Concert

Posted on Wed 13th Sep, 2017 @ 6:01pm by Lieutenant Commander Solan Jekkar & Lieutenant Thomas Maynard & Lieutenant JG Kellian Michaels & Carlo Rienzi

797 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Casino Auditorium
Timeline: Day 3, 2030 hours

Thomas got his hip flask out from the inside of his jacket pocket and took another swig of it. He had finished his set a while ago and sloped off into the audience to watch the remainder of the concert. He couldn't care what people thought of his music, all he knew was that he enjoyed playing it. He was no where near the best here, but equally he didn't think he was the worst. There were only a couple of other sets coming up that he could enjoy before sloping off to the nearest bar for the evening. The audience were loving every minute of it, as they stood up to give applause to the next act.

Jin-Kyung leaned slightly forward in her seat, hoping to see who was up next as those around her sat down. Ah! Strings! How she loved the sound of a good deep bass string group. She settled back in the seat, prepared to enjoy catching a little more culture before the night ended. She didn't mind being alone, though Anthony McCabe was nice enough ... so long as he didn't become fixated on her. So far, this evening had been simply wonderful.

Coco took a breath. This was her last set of the evening and all had gone down so well. She looked towards Kellian and Solan and half nodded, half smiled. They were about to go on for the last performance of the night, so this one had to be the best. "Good luck boys," she smiled and said with a wink.

The Andorian nodded. "I think we'll need more than luck at this rate." He said as he checked the strings on his Cello.

"You know what they say--better to have a lucky general than a good one," Kellian said. He arched an eyebrow at Solan. "I hope that hold true for musicians, too. Let's knock their socks off." They went back onto the stage, cellos and bows in hand.

Solan took his seat to the left of the others as he examined his Cello. The custom instrument had been checked numerous times yet somehow it didn't seem right. Probably just the nerves inside Jekkar.

"It sounds just fine; I heard your warm-up," Kellian whispered.

In the audience, Reon leaned over to Carlo and said, "Strings always seem to take a long time to warm up. Give me a nice horn - any kind of horn - for warm, quick sound."

"I like brass, but it's loud," Carlo said. "Piano's my favorite." He looked over at Reon. "Is that why you like jazz so much, because of the brass instruments in it?"

Reon thought about it and then shrugged. "Maybe in part. I like the rhythm, ... the timing of the notes, I don't know what it's called, but it's difficult not to move when it's playing. And there's the emotion, too. A lot of jazz is peppy, but there's also a huge body of it that's ... soulful? Not sorrowful, but something that comes from deep inside." He realized he was probably saying too much in answer to a simple question, and he laughed. "Don't get me started on jazz. Let's just see what the cellos have to say to us today."

"Okay," Carlo said, "but I do want to talk more to you about what you like in jazz. I don't get to have a lot of deep conversations like that with people. Usually, it's more along the lines of 'My guy dumped me!'" I like talking with people who aren't crying in their beer."

Thinking that over, Reon realized that they were forming a real friendship, and he discovered he was glad. It had been a long time since he'd had a male friend to do things with him. Women were nice, quite nice, but there was nothing like a man to really understand ... and avoid drama. He was not a friend of drama!

"You can't match the elegance of a string instrument, let's be honest," Jekkar commented to his fellow musicians. "There is a level of precision in a string instrument, though of course not what you expect from many others."

"And they're surprisingly versatile," Kellian said. "Who would expect that you could get really good sound out of stringed instruments in styles as different as Earth rock music and Earth classical music? Not to mention Vulcan classical."

"Bajoran Alternative and Andorian Melody work equally as well." Jekkar commented. "But I see the significance of Earth based music."

The lights dimmed, indicating the finale was about to begin, so people settled back into their seats and looked expectantly at the performers on the stage. The dulcet sounds of an ever-popular traditional piece poured over the audience with the first notes of Maurice Ravel's Bolero.

 

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