53 Ashan Arc 711
Company: Memories | Theme: Danse Macabre | Thoughts: What's left to do?| Mood: Sad, nostalgic
When the man who had taught her to play the fiddle, and was like a father to her, died, Lorraine was left with little. Her own personal belongings as well his fiddle, and all his notes about playing it. He'd attempted to teach her how to play a few times so she had the basics down. Though with her now living on the streets she needed a way to make money for herself. She lacked any way to properly do that, and mostly subconsciously, refused to become a apprentice to someone else. What other way could she do this than by playing the fiddle for small coins. At least that would bring in some sort of income for her. Though not necessary she did feel that she should do her best to become a better player since playing the instrument would be her livelihood.
She'd sit herself down somewhere in a back-alley of the city where she would be less likely to be interrupted. Setting her fiddle case down in front of her she'd open it up, and get the fiddle and bow out. A couple of note pages would come fluttering out onto the luckily dry ground. Lorraine would pick them up looking them over as she did so. The familiar handwriting of the man she had known invoked a feeling of sadness inside her heart. She'd push it away instead letting the thought that he was better off being dead. At least in death he was relieved of the plentiful worries of living. The notes labeled a few advanced techniques for playing the fiddle. Things she needn't worry about until she got a better grasp of the basics. She was though unclear of why exactly the pages were loose from the notebook which should have been holding them. She supposed getting tumbled around inside a case was a good enough explanation for a few loose pages though.
Lorraine would place the pages back into the case before grabbing the notebook containing the rest of them. With that she'd shut the case, and open up the notebook. She supposed that before she just delve straight into the pages of the book she should first see what she remembered of playing. Taking her bow in her right hand and fiddle in her left she'd put herself into the proper position. She'd remembered Grant, her mentor, had always told her to maintain proper posture when playing. A fact he always followed up with grumblings of back pain from himself playing the instrument too long. So with a short reminder she straighten her back out as best she could. Posture had never been an issue for her, but it wouldn't hurt to sit up even straighter.
With that done she'd place the bow against the strings, and proceed to move the bow in an attempt to make noise. An attempt that would be successful. Though that meant little in regards to the quality of the noise produced. It was incredulously imperfect. So much so that even a beginner with little experience could tell the fiddle needed tuning. Not to mention the incredibly scratchy sound of the noise overall. There was much to improve on. Luckily she knew exactly where she needed to go in order to get her answers. The notebook that lie on her lap contained a plethora of information. She was quite lucky that Grant had recorded a large amount of information on how to play the fiddle. Likely he did it specifically for her, but she never had the chance to ask.
After carefully setting her fiddle and bow down on the ground next to her Lorraine would pick up the notebook. There wasn't a table of contents which she would soon find would make her job exponentially more difficult. First she'd need to scour through the book in an effort to located the information on tuning the instrument properly. Information which would likely lie relatively close to the beginning of the notebook. One couldn't exactly do much with a fiddle that was out of tune. Well... at least not do much well. After a couple bits of flipping through and skimming pages she'd find what she was looking for. A page with a wealth of information pertaining to the tuning of a fiddle.
She'd read over the page carefully taking in the information as best she could. First she'd mentally take note of each string, and the corresponding note it should be tuned to. She was more or less familiar with what each of these notes sounded like from her time around Grant. Second she would take note of the proper way to actually tune the instrument. Such as being careful not to over tighten the strings, and always working from a lower pitch to a higher pitch. She'd also make note of which tuning pegs were witch on the fiddle. Using the wrong peg at the wrong time, or using it too much would be problematic for her. She couldn't necessarily afford to be repairing the instrument given her current circumstance. Lastly she would take note of which string to start with, and which to finish with when tuning. With that knowledge attained she felt pretty confident she would be able to tune the instrument. Though she'd remind herself to be very careful not to damage the precious instrument.
Setting the notebook back down on her lap, this time open to a page, Lorraine would again pick up her fiddle and bow. Starting with the A string she would begin her attempt to tune the instrument. She'd run the bow across the string to produce a noise which seemed to be playing quite a bit lower than it should. She turn the tuner peg of that string to the right just a little bit until the sound improved. She'd stop when it produced a note that was almost, but not quite right. From there she'd have to use the fine tuner in order to have more accuracy. Much like how she did with the tuner peg Lorraine would move the fine tuner to the right. Just as carefully if not even more carefully than she had before. With a few millimeters difference with the fine tuner the note would finally begin to sound about right.
With the A string on her fiddle tuned Lorraine would then begin to repeat the process with the other strings. She'd begin by moving to the D string. After that string was tuned well enough she'd proceed on to the G string. When that was tuned she would move on to tune the E string, and finish tuning her fiddle. When she had finally finished, luckily without incident, she would proceed to play what she remembered of a short scale. Though even after tuning the instrument it seemed that the scratchy noise still persisted. This was something that would warrant another visit to the ever fun book of notes.
