34 - Music

Theo had The Fisherman’s Song stuck in his head, and had been trying to whistle it all morning.

“A successful mission is one where you don’t need to cast a single spell.” Fred began his Persuasion class Gilsday morning. “You will be taught charm and etiquette, how to convince others and many other things.” He paused, leaning on the lectern and resting his face on his right hand (and Theo tried desperately to push The Fisherman’s Song out of his head long enough to focus).

“Some of the more astute among you might have noticed some overlap with other classes.” Fred quirked an eyebrow and took a moment to lazily look over the room.

“You will find that classes here at the College of Song may be more fluid than you may have expected.” He laughed quietly, as if he had thought of something funny.

“Almost as if they are all part of a greater whole and not discrete units to pick and choose from.” He muttered under his breath.

Fred cleared his throat, before continuing.

He looked around the room, not focusing on anyone in particular. “Some may ask why Espionage and Persuasion both discuss honesty, or why General Knowledge and Persuasion both discuss etiquette, or any other overlaps between the classes taught here. And to those wondering, I have one simple thing to say: life is messy, and this is a part of life. Discrete and clean classes would neglect the more nuanced in-between areas that are often necessary not only to bridge your knowledge, but to be able to properly apply what you’ve learned.”

A hand shot up, and Fred’s head whipped around. He clicked his fingers as he pointed in their direction. “Yes, Everett?”

“The Honeyed Tongue, does that mean performance in one class will affect your grades in another?” Everett asked, with a hint of strain in her voice and a crease in her brow.

Fred had a gentle smile on his face as he responded, slowly shaking his head. “I understand why you might expect us to have classes that are graded, or ranked, or marked. But we don’t. We will not give you any metric with which to compare yourself to others, or to identify whether not you’re ‘doing well’”, Fred did air quotes with his fingers as he spoke, “by an arbitrary measure.” He stopped for a moment, fingers tapping on the lectern as he contemplated something.

“Frankly, we should have made this clear in the orientation,” Fred admitted, “but there will only be a singular test per class, administered by your teacher at the end of the year to understand if you’ve passed or failed. If you fail you will have to re-take the class, but as you may have noticed from the lack of students attending only a few classes, that rarely happens. In fact, we take it as an affront to our skills as teachers if anyone does fail our tests.” Fred shifted his focus from Everett to the entire class.

“The College of War takes in a large contingent every year, that they train and then release into the world. The College of Spells has a whole host of classes, and many students who attend whatever tickles their fancy to further the field of magic. The College of Prayer takes any and all who wish to learn. And we, the College of Song take a select group, and make the best damn bards the world has ever seen. I won’t spoil the next few years, but it will be anything but orthodox, and utterly effective.” Fred ran his hand over his bald spot, which Theo saw glistening with sweat.

“But back to my point. Do not concern yourself with marks, or competing. You are here to collaborate. Action magic is built on shared tradition, so we wish to encourage that as much as we can. You are here to grow, not to be judged. And I want each and every one of you to know that you were good enough the moment you were offered a place here, and that you will always be enough.”

There was a pause, and Theo swore he heard sniffling and saw tears welling up in Everett’s eyes. Fred clapped his hands, forcing a vibrant smile onto his face.

“Right, onto the lesson. Today will be an overview of everything we will cover, from how to be charismatic, etiquette, how to convince people, the use of emotion and body language, honesty, and the different ways to be persuasive. We will start with charm…”

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Every teacher was here. Literally every single one was waiting for them as they came back from lunch for their Music class (which, for Theo, was more bread and cheese and some fruit he’d picked up in the morning as he walked to class, as well as more trying to whistle while Fred looked on slightly exasperated).

“Welcome to the Music class.” Thelonious said, as all the teachers stood in a line. “You may notice that all of your teachers are here, and that is no accident.

“What unites and defines us as bards is music. Even for those who specialise in dance or poetry, we are still united in the music that exists without music. Music is everywhere, and I hope we will teach you just how true that is.” Theo was, admittedly, a little confused by that phrasing, but from the looks on everyone else’s faces, he wasn’t the only one.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What we mean by that,” Interrupted Fred, “is that music encompasses a large range of expression, and it is as much lyrics and rhythms as it is melodies.” That made more sense. The words Theo sang was just as important to the music as how he sang it.

Thelonious looked gratefully at Fred before continuing. “Music is much larger than you’d expect, and all of it can and will affect action magic. Today we are going to go through some aspects of music, give some demonstrations, and make sure that you all have a chance to understand things at a basic level. And we’re going to start with rhythm.”

Sparrow started to speak. “Rhythms are a core part of music. Drumming, dancing, keeping time, it is an integral part of not only music, but how we perceive it. In some areas, such as on the continent of Nubantu, their music entirely revolves around drumming, and dance is as important to their music as melody is to ours.” Sasha stepped forward, holding a drum. She began to play it tapping the top with her hands.

“Different rhythms give entirely different feelings. For example, someone playing fast would feel very different to them playing slowly.” Sasha increased how fast she was tapping, before slowing down again, and staying at that rhythm for a while. She alternated between fast and slow, and transitioned between them every now and then. To Theo, the fast, almost rolling drumming felt like a military march, something very energetic. The slow drumming, on the other hand, felt morose, serious, and sacred. Even though the actual rhythm that was being played was the same consistent beat, the speed affected how he perceived it.

