piano lessons // phan ((being rewritten))

lesson ten

Phil made his way into Dan's bedroom, taking a seat on the bed. He took his phone out, checking his social media and responding to a few tweets. Just a few minutes ago Dan had sent him a text saying he'd be there soon to start a lesson.

When ten minutes passed and Dan had yet to show up, Phil's eyes started to wander around the room. He'd been in here a lot lately, considering Dan's piano was the only one they owned. Before the lessons started, Phil was rarely in here. Other than to film a video, he never had a reason to be in this room.

Scanning the walls, Phil started to notice details he'd never seen before. The black and red painting Dan kept in the corner was now over the bed, leaning on top of the headboard. His lamp, which could usually be found on the dresser, was now on the nightstand beside his bed. Next to it was a framed picture of the both of them—a selfie they had taken right after making the 'pastel edits in real life' video. Phil walked closer, leaning down to look at it. He had never seen the photo in the room before, but it made him smile knowing it was there.

"I've got it!" Dan yelled suddenly, bounding into the room and nearly tripping himself in the process.

Phil stood up, his heart beating fast. "You scared me!" he yelped, glaring at Dan. Quickly trying to regain his composure, he placed his hand on his chest. "What are you even talking about?"

"Your tempo problem, I know how we can fix it! Or at least, user2808 on yahoo answers knows."

For a second Phil wondered if maybe his best friend had gone mad. Perhaps he hadn't had enough sleep, or maybe he was dehydrated, because right now he sounded absolutely insane.

"What?" Phil asked, his head tilted to the side in confusion.

Dan sighed loudly, walking towards the piano. "You suck at keeping tempo, right?"

Pretending to be offended, Phil gasped. "Well that's mean."

"Oh whatever, you know it's true."

"RUDE."

Ignoring his comment, Dan sat at the piano. He pulled out his phone and tapped the area next to him, motioning for Phil to take a seat. While Phil sat down and pulled out the music, he began to explain. "Well last night I was researching how to keep tempo, because you don't like the usual methods. Anyways, I ended up on yahoo answers and someone said that when you divide your attention between playing and the beat, you focus too much on getting the notes right, rather than the rhythm."

Phil nodded, pretending to follow along.

"So what you need to do instead is rather than giving too much attention to the notes instead of the beat, reverse it. Then adjust till you find a perfect medium between the two."

Phil waited, expecting him to say more. When he didn't, he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

Dan sighed, deciding it was all too much to repeat. "Whatever, I'll explain it more when we play. Just know that you will have to use the metronome."

"Please no," Phil pouted.

"You have to learn how to use it eventually," Dan said, reaching into a plastic bag that Phil didn't notice he had till now.

From the bag he produced a small white box with a picture of a metronome on the side. Dan gave it to Phil, letting him open it.

"I went to the music store,' he said, 'they had loads of metronomes similar to this one."

Phil frowned, examining the box in his hands. He wished Dan had let him know he was going to the music store—Phil would've gone with him if he knew. Opening the box and throwing aside the bubble wrap, Phil unwrapped a wooden metronome. It was about the size of his hand, with a silver knob at the side. It was pretty, he'd admit, but if it sounded anything like the last one there was no way he'd use it.

Dan uncapped the metronome, starting the tempo. It sounded different than the one on his phone, more clear. This metronome was nowhere near annoying as the one they'd used earlier, and Phil breathed a sigh of relief.

Phil watched as Dan changed the volume and the tempo. The volume was now very loud, and Phil wondered why he'd bothered to make it like that.

"Okay," Dan said, speaking louder over the metronome. "When you play, listen to the beat more than yourself."

Phil nodded, eyes grazing over the music and settling on the keys. He looked down as he played, focusing on the loud ticking of the metronome. He made a few mistakes trying to keep up, turning to Dan whenever he did.

"Just keep playing," Dan said. He nodded, stumbling over a few of the notes.

When Phil finished playing, Dan lowered the volume and had him play it again. Every time Phil finished playing the song, Dan lowered the volume a bit more, to the point where it was a faint noise compared to the sounds coming from the piano. While it did feel repetitive, it was helping Phil play better, so he didn't complain.

By the time he finished Phil was already way better at keeping tempo. He was nowhere near perfect, but it was definitely better than he was yesterday.

"Wow, user2808 is really smart," Phil said, finishing the song again.

Dan laughed, a triumphant grin on his face.

a/n: lol can you tell i really hate metronomes

like

no

tbh this whole story was made bc i was struggling with my piano lessons and i was like waiT what if i wrote about that and just made it phaN

but yeah this was how i managed to use a metronome

okay yeah i'll be posting three or four new parts today so