Breezeblocks

     "Beyond it was a thicket of dark-leaved bay-trees climbing up a steep bank that was crowned with old cedars. Here they decided to rest and pass the day, which already promised to be bright and warm." (pg. 328, The Two Towers, Tolkien) The words were soothing. Quite honestly, it was the best passage of the entire trilogy. It is a tranquil scene where the plot takes a backseat for some of the greatest descriptive writing ever penned by J. R. R. Tolkien. Sarah pauses to acknowledge the literary genius who chronicled the entirety of The Lord of the Rings. After taking that moment, she went back to scanning the page. She had already read through the series several times, but there was always something new to uncover whether it was a different perspective or a missed word that explained a previously incomprehensible sentence. The sentences following the incredible scene were lackluster in comparison and failed to hold Sarah's attention. She found her thoughts drifting, even though she was trying to stay engaged in the novel. To counteract her straying mind, she decided to put on some music.

     Options, options, there were so many from which to choose. There were genres, artists, playlists, albums, and even shuffle. She wanted instrumentals so that she could focus on the music without the words that would distract from the notes played. Flipping through her artists, Sarah saw the perfect one and tapped the icon on her phone. Instantly, stringed instruments began to crescendo; and at the pinnacle, the tempo drove itself into a furious pounding. Throughout the entire song, she conducted to an invisible orchestra by raising her hands when the notes peaked and sweeping down when the sound softened. There was a pause towards the end of the song and her hands stilled in accordance. Sarah tried to conduct the rest of the song, but the pause had thorn her out of step. She gave up on trying to listen to music as such and wanted to sing instead. not to any song or singer, but by herself.

     Sarah stood up and stretched. She had been in her room for roughly three hours simply reading. It was time for a change of scenery. Pausing to grab her phone, she made her way to her music corner in the living room. The corner held several instruments and the sheet music for them as well. While she was the one who used it most frequently of those in her family, her father used the electric guitar, and her older brother would play a piece on the piano when he was in the mood. This lead her to often think of it as being her own corner instead of shared with her family. After all, she was there almost everyday. Sarah perched herself on the piano bench to debate which instrument to use. She could either play the piano or she could play the ukulele. Using the piano would only allow the option to sing along to a Disney song due to a lack of other sheet music. Chim-chimney was fairly easy to accompany, but it offered no challenge. It had previously taken merely half of an hour for her to perfect. So through this logic, she picked to play the ukulele. There wasn't any sheet music in her corner for this instrument, so she pulled out her phone for her favorited songs that included the chords. Scrolling through her options, none of them particularly stood out to her. She thought about doing one near the top of the list, but that song tended to strain her voice a bit too much. Sarah ended up at the very bottom of the list before she saw the song that she wanted to sing. it was one of the more popular songs by Alt-J, Breezeblocks.

     Decided, the phone was placed on the stand while she opened her instrument case. She brought the ukulele out and grabbed her pick. It was time to warm up. The chords were relatively simple, and she strummed through them quickly to warm up her fingers. Next, she warmed up her voice by matching her voice to the pitch of the seperate chords. picking a single chord, she practiced the rhythm that would be needed for the song. Now, she was ready to perform.

     The song began slow and soft. One chord for every 4th word. At the chorus, the speed picked up. After the chorus Sarah stumbled getting back into the groove of the verses. Irritation could be plainly seen on her face. Repeating the line of the song that she had just played helped her to straighten out her rhythm again. The following verses took off. She lively strummed, absorbed into the song. her voice rose in volume to match. The bridge slowed down the song and brought the mood down as well.

     "But please don't go, I love you so...my lovely." This line was the saddest line of the entire song, and it was fitting for it to also be the slowest. All she had left was the very last verse. It was still low in volume, but fast in tempo.

     Slam! The front door of the house was opened and forcefully shut. This was the prelude to the volume in the house increasing. Like a prophecy, the television was turned on to an action film her 8 year old little brother enjoys. It had guns and yelling that rose as he turned the television up even higher. Sarah sighed and tried to return to her song, but the door opened again as the rest of her rather large family shuffled in. She carefully threw her ukulele back into its case, and turned her phone off. The instrument went back onto the top of the piano, and Sarah trudged back up to her room. as she was going, the volume rose once again with pots banging in the kitchen, and YouTube on two different people's phones. This always happens. Sarah had a chance for beautiful music, but her family made too much noise for her to cintinue. She has to play ukulele in her room, but she forgets as it sounds much better in her living room with a vaulted cieling.