Theo had never thought about rhythms this seriously before (usually disregarding rhythm to go wherever his singing led him), but he was starting to see why he should think about it this way.

“We tend to think in time signatures, which are divisions. For example, a common signature is 4/4, which you can think of as four beats of quarter notes. You may notice this equals a total of one. Not all time signatures are like this, for example 3/4, or three beats of quarter notes, has a distinctly different feel to it, and is often used in waltzes.” Sasha again alternated between a very even-handed drumming, to one where the emphasis seemed to shift every three notes. The first felt normal to Theo, while the second felt almost like fancy footwork.

“There’s also the rhythms itself. A steady drumbeat will feel very different to a busy, complex one.” Sasha again complied, going from the simple beat from earlier, and slowly increasing the number of notes (and changing up the intervals), as well as tapping on different parts of the drum to get different tones. The simple one felt consistent, like a heartbeat. The more complex one…Theo couldn’t find the words to describe how it sounded, except he knew he liked it.

“You can also swing rhythms and work with syncopation, which adjusts the whole feel.” Sasha started to delay every second note, making them drag behind (but not in an entirely unpleasant way). It felt to Theo like he was leaning with his back on a wall, or in The Pub in the quiet hours before people started to trickle in.

“There’s more advanced information about polyrhythms, rhythm and frequency, but that’s enough for today.” And with that, Sasha put away the drum, and returned to the line.

“Thank you for that, The Dancing Wind, The Silent Fist. Next, we will discuss pitch. Tune and pitch sounds obvious enough, with the sounds that you are used to.” Theo nodded along. That felt pretty rudimentary, and he wasn’t sure why they needed to discuss this in the first place. “However, that is because of the scope and breadth of your knowledge. For example, in the Mughalratha Empire, they don’t use our notes, and instead they use a system called the Svara.” Thelonious proceeded to pull out a string instrument that Theo had never seen (or probably heard of) in his life, and started to play it. It sounded good, but the notes felt a little off in a way he couldn’t put his finger on.

“Furthermore, even the pitch we are used to has different tuning systems. For example, a lute and a harpsichord or organ will always be slightly out of tune from each other, due to the temperament and intonation. This isn’t something most will be able to easily hear, but you can train that awareness. Even if you’re not aware of it, the difference can be heard when a choir makes harmony ring, versus when it doesn’t have that special touch.” And with that, all the teachers started to sing a song that was very familiar to Theo. It was the Ballad of Gilth that he sang to end each night at The Pub. It was arranged differently, and every teacher sang a different part (and rather unsurprisingly for a school of bards, they could all sing beautifully).

They sang it through twice. The first time it sounded nice, but the second time through Theo understood exactly what Thelonious meant by ring. It felt like all the voices had locked together, like they weren’t a group of people singing, but instead one single unit in six bodies. It was absolutely lovely, and it was over far too soon. Theo noticed that he wasn’t the only one enraptured.

“While we’re on the subject of pitch, harmony and chorus are also incredibly important. Harmony is when there is more than one part together, and as you can see it can add to what is sung, fill things out, and add a lot of complexity and depth to a piece. Chorus is when a part is played or sung by two parties, and while it may not add harmony, it can add timbre and space to a piece. We’ll come back to timbre in a moment, but harmony and chorus are two interesting advanced things that action magic are capable of.” And with that, all the rest that weren’t already captivated were now incredibly interested.

“Action magic is able to utilise group casting through both harmony and chorus. Chorus amplifies the effects of a spell, while harmony can change its effect or tack on an entirely different spell and synergise them, which is usually done in medleys.” All the teachers began to whistle The Fisherman’s Song together and it was immediately noticeable how strong it was. Not simply because all the sand started to move around the room, but every desk and every person also started to levitate. And then, some sang instead, while others started to harmonise, and stone platforms started to form under the teachers’ feet, while Theo and his fellow students were gently set down. Small flames lined the edges of the platforms, before the stone touched the ground and they stopped whistling.

Theo couldn’t help but hear it echo around his head, even after they had finished.

“Now, that requires a lot of preparation and practice, as every additional element adds another area where backlash can occur. And if backlash occurs in a chorus, then every participant will also be affected. So it is rarely done, even with its effect. And it is effective – it is a great example of the sum being more than its parts, as if a chorus is done well, then another person more than doubles the strength.” Theo was starting to understand the emphasis on standard, learned pieces.

“Timbre is tone. Think of how two people can sing the same note, in the same range, but sound completely different. This colours the sound, and affects how the same note can feel. Powerful, light, smooth, sharp. All timbre.” Thelonious paused for a moment.

“I’m going to keep this one brief, as I think it’s very self-evident. Volume is how loud and soft things are. That affects how they sound, and also how they’re perceived. Also if you are loud enough, you can also damage and disable someone’s hearing as an attack.” Theo filed that tidbit away.

Fred cleared his throat. “Poems and lyrics are a large part of music, in ballads and epics and are important, sung or spoken. Now, we’re going to cover this in speech, so I’ll leave it at that, after one demonstration.” He winked, as he recited the Ballad of Gilth, and then sang it. Both times, Theo felt something. Even if they were different, they were still powerful.

“Thank you, The Honeyed Tongue.” Thelonious thanked Fred, and nodded at the teachers. They all began to move for the exit, and motioned for them all to follow. Everyone paused, Theo included. Class wasn’t even close to being over, so what was going on?

“Well, come on. We’re going to the Arts Exchange.”