Beating Death

Chapter two

Authors Note: Hey guys. Thanks for reading. I appreciate every comment and vote, dedicated to the above person because she is awesome. That is enough reason in my mind.

Song of the day: Give me your hand – The ready Set.

The first time I played Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto, the first time I picked up the crumbled sheet music, the summer before junior year. Mr.Lee, the youth orchestra director at my church, handed me the crumpled music.

“I want you to play this at the recital dinner,” he said.

“I’m playing a solo?” I asked.

“You are indeed, young grasshopper,” He said with a chuckle, then let his voice fade back into his usual monotone, before he spoke again he cleared his throat, seriousness written on his face.

Every year we had a recital dinner, right after Labor Day where the youth orchestra got together in groups, and did ensembles, and we had big concert at the end, there was a few soloists, picked by Mr. Lee generally Seniors, and college students studying music, and working hard.  He hardly ever picked anyone still in high school though, since there were only a few solo spots.

The whole thing was basically a huge talent show; except everyone here had talent if you didn’t you wouldn’t have been there in the first place. So I was surprised by the inclination to let me play a solo.

“You are one of my best violinists,” He complemented me, and I could feel my cheeks as they grew warmer, and they presumably turned red, with embarrassment, “Whether you know it or not Zaida,” a smile on his face as he looked at me.

I hadn’t even looked at the piece yet, and I was about to agree to this, it wasn’t the solo part that bugged me, it was that I would take the place of so many other kids, who soon would be too old to play in the youth orchestra, that had never gotten that chance, the one they so desperately wanted. To show the town their skills, and to impress their parents who wanted something for them, a dream the children tried to create.

“Can I…” I paused, trying to find the correct words to say,and make  it sound like the thought of saying know was not on my mind, not because I didn’t want to do it, but because I didn’t want to take their places,  “Can I have some time to consider it?” I asked. My eyes on my shoes, I didn’t want to look at him, or see the expression on his face, the expression I assumed met he was confused by my words. The expression of disappointment when he realized I had hesitated to accept his offer.

“What is there to consider?” he asked,  just as I’d expected, “You have all the time in the world, it’s summer break, and you could surely learn this tune in time, you practice more then you sleep young one.”

That was true. It was extremely true. To tell the truth, I often slept until two in the afternoon on summer break, and stayed up all night practicing. I didn’t have many friends, so it was easy for me to get caught up in the moment, and practice for longer than I expected.

“I’ll do it,” I sighed and took the music from him, still I didn’t look at the crumbled piece, which had gone from hand to hand, I knew the tune by heart as soon as I read the name. It was a beautiful piece, and once I started to practice it I instantly fell in love with the tune.  The song was perfect, but no matter how many times I played it I had an issue with the end, the momentum that carried me through the entire song was cut short by the ending and it stopped sharp. The last note was cut short, and sudden.

Even when I went to play the song on stage for the first time, the ending did not go smooth, I just couldn’t get that fade to black effect that brought the crowd to its  feet, no matter how much everyone thanked me, and told me I did great, maybe I was the only one who noticed my blurb, the fact that a Junior in high school was sitting on the stage playing the solo that some of the senior’s in college couldn’t even nail, maybe that made it ok.