A Victory Won

Writers: AmajoS, Bree
Date Posted: 25th July 2007

Characters: Narrala, Farnian
Description: Narrala faces the rigours of being tutored.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 4, day 25 of Turn 4

It took nearly ten minutes to talk herself into doing it, feeling stupid the entire time. It wasn't like she hadn't ever spoken with him before - in fact that was part of the problem. While it was always difficult for Narrala to just walk up and talk to someone, it was much worse when that someone made it rather plain he'd rather not be bothered. But she needed his help, so she knocked on the journeyman's door.

He often tutored apprentices and helped them with difficulties in their work, and she was in just such a situation now. She'd been picked along with four other - all male - apprentices to do a small performance for a grade. She was going to be playing the guitar. It wasn't her best instrument. She needed to do well in this performance, so she was here to ask for help.

The door opened quickly, but the friendly smile forming on the journeyman's face faltered when he saw who had come to see him. He recovered quickly and opened the door a little wider, but his eyes looked bored already. "Are you here for tutoring?"

"Yes," Narrala replied as she slipped into the room. She had her guitar in hand and a satchel with her sheet music over her shoulder.
Her free hand twirled a strand of hair that had slipped free of the tie-back. "I'm having a hard time with some of the chords..." Her voice trailed off as a now familiar feeling of being unwelcome settled within her.

Farnian nodded and gestured to a seat. "Well, why don't you sit down and show me what you're working on, first. The cords can certainly take some getting used to." His voice had regained its pleasant tone, but there was a condescending overtone to it.

She cringed a bit inside, but forced herself to smile and nod. She knew he thought very little of her, this was no surprise. Annoying, belittling, frustrating, but not surprising. She took the offered seat and pulled her sheet music out of her satchel before dropping it to the ground and resting the guitar in her lap.

She handed the music to Farnian. "I'm fine with the first part, but here," she pointed out the section of the score she was stuck on. "I'm having trouble, here."

"Of course. It does get a bit tricky there." He sat across from her and pointed to the beginning of the piece. "Why don't you start from the beginning anyway. Just to make sure you've got it all down."

She smiled shyly and nodded, feeling a little silly. He was being nice enough and she was painting every expression and shift in body language in an ugly light. She settled her fingers on the strings of her guitar and began playing, the notes coming easily, until she got to the section where the chords shifted rapidly and as always, she stumbled, missing a note and coming to an abrupt stop.

His smile was perfectly pleasant and wonderfully condescending. "Very well done! Better than I even expected. I don't think it will take too much work at all to get you caught up. Now, I'm going to play that passage you just did... watch my fingers."

Instantly, the charitable feelings she'd had vanished, dashed to bits by the patronizing tone and words. She forced herself to smile as she watched the journeyman repeat the section she'd already played... and played well. Inwardly she fumed. Hopefully he'd get to the part she was actually having difficulty with soon.

He went over the whole piece, from start to finish, before giving her another patronizing smile. "Did you see how I handle the fingering in that part?"

He might be a pompous jerk, but he was a good player, there was no doubt. However, it didn't help her as much as he seemed to think to sit and watch him play the whole song. She needed help with one specific part. "Yes," she hesitated, feeling both irritated and nervous about pressing the issue, but the deadline for this was looming and she wanted very much to be ready. "Can you show me just that part again? Without the rest?"

She settled her fingers into position on the strings, ready to play along with him through the section that had given her problems.

A few bars in he shook his head and motioned for her to stop. "You're still holding your fingers the wrong way. Look at mine." He placed his fingers on the strings in exactly the same way she'd had hers. His hands just happened to be much, much bigger.

Narrala swallowed a groan of frustration. "But I'm holding them just like that."

He glanced at her hand and shook his head. "You'll need to slide your hand to reach the notes, then, if you can't stretch your fingers."

Biting back a smart remark, Narrala shifted her hand into a slightly different position. It was extremely uncomfortable, and her fingers wound up slipping off the strings before she even got to the portion of the music that had originally given her difficulty.

"Try again," he said kindly, pointing to the beginning again. "You can do it, it just takes a little practice."

Gritting her teeth, Narrala went back to the beginning, this time playing as she had before; hitting all the correct notes and chords, just with her hands positioned in a way comfortable for her. Ignoring the patronizing look on his face as he watched her play, she made it all the way to the run that had originally tripped her up before faltering, missing a change and having to stop as her smooth playing became discordant.

"Journeyman, could you, maybe, just show me this part? I've got the rest, but this is the section I'm having trouble with. Please?" She did her best to keep her voice steady, but she was frustrated and growing more and more embarrassed at the way the journeyman was treating her - like she was some simple-minded child instead of an apprentice qualified, by age at least, to advance to Senior status.

"You can't cut a song into little pieces," he replied patiently. "I'll show you that section, but you'll have to learn to play the piece as a whole." He placed his fingers back on the strings and started from the part that was giving her trouble. "Watch closely."

She bit back the smart retort that perched right at the end of her tongue and leaned in to watch as his fingers moved along the strings.
She waited until he finished and then tried to copy his movements. She actually got a little further along before she faltered, though any sense of accomplishment she might have felt at that was dimmed by her frustration and embarrassment. The journeyman's expression made her feel like she had about as much musical talent as a trundle bug.

"What did I do wrong?"

"The tempo is a little off... it's a quick paced song, and you're going in just a tad bit slow." He tapped his foot and gestured to it.
"Watch my foot this time as I play... see if you can follow that."

It was the most truly helpful thing he'd said since she'd come in the door. As he played, tapping out the beat with his foot, Narrala saw what he meant. When he finished, she began playing again, this time keeping his tapping in mind and saw exactly where the mistake was made and instead of slowing down as the song approached the difficult changes she followed the beat and sped her playing up. She made it all the way through the entire song without faltering. It wasn't perfect, but it was passable and now that she knew what she'd been doing incorrectly, she could practice and improve.

She smile gratefully at the journeyman pleased with her success and willing to put all the condescending behaviour behind her in light of it, "Thank you. That helped."

The journeyman looked equally pleased, his face friendly and warm now.
"That was very good! Would you like to go through it one more time together?"

Feeling like she'd won a victory over more than just the difficult music, Narrala nodded and got set to play the song again. She played carefully, not wanting to make a mistake now. It was much easier now and the Journeyman's playing helped her keep pace nicely.

Last updated on the July 29th 2007

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A Victory Won