Closed A Nervous Start Battle of the Bands Club

Was joining another club a stupid idea? Of course it wasn’t! Especially when it was all about music. And oh did Eugenia love music. When had it started? Her love for music was deep, almost too hard to trace its beginnings. But the young Greek could…

The train of reminiscence began as Eugenia’s perfect memory put things straight. It was back when she was 5. Some time before her sixth birthday, she was reading one of her favourite books, when her uncle walked in. She smiled as he spoke, left her book down and ran up to him. He gave the little girl a hug and addressed her quietly. Her youngest sister Ifigenia was asleep, she was just one and a half years old, after all. As she sat down on her bed, she marvelled at the view outside until her uncle came too. They had come to her grandparents’ house for a few days to attend a wedding. Mother’s side. Just then, her uncle took his enchanted satchel, opened it, and from it, he took out an object wrapped in white cloth. Eugenia’s heart leapt.

When he handed it to her, the young girl removed the wrap. And inside was a beautiful, polished, new wooden violin. It had some little pieces of gold decorating it and it was one of the most astonishing things the young girl had ever seen in her life. She looked at him and smiled wide. Grabbing the violin and the bow felt awesome, but she didn’t dare try to play a note. “Your mother used to play the violin;”, he said, “she’ll teach you how to play”. The girl eagerly smiled. And then, he handed her a case, white with black, gold, purple, pink and red flowers drawn on it. “And a special case just for you”. It was awesome.

Her mother did indeed teach her how to play. And then, some other relatives taught her how to play the Cretan Lyra, their ancestry was partly from Crete. And her naturally finely tuned soprano voice was also an area of practice and delight. She’d devour sheets of notes. And her little sister played the viola. And the piano. But mostly the viola. And they’d duet in later years with those instruments. And later their voices too. It was beautiful. Enchanting. They’d connect. With each other, the past and the future. With everything.

Breaking out off the reminiscence, the young girl had arrived at the rehearsal room, hearing some other members present themselves. She carried her violin case. It was the same one, just enlarged to fit her current violin that her bigger than her first, she was older too. She also carried her enchanted satchel with many things inside. Especially her Cretan Lyra. Yes, she had one of her own. Hello people! Battle of the Bands, I suppose? I’m coming in you don’t mind. The Greek sat down on the floor. Only just realised you were introducing yourselves so here it goes. I’m Eugenia Karageorgiadi, second year Hufflepuff. I play the violin, the Cretan Lyra and I can sing. She smiled. She was going to like it here. Definitely.

xxx

Pings: @Silva Melinora @Eonaria Kabukimono @Ruth Fairchild @Callum Alistar @Evpraksiya Vinogradova
OOC: The musicians go far! And also, I for a tldr, she does violin, voice and lyra
Banner by Ernest Baird

IC Time: November 30th, 2024

XXXSilva, still practically mumbling out instructions, explained that they would be doing sight reading today. Eonaria instantly lit up. Now that was something she could do! Phew, not too much effort today, hehe. She grinned slightly. But then the anxious Ravenclaw realized that almost none of them knew each other and quickly reiterated the plan to begin with introductions first.

XXXEonaria listened attentively as the other members of the club began introducing themselves and their instruments, nodding appreciatively. She was surprised when a third Hufflepuff walked in, introducing herself as Eugenia Karageogiardi. Ah, I thought everyone already arrived. Does this mean the club still has more people? Eonaria glanced back towards the entrance. No one else seemed to be showing up, so she settled back again.

XXXAfter the cheerful, dramatic boy from earlier sat down next to her and introduced himself with a pleasant smile, she straightened her posture. Yikes, it's my turn now! But she did her best to keep a calm face. "Well, I am Eonaria Kabukimono, but you can call me Nari or Eona or whatever else you can find in my name." She grinned slightly at her inside joke. Okay, it's not much of an inside joke since I'm the one who understands it, but it's a... personal thing. I dunno. Whatever.

XXX"I specialize in vocals, but I can play the piano... one hand at a time. Don't expect me to bust out a sonata or anything. I can pick out notes, but that's about it. I like singing operas, but I'm good with choral singing and harmonies and that stuff, too." Eonaria beamed, giving a thumbs up. She was pretty proud of that fact.

.・-: ✧☾♩♪♩♬　. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.　♬♩♪♩☽✧ :-・.

