This bonus chapter is dedicated to Jen-Jen. Thank you for all your support!
Tegan stared at her computer screen as three little dots in the corner of the screen marched onward. [··.] She had to keep up her hope about the reply, because she was quickly running out of people to ask. Sooner or later, those dots would stop marching on and a reply would appear from Jody. And then she would know whether her dreams had sunk completely.
"I just figured I should ask you because you seemed to understand why inversions in the countermelody are important" she quickly tapped out another message of her own, worrying that she might have upset her classmate. She hadn't thought that recruiting people to join a band would have been so hard; like Declan had said, everybody wanted to join a band when they were young, and music classes were primarily filled with those who had never grown out of that ambition. But everyone she had asked so far either had their own band, was looking for something very specific, or – most egregious of all, in Tegan's opinion – didn't actually care about music. There were a disturbing number of people who wanted to be in alt rock bands because they wanted fame and fortune, but their approach to the actual music was trying to learn something that would give them a shortcut to success. They cared less about whether music was interesting or even good, and more about it being easy and catchy.
Jody, on the other hand, would probably be the opposite. He'd made no secret that he was fascinated by the mathematical symmetries used by composers such as Bach; and the elegance of their repetition. She was into music because she liked music, although in her case it was a corollary to her love of various forms of art, and astronomy, for pretty similar reasons. She was someone who would understand what Tegan got out of it, rather than just chasing a route to fame; but at the same time that meant that she might not be particularly interested in any kind of gig outside of her own particular tastes.
The flashing line of dots vanished again, and text appeared on the screen. A whole paragraph, Jpody's preferred method of communication. Talking about music, of course, and how much it excited her to come a step closer to understanding the more complex rhythms. But a couple of lines in, Tegan saw the answer she'd been half expecting. That Jody didn't want to sell out on her dreams and devote time to anything that wasn't true to her art. She might have been interested in joining a choir, or working with a respected orchestra, but her academic interest in music was very much focused on the classical.
Tegan tried again, trying to explain that there was more to popular music than just cheesy pop. That some of the same traits they admired in the great composers were still alive in the modern day, if you just chose the right music. But Jody didn't buy it, and that meant there was no one left to ask.
Tegan tried to explain again, doing her best to come up with recommendations for music that Jody might like. But her mind kept coming back to Franklin's Muse; one band who hadn't been able to make it because their talent was too niche to be understood by most of their potential audience. The story of their disbanding wasn't a good example to encourage something else to create music in a similar niche.
Frustrated, and hoping that she would get a more positive response, she stared at the screen. But there were no bouncy dots now to show that Jody was typing. Maybe that meant she was watching the videos Tegan had linked, but there was no way to know if she could get a response at all.
After a minute or two, Tegan couldn't take waiting any longer, sure that the answer would only disappoint her. So she turned away from the laptop and decided to do something else to pass the time. To get herself a drink, perhaps, and then try playing the drums again. She needed to be doing something creative, or she felt like she would lose her mind. And maybe a moment of creativity was all she would need to remind herself that she didn't actually need a band right now. That she could enjoy the music itself, and look forward to public performance once she had learned even more.
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✏️ Under One Roof
General FictionNess has been alone for most of his life. He cared about his mother, but when she wasn't there anymore it hurt so much that he decided he never wanted to care about someone so much again. He's retreated into himself, avoiding friendships that are bo...