Without knowing what was specifically causing the scratchy sound in her current situation Lorraine would have to stick to just reading the notes. As without something to search for she couldn't as easily just search for a specific page. This would lead her to a few bits of reading through information in the notebook. Which while it did provide her with some knowledge about certain things, it didn't provide her with an immediate answer to her current issue. Though with some luck she would soon find what she was looking for. Within a couple more bits she would find the information. Though not in a paragraph, or as the topic of a whole page. Instead she'd catch sight of a small footnote at the bottom of a page right before flipping on to the next. A small footnote that seemingly served as a reminder not to press the bow to hard upon the strings. As it will only lead to tightened strings and a scratchy sound.
With this new information she would deem herself ready to get back to playing. She would put herself into position before playing the same scale she had before. Though this time she would focus on not pressing to hard with the bow. This would help with reducing the scratchiness of the music, but it was still there. To this Lorraine would stop playing, and lean back against the cold wall behind her to think. There could perhaps be another reason for the sound more than just excessive pressure on the strings. Though at the same time it could be quite possible that she was still not pressing down quite light enough. Lorraine wasn't quite sure which of the two options she found to be more likely.
Not really wanting to do even more flipping through the pages of that notebook. Lorraine chose to believe the issue stemmed off of the second reason, and that she just wasn't pressing quite light enough. So she take up her fiddle again placing her chin gently upon the chin rest as the lower section of the fiddle rested on her shoulder. Then she would bring her bow up in her right hand, and very gently place it down upon the strings. This time loosening her grip enough that gravity would be the sole force pulling the bow against the strings. Lorraine would then attempt to lightly move the bow side to side along the strings careful to keep the bow parallel to the bridge of the fiddle. Something she had read to do earlier during her search for answers. According to the notebook doing so would help to prevent the production of a weaker, wisp-like sound from the fiddle.
Lorraine, having decided to place her bets on the second option, found herself to be quite pleased in the outcome of that decision. With the gliding motions she was now taking with her bow, the scratchy noise was now gone. It was something akin to a miracle that the problem had been solved so easily for her. Maybe she was destined to get lucky with something at least once. Considering all the things she had been through already by the time she was fourteen arcs old she likely deserved it.
Lorraine would set down her instrument with a sigh staring at the wall that lie in front of her. She'd managed to get quite a bit done with her fiddle so far. The way she saw it at least. The problem was she still had quite a long ways to go before she'd ever be anywhere near the skill level Grant had been at. She'd have to keep working at it though. Her life would quite possibly depend upon her playing skill unless she found some other way to survive. Rather another way to survive without depending on anybody else that is.
She'd sit herself down somewhere in a back-alley of the city where she would be less likely to be interrupted. Setting her fiddle case down in front of her she'd open it up, and get the fiddle and bow out. A couple of note pages would come fluttering out onto the luckily dry ground. Lorraine would pick them up looking them over as she did so. The familiar handwriting of the man she had known invoked a feeling of sadness inside her heart. She'd push it away instead letting the thought that he was better off being dead. At least in death he was relieved of the plentiful worries of living. The notes labeled a few advanced techniques for playing the fiddle. Things she needn't worry about until she got a better grasp of the basics. She was though unclear of why exactly the pages were loose from the notebook which should have been holding them. She supposed getting tumbled around inside a case was a good enough explanation for a few loose pages though.
Lorraine would place the pages back into the case before grabbing the notebook containing the rest of them. With that she'd shut the case, and open up the notebook. She supposed that before she just delve straight into the pages of the book she should first see what she remembered of playing. Taking her bow in her right hand and fiddle in her left she'd put herself into the proper position. She'd remembered Grant, her mentor, had always told her to maintain proper posture when playing. A fact he always followed up with grumblings of back pain from himself playing the instrument too long. So with a short reminder she straighten her back out as best she could. Posture had never been an issue for her, but it wouldn't hurt to sit up even straighter.
With that done she'd place the bow against the strings, and proceed to move the bow in an attempt to make noise. An attempt that would be successful. Though that meant little in regards to the quality of the noise produced. It was incredulously imperfect. So much so that even a beginner with little experience could tell the fiddle needed tuning. Not to mention the incredibly scratchy sound of the noise overall. There was much to improve on. Luckily she knew exactly where she needed to go in order to get her answers. The notebook that lie on her lap contained a plethora of information. She was quite lucky that Grant had recorded a large amount of information on how to play the fiddle. Likely he did it specifically for her, but she never had the chance to ask.
