Let it Ring

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"Passing out music is our harpist Arlo and first chair violin Leilah." John gulped looking at the stacks of sheet music in their hands. "We'll start off with two pieces, and gradually make our way up to more. And percussionist, Kuyo has already set out music for you guys." John arched an eyebrow as he sifted through the pieces on his stand and hummed. He hasn't heard of either of the pieces of music on his stand, though in the top corner he found the words "warm up" written on the page. "These are just warm of pieces, you have to get used to playing with one another before we move on to real concert or competition music." John nodded, Vaughn having just confirmed his thoughts.

"Well tune first." John resisted the urge to squeal, one thing that New Bostins orchestra had lacked was proper tuning. Their director never tuned the band, always assuming the students did themselves, so their first note always sounded horrible. But, when the sound of the oboe slowly reached his ears, he found himself getting the chills. One by one each instrument played their tuning note until Vaughn drew his hand through the air to stop them. 

"Clarinets, G A B C." 'He's tuning each instrument.' John was now slightly bouncing in his seat, Claire and Adrion were the best clarinet players he had heard, but they had been held back by the New Bostin band. However, the each clarinet he heard was almost perfectly in tune, and the sound came out smooth. John froze when he heard a slight giggle and found Leona smiling at him. His face flushed red and he quickly turned his head away, however he met the eyes of Kuyo who was smirking at him. 

'Ugh why are we percussionist so weird?'

"Flutes." John turned his head back up to the front listening to the rest of the band tune. "Remi your flat, not too much though." A pinkette sitting at the front sighed before adjusting her flutes. A green haired boy next to her played perfectly in tune before swapping the flute for a piccolo. "Slightly sharp, pull out some." As the boy went to adjust the instrument, John saw Kuyo cup his hands around his mouth, "imagine being in tune." He didn't exactly shout, but he said it loud enough for well, the whole orchestra to hear him. The first and second chair flautists looked back at him, the girl laughing while the boy rolled his eyes. Most of the players around them laughed as well.

"Thank you for your input Kuyo but do quiet down." Vaughn stated, but he was smiling at the same time. John liked the professionalism of this orchestra, but he also loved the fact that they all seemed to be friends or at least friendly with one another. 

The whole band was tuned and Johns heart thrummed, 'the first note.' He looked at his sheet music, he had the first note. In fact, he had a solo in the first two measures. It was simply a G major scale going up to a G and then back down to a D before the rest of the band came in, but staring at the music he found his hands shaking. What if he messed up? It was supposedly a slow piece, but what if he went too fast, what if he stumbled over a key and played a wrong note? He tried taking a deep breath as he positioned his fingers over the keys, looking back at Vaughn for when he would start. The director nodded at him with a smile, and John turned away. He had to breathe, if he got too scared he was gonna choke up and stop playing entirely. 

He thought back to how happy he was when he got his results, he had made it, now it was time to prove he deserves to be here. 

He started on the D, and went slow, maybe a beat or two under the tempo Vaughn had set, but the sound was coming out clearly, no mistakes. He found his way up to a G and then came back down, he was fine, he could do this. Once more up to a G, down to a D, and he heard the clarinet section playing. There was one lone clarinet playing a different melody than the rest, likely a solo, but John found himself getting lost in it. His fingers kept moving, sight reading a piece he had never seen in his life, and yet, it was all coming out. The flute joined the clarinets, the higher piccolo playing the same solo part that the solo clarinet was playing.

Up and down, Johns fingers moved up and down across the keys. Quietly the flutes drew away and it left only the clarinets and John. It was just a scale, but John was smiling the whole time. He only lifted his gaze from the music when he heard the snare and saw Leona intensely focused on the music. John smiled hearing the brass, the low woodwinds, everyone slowly come in. He shouldn't be this happy, but he was. Even when he notes changed from scales to a different rhythm and he almost messed up, he was still happy and when the piece ended, and Vaughn went to practice a certain section, he couldn't stop smiling.