Music School Chapter 7

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Lindsey, Kaja, Tessa, and Maxine were out enjoying the warm day. They had gotten together and decided to have an all-girls day. Tessa and Maxine loved hitting yard sales and thrift stores. Maxine saw several people having yard sales and pulled over to explore them.

One person was selling some musical instruments and that got Tessa’s and Lindsey’s interest. Another person had some beautiful artwork and stained-glass windows and such for sale. Kaja loved things like that. Maxine saw a few