After carefully setting her fiddle and bow down on the ground next to her Lorraine would pick up the notebook. There wasn't a table of contents which she would soon find would make her job exponentially more difficult. First she'd need to scour through the book in an effort to located the information on tuning the instrument properly. Information which would likely lie relatively close to the beginning of the notebook. One couldn't exactly do much with a fiddle that was out of tune. Well... at least not do much well. After a couple bits of flipping through and skimming pages she'd find what she was looking for. A page with a wealth of information pertaining to the tuning of a fiddle.
She'd read over the page carefully taking in the information as best she could. First she'd mentally take note of each string, and the corresponding note it should be tuned to. She was more or less familiar with what each of these notes sounded like from her time around Grant. Second she would take note of the proper way to actually tune the instrument. Such as being careful not to over tighten the strings, and always working from a lower pitch to a higher pitch. She'd also make note of which tuning pegs were witch on the fiddle. Using the wrong peg at the wrong time, or using it too much would be problematic for her. She couldn't necessarily afford to be repairing the instrument given her current circumstance. Lastly she would take note of which string to start with, and which to finish with when tuning. With that knowledge attained she felt pretty confident she would be able to tune the instrument. Though she'd remind herself to be very careful not to damage the precious instrument.
Setting the notebook back down on her lap, this time open to a page, Lorraine would again pick up her fiddle and bow. Starting with the A string she would begin her attempt to tune the instrument. She'd run the bow across the string to produce a noise which seemed to be playing quite a bit lower than it should. She turn the tuner peg of that string to the right just a little bit until the sound improved. She'd stop when it produced a note that was almost, but not quite right. From there she'd have to use the fine tuner in order to have more accuracy. Much like how she did with the tuner peg Lorraine would move the fine tuner to the right. Just as carefully if not even more carefully than she had before. With a few millimeters difference with the fine tuner the note would finally begin to sound about right.
With the A string on her fiddle tuned Lorraine would then begin to repeat the process with the other strings. She'd begin by moving to the D string. After that string was tuned well enough she'd proceed on to the G string. When that was tuned she would move on to tune the E string, and finish tuning her fiddle. When she had finally finished, luckily without incident, she would proceed to play what she remembered of a short scale. Though even after tuning the instrument it seemed that the scratchy noise still persisted. This was something that would warrant another visit to the ever fun book of notes.
Without knowing what was specifically causing the scratchy sound in her current situation Lorraine would have to stick to just reading the notes. As without something to search for she couldn't as easily just search for a specific page. This would lead her to a few bits of reading through information in the notebook. Which while it did provide her with some knowledge about certain things, it didn't provide her with an immediate answer to her current issue. Though with some luck she would soon find what she was looking for. Within a couple more bits she would find the information. Though not in a paragraph, or as the topic of a whole page. Instead she'd catch sight of a small footnote at the bottom of a page right before flipping on to the next. A small footnote that seemingly served as a reminder not to press the bow to hard upon the strings. As it will only lead to tightened strings and a scratchy sound.
With this new information she would deem herself ready to get back to playing. She would put herself into position before playing the same scale she had before. Though this time she would focus on not pressing to hard with the bow. This would help with reducing the scratchiness of the music, but it was still there. To this Lorraine would stop playing, and lean back against the cold wall behind her to think. There could perhaps be another reason for the sound more than just excessive pressure on the strings. Though at the same time it could be quite possible that she was still not pressing down quite light enough. Lorraine wasn't quite sure which of the two options she found to be more likely.
Not really wanting to do even more flipping through the pages of that notebook. Lorraine chose to believe the issue stemmed off of the second reason, and that she just wasn't pressing quite light enough. So she take up her fiddle again placing her chin gently upon the chin rest as the lower section of the fiddle rested on her shoulder. Then she would bring her bow up in her right hand, and very gently place it down upon the strings. This time loosening her grip enough that gravity would be the sole force pulling the bow against the strings. Lorraine would then attempt to lightly move the bow side to side along the strings careful to keep the bow parallel to the bridge of the fiddle. Something she had read to do earlier during her search for answers. According to the notebook doing so would help to prevent the production of a weaker, wisp-like sound from the fiddle.
Lorraine, having decided to place her bets on the second option, found herself to be quite pleased in the outcome of that decision. With the gliding motions she was now taking with her bow, the scratchy noise was now gone. It was something akin to a miracle that the problem had been solved so easily for her. Maybe she was destined to get lucky with something at least once. Considering all the things she had been through already by the time she was fourteen arcs old she likely deserved it.
Lorraine would set down her instrument with a sigh staring at the wall that lie in front of her. She'd managed to get quite a bit done with her fiddle so far. The way she saw it at least. The problem was she still had quite a long ways to go before she'd ever be anywhere near the skill level Grant had been at. She'd have to keep working at it though. Her life would quite possibly depend upon her playing skill unless she found some other way to survive. Rather another way to survive without depending on anybody else that is.
Lorraine Eldritch