She listened carefully as each person introduced themselves. The first was Callum. He apparently played the trumpet and tuba. Then came Ruth who had already introduced herself. She apparently played the piano and ukulele. And could sing.

She started in surprise as another person entered the room. Huh. They must have signed up yesterday. She'd been checking the sign-ups on a semi-regular basis to try and see who was coming but she hadn't had any free time yesterday. She quickly introduced herself as Eugenia. And apparently she was a second year. Silva's eyes widened at that. She was going to be attempting to teach a second year! Although... maybe she had seen this person's name before. She was pretty sure they had signed up as a leader.

After the new older girl came Aodhan. He apparently played the guitar and piano. And it was his birthday which sort of explained his earlier behavior. She quickly rummaged in her bag and pulled out a cupcake. "Happy birthday...." She handed him the cupcake and smiled weakly. She just hoped nobody asked why she had a random cupcake in her bag.

After that Eonaria began speaking. She smiled as they mentioned piano. "It's better than I can do......"

Finally one last person walked through the door. She was now beginning to remember the two people who had signed up recently. Both as leaders. She grinned. 3 leaders to help her. That would be very helpful. The last person introduced her as Ezprakvisya. Or was it Evpravsida. Eh. Whatever.

Once everyone had introduced themselves she nodded and decided to continue on what she'd originally been talking about. "Umm... as I said a little bit earlier we're doing sight reading today....... umm.... if you could all grab one of these papers..." She proffered a pile of papers that had the lines of music and different notes covering it. "umm... if you know how to sight read could you... uh... help those who don't?"

Yolanda stood frozen outside the Rehearsal Room. She was so nervous. She’d signed up the day before – quickly scribbling her name in her usual messy writing – at the last second deciding she wanted to learn more about Music.

She played a bit of piano but her interest in it had waned. Instead now, inspired by her oldest sister, she wanted to play the guitar and sing! Her oldest sister played the guitar in a band. She had gone to one of her shows and it had been awesome! When she’d written her mother and father about her school / life, including the club, someway somehow her sister had insisted on sending her a special package.

She wasn’t sure if Owls had brought it or if there was some magic postal system she didn’t know about, but whatever the case, she had an electric guitar! Specifically a Squier Stratocaster made in Korea, wine red, with a maple neck. It was epic!

Unfortunately, Yolanda couldn't play her electric guitar with an amp as there was no electricity at Hogwarts. Aw man! Yolanda could still play the guitar acoustically... for now.

She would have to bring in her acoustic until she found out more about if she could enchant her guitar with some sort of spell, or if the school had any form of magic amp around... she just wasn't certain.

Yolanda snapped back to reality when she heard the leader, Silva, another First Year guiding the group to sheets of papers for sight-reading.

This she could remember from her Piano classes… too bad she didn’t have her old keyboard from home…

Yolanda wandered into the room – hoping no one really noticed her too much. Introductions were over so she went to see about the sheets of sight-reading papers.

This could be interesting.

𝕽uth frowned as she got her hands on some of the paper. Sight reading did feel like a good place to start, but shouldn't they warm up, or something? Tune their instruments? She glanced at Silva and decided against telling her. Maybe she knows what she's doing. Despite the fact that the girl didn't seem to fully come out of her shell, Silva really knew how to get things going (even if it's a bit awkward).

Shuffling the papers to stand up right, Ruth's eyes breezed through the bars, amused. Maybe they were starting off easy. It was best not to let this get over her head. Her sight-reading was by far the worse of her music skills and knowing how to successfully achieve this one surprised her.

Oh well. Ruth fished out a pencil (yes, she brought a pencil. It's easier to carry than a quill and ink) and started taking notes on the page, a habit that her choir teacher had taught her. While this wasn't choir, she wasn't going to stop herself from making sure she recognised the enunciation of words, where it goes higher, how long she has to hold the notes...

Ruth glanced up from her work, taking in the others before her. You know what, she thought to herself, placing down the pencil and brandishing the annotated sheets, I think this is a rather friendly group to get to know better. Besides, it's a bit hard to blend in in a small group. Holding up her sheets, she mustered a smile and announced, "I know some sight-reading. If anyone needs help feel free to ask me."

