Stars' Song: Clef

Chapter 15 : Sing For Me

15-1

The garage was saturated with music. Cyril stood in front of the bass amplifier and played to his heart's content. Because it was a high-end instrument, the quality of the low notes was crisp and full. Ronin was standing in front of a different amplifier as this was happening. Every now and then, the tone of his newly bought guitar changed, signifying pickup changes. He explored every nook and cranny of the stringed instrument by shredding and experimenting with his pedals. In another corner of the room was Keith, who incorporated different drumming techniques to the new snare. It was amazing how he created an assortment of grooves by using one part of the drum kit.

There was only one problem. All of this was happening altogether. Maybe it was too generous to call it 'music'. The three of them tested their instruments with no consideration to the other. This resulted in an uncoordinated and wild amalgamation of noise. It was as if you brought three children inside a studio and allowed them to do whatever they wanted. Amber and I watched as the racket ensued.

Suddenly, Ronin stumbled upon a promising lick in his noodling. He repeated the motif as it stood out and resonated through the studio. He stayed on the riff, expecting the others to build upon his playing. To my surprise, my head began to bob to the beat on its own. Judging the look on Ronin's face, this was leading to a twelve-bar blues jam.

Cyril and Keith froze and observed Ronin's hands move. The fictitious cat ears on Cyril's head perked up as he realized the improvisation was in the key of G. Accordingly, he created a bassline and accompanied Ronin. The guitarist muttered 'yeah, yeah!', satisfied with Cyril's support.

The two turned to Keith, continuing their own themes to the jam. After a smirk, the drummer created a beat with a slight swing percentage. To put it simply, when a beat is purposely delayed for enunciation, it has a 'swing' feel to it. Keith integrated this aspect to the beat, adding spice to the rhythmic personality of the jam.

The rhythm has been beautifully established. Up next was the solo improv. It was the moment Ronin was anticipating for. He began to pick notes in the G minor blues scale, a scale appropriate to the key. Every time Ronin would deliberately play a note outside the scale, but fitting the context of the key, Keith would smile and laugh at the uniqueness. To contest his antics, Cyril would hit us with a mind-blowing bassline that stuck out from the jam. Whenever he did, the room went full of approving chuckles. There was one time when Keith changed the song's time signature, bringing confusion to Cyril and Ronin. We would giggle at how hard they tried to keep their coordination.

I gazed at Amber, who had been listening on in amazement from start to finish. Her upper body swayed to the music, enjoying every second.

Aaa! I want to join in so bad! I was itching to grab my acoustic guitar and play rhythm for the jam, but I'd feel horrible if I left Amber by herself! What's with this dilemma?! Ah, forget it. I'll just stay here with Amber and appreciate the artistic work.

"That was amazing! H-how did you do it on the spot?" Amber nodded at the three musicians.

"Magic." Ronin posed dramatically, grabbing his guitar like a prop. "But hey, why'd you stop so abruptly, Keith?"

"Cyril was glaring at me, so..."

"If we get too carried away, we won't get anything done," Cyril reasoned.

"Killjoy..." Ronin said under his breath before sighing.