model. Ayla took a deep breath. She needed to be cool about this, externally anyway. Inside, she was freaking out.
Soon the list came around to her, and Ayla flashed a dimpled smile at the person who handed it to her. She wanted to stand out, so she fumbled through her bag for her pink self-inking quill. She let her gaze settle on Louis for a moment as she tapped her chin lightly with the curly pink feather. She wondered if Emilia-Louise was friends with him, and if so, if Gwen could/would introduce them. Sonora just kept getting better and better.
She used her best handwriting to print her name on the list, and paused for a moment as she considered whether to add violin or piano. She knew piano was a common instrument amongst purebloods, and there were only so many piano parts to be had. She didn't exactly love violin like she did the other instrument, but there wasn't likely to be a lack of string players, and she could learn to love it if it meant playing for Louis.
Ayla Tremaine Piano/Violin
She wrote, before passing the list along. She was getting nervous now. It'd been a year, easily, since she'd picked up the violin at all, and even the she hadn't been excited about it. She shuffled her stuff to the side of the room with the other string players and selected the violin she'd be playing. As she prepared the wooden instrument, Ayla looked over the sheet music she was given, and felt the blood rush from her cheeks. Maybe this was a mistake, and she should have stuck with piano after all. Trying not to panic, she set to rosining her bow and playing a few notes in order to tune.
Ayla hummed along as she site read the music, and found herself shaking her head when Louis asked if there questions or help was needed. What the Teppenpaw really needed was practice, and maybe a garbage bin as she felt she might be sick with nerves.
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Dustin and Makenzie Newell
October 29, 2016 4:08 PM
Woo! by Dustin and Makenzie Newell
Dustin wasn’t exactly sure how he was tricked into trading instruments with Makenzie, but for the walk from their appointed meeting place (somewhere, he imagined, relatively near the Crotalus Common Room entrance, although his cousin certainly could not say) to MARS, she toted his oboe case, a total of perhaps five pounds, while he labored along with her cello. “I’ve got to carry my violin, too,” he recalled her saying. Retrospectively, he should have just taken the violin from her.In any case, they arrived fairly early to the orchestra’s first meeting. Dustin wanted to be one of the first to arrive to show Louis a sort of brotherly solidarity. Makenzie was a bit surprised by the fact that her younger cousin had formed some sort of semi-meaningful connection at Sonora, given his typical grumpy pretentiousness, but in any case, if she wanted to meet up with him
They seated themselves and began pulling out their instruments, checking pieces and tuning strings, although if the opportunity arose, Dustin fully intended to take a second to formally introduce Makenzie to Louis, just in case they didn’t know each other and, really, to remind Makenzie that he knew the club starter and show Louis that he had brought people to join his group. It couldn’t hurt to remind both sides just how wonderful he was. Especially Makenzie, given how much she’d been driving him crazy lately. At least orchestra music was something proper.
When the rest of the people arrived and Louis got started, an official sheet went around. The two were certain to sign their names and instruments:
Dustin Newell, oboe
Makenzie Newell, violin/cello
“Here,” Makenzie said, passing it on to the person beside her. “Are you as excited for this as we are?”
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Tasha DuBois
November 15, 2016 1:55 PM
Yipee! by Tasha DuBois
Tasha was super excited for the new orchestra. She'd been playing the trumpet from a very young age and it was nice to have something at school that encouraged her passions rather than her just playing alone in the music room. Not that she hadn't always played alone growing up but still it would be so cool be part of an orchestra.Not only that but Tasha didn't feel like she had a great deal in common with her classmates. They seemed more into sports which she wasn't at all. It wasn't as if she disliked them, but she didn't really know how to connect, to find common ground. Especially when most of them seemed to connect well with each other while she and a few others didn't fit. And one of those was a distant cousin of hers and while she was there for Juniper as much as possible, Tasha wanted friends outside her own family. She got the impression that Angelique did as well not that they weren't pleasant to each other.This was a golden opportunity to meet people whom actually shared an interest of hers, which was not something she'd previously thought was an option since the only time she'd ran into someone playing music was Louis last year. Maybe she'd even make a friend.
Plus, and she didn't want to seem snobby, but Tasha was definitely interested in culture. Her mother had raised her to appreciate things like art, music, literature and gourmet food as well as travel. Mother had herself played the French horn and had encouraged her to pick up an instrument from the very earliest age that Tasha would have been capable of such. Of course, if she had really hated it, she supposed she would have been allowed to stop but she hadn't, she loved it.
Honestly, Tasha felt that she had been raised very differently than others around her age, and not just because a lot of her classmates weren't from the same sort of background magically speaking. Even among other members of pureblood society, she'd had different experiences. Not only did Tasha have dual citizenship in the US and France, because her mother was American and her father was French, but she'd traveled extensively to other countries too. Certainly others had visited them on vacation here and there, but they probably only went to places in Europe or the Carribean while she'd gone plenty of places that most people never did. And more places than most people her age had been.
It made her feel different. Not a bad kind of different as she wouldn't trade her experiences for anything and the Aladren doubted anyone was going to make fun of her for being well traveled. Still, she felt...apart from her classmates. Like she couldn't relate to them and even though she very much wanted to find a way, Tasha could not change who she was or force herself to be interested in something that she wasn't. Nor could she change anyone else. However, it still kind of stunk.
Now, however, she was here in orchestra and ready to play as well as meet other music lovers like herself and was rather excited. Spotting her old Challenge teammate Makenzie, whom along with Clark and Isaac, she had really enjoyed spending time with, Tasha made her way over to stand by the older girl and her cousin. She took the sheet that was passed to her and wrote down her information.
Tasha DuBois, trumpet .
"Absolutely." Tasha replied to Makenzie's question. "I'm so glad that there's a group to bring young musicians together. I kind of wish this was a school sponsored thing rather than just a club made by a student though. Not that Louis will necessarily be a bad job." They had Quidditch that was school sponsored and she would have liked it if Sonora was actively encouraging music and the arts in general the way they did athletics.
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