Interacting with @Eonaria Kabukimono,@Eugenia Karageorgiadi,@Evpraksiya Vinogradova,@Aodhan Shaw,@Silva Melinora,@Callum Alistar,@Yolanda Yates

IC Time: November 30th, 2024

XXXYet another person walked in, an elegant Slytherin first year that Eonaria knew she had seen around, though they never had a real conversation. As Silva gestured to the stack of papers, another person entered.

XXXSo many people are late... Although I suppose they can't exactly be classified as late... maybe we're all just early. After a few seconds, Eonaria recognized the Ravenclaw that just arrived, smiling and waving at her. "Hi, Yolanda." They had met in the library months before, so she doubted that the girl remembered her, but it couldn't hurt to be friendly. Eonaria picked up one of the sheets of music, nodding to herself as she scanned it over. Okay, this is easy! I can do this. She glanced up as Ruth called out that she could help anyone who was having a bit of trouble.

XXX"I can help as well!" Eonaria added. She wasn't very sure about everyone's skill level, but if, for whatever reason, everyone had no idea what they were doing, she didn't want Ruth to get swarmed. "Silva, what's the tempo?" She turned back towards the timid Ravenclaw. Eonaria didn't want to put her on the spot, seeing how nervous she already was, but they couldn't do sight reading without the proper beat. Everyone would be going at a different pace!

.・-: ✧☾♩♪♩♬　. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.　♬♩♪♩☽✧ :-・.

Avery knew she was late. She had forgotten that the meeting was today, and was busy finishing up some homework when she realized she was late. She quickly burst into the room and was surprised to find a group of people already waiting. She quickly brushed her disheveled hair out of her face before walking in.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. I got a bit too invested in getting all of my homework done that I didn't realize I was late." Avery said with an awkward laugh.

She hoped that her lateness wouldn't become a habit. It was already bad enough that her first impression on these people was that she was late. Finally her heart calmed down from the run she had made from the Common Room, so she glanced around the room to see who she would recognize. She was surprised to see one person she recognized from around the Common Room. She guessed her name was Eonaria, but she couldn't remember.

By the way, I'm Avery Gray. I'm a first year Gryffindor, and I play the Alto Saxophone." Avery gave a small smile. Hoping that she wasn't being too rude for interrupting. She was happy though. And excited to finally put her skills to the test.

Interacting With: @Eonaria Kabukimono, @Silva Melinora, @Aodhan Shaw, @Ruth Fairchild,@Callum Alistar, @Yolanda Yates, @Evpraksiya Vinogradova, and @Eugenia Karageorgiadi

Silva made sure everyone had the paper before looking around the room again. She was quite surprised to see Yolanda, but seeing her made Silva feel all the more better. "Hi Yolanda!" She then turned back to the group and realized they were waiting for her. Two of them, Eonaria and Ruth had offered to help.

"Umm... great! Could um.... Ruth could you um... help out........" she whirled around wondering who needed it "Aodhan? Ummm or do you already know sight-reading.... sorry if you do...." She then returned to looking around "Um Yolanda... do you know sight-reading? Cause if not... then maybe Eonaria could help you?"

She suddenly realized that Eonaria had asked for the beat. "Umm yeah... uhh" She was saved from deciding by another new person coming in. How many of them signed up yesterday!?! "Hi Avery...."

She quickly held up one finger to Eonaria to tell her to wait and turned to the blackboard. She quickly flipped it over and drew on the other side

She pulled back and winced at it. It was super messy, but it would do the job. "Umm... for anyone who uh... doesn't know. This is a staff. On it are... very.. messy notes. The note on the bottom is a C and a Do in the key of C. Um... I learned sight-reading using solfege and it seems easier so... I figured we'd start with that..." She looked around to see if everyone was ok with this.

Everyone seemed pretty experienced. More so than she'd expected. They'd almost all brought instruments to play and generally that meant they at least somewhat knew how to play.

"The solfege goes do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, and then do again... on our sight-reading we're not making any jumps around... but sometimes you skip a note.. in other sigh-reading" She quickly demonstrated by awkwardly singing "Do, mi, do" and looked at the others nervously. "Um everyone get that? I'm going to sing the scale and if everyone who can could sing-along that would be great... sorry if I'm uh... starting too easy...." She quickly sung the scale and if anyone sung it with her she'd look appreciatively over at them.

"Umm... so.. Eonaria... our beat can be... a 4/4 tempo" She quickly began tapping a decently steady beat with her foot and signaled for them to begin.