The Road We Walk On

30 | Major - Piano

Juilliard School, New York

Today was the final day of orientation. Today would be the day where the respective students will be meeting their specific majors. They will be given a briefing of their coursework, modules and be introduced to a few of their professors.

Seokhoon and Rona were in the same faculty of Music but they were in different majors. Seokhoon, why are you following me? Your room is one floor above mine.

I know but I am gonna bring you there first.

Aren't you being a little bit overprotective?

This is not overprotective, this is me being your boyfriend. Come on.

Seokhoon escorted Rona to the room where the Voice majors were all gathering.

You are still as sweet as ever huh? Stephaine was standing outside the room waiting for Rona. Ryo was also standing beside her, waiting for Rona to show up. Where is Yoo Jung?

Relax Rona, she is inside, she wants to grab seats for all of us. The two of you look cute, is the couple look going to be a thing?

Seokhoon and Rona were once again wearing matching style shirts. These outfits were packed by our mothers, it seems before we left they must have done some shopping without telling us.

Rona was about to bid Seokhoon goodbye, but he actually followed her inside the room. Seokhoon wanted to see who else was in Rona's Voice major. When he entered, all eyes were on him, especially the females in the major. Everyone was wondering who this good looking man was. He looked around and found that the Voice major had very few males, apart from Ryo, Seokhoon could only see 3 others. Smiling that there would be no competition, Seokhoon breathed easy.

Rona shook her head when she saw Seokhoon eye-ing everyone, she knew what he was doing. She walked towards him, and held his hand. She smiled and squeezed his hand. She hoped this silent gesture would reassure Seokhoon that her heart would not wander. Seokhoon knew what Rona was trying to tell him, so he escorted her to the seats that Yoo Jung had saved for them. He kissed her lightly on the cheeks. I will see you later. Seokhoon then headed to leave the room, but not before he patted Ryo on the shoulder. Ryo just nodded curtly, before Seokhoon exited. Rona was curious what that gesture was about, but she didn't pursue it when Ryo came to sit with them.

After Seokhoon had escorted Rona to her room, he headed upstairs to his. Seokhoon, what took you so long? Seungho was outside the room with George, waiting for him to arrive. Do you seriously need to ask that question? It is obvious it has something to do with Rona. George laughed, Seokhoon ignored his friends and headed into the room. Unlike the Voice major, the Piano major was a slightly bigger cohort, and more balanced with there being almost an equal number of females to males. Seokhoon just sat down at a random seat, Seungho and George to his left. Gabbie saw Seokhoon enter and took this opportunity to change seats. Can I sit with you guys?

Sure Gabbie, you can sit beside Seokhoon.

Gabbie quickly walks past Seungho and George to sit on Seokhoon's right. Soon after their Professor walked into the room.

Morning, 2022-2023 Piano cohort. My name is Professor James Tan. I am the overall Professor in charge of the Piano major in the Faculty of Music. I am passing around a sheet of paper, please write your name - this is for attendance.

The sheet of paper went around the room, when the sheet of paper reached Gabbie, she was still trying to find a pen; digging through her bag. Here. Seokhoon passed her his pen for her to use, Gabbie blushed at seeing Seokhoon's handsome appearance so close to her. She took the pen and quietly thanked him and filled in her details before passing the pen and paper over to Seokhoon. Seokhoon did not say a word and just took both from her before passing it on. As the professor continued his briefing of the major, Gabbie's eyes kept moving to her left side, she found herself staring at his side profile.

Such a good looking man, both kind and based on his clothes, he is definitely rich! I must make him mine.

Professor James continued to brief the students.

One thing that would be fun for first year students is collaboration. As you all know, music can sometimes be very inward looking. Here at Juilliard we like it when our students are challenged. For your first year, you will be having various modules shared with the various other majors in the Faculty of Music. For semester 1, you will have 2 modules that are collaborative modules. The first would be joint with the Voice major and the 2nd one would be a collaboration across the entire Faculty. How that would work, one the first day of your modules you would be briefed.

Another important thing to note is that at Juilliard, similar to a training school, you would be evaluated every 6 months. So in total, you will have 5 evaluations, one at the beginning and the end of both semesters, and a final year. Please note the evaluation at the beginning of every semester would not affect your grades - the session is really for you to receive constructive feedback on your technique and playing before the start of the semester.

As much as the Piano is about your piano playing, if you look at the list of the modules you would be studying in your four years here, you will be touching on theory as well as history of music and concepts. Even though you entered the Piano major, it is not guaranteed that all of you would wish to pursue classical piano. Many of our past graduates go on to become Professors or composers and others. There is not one way to use your bachelor for what you wish to achieve.

Note: I have seen and research what the Piano Majors in Juilliard actually go through but since this is fiction I am changing a few things to allow for interactions between the different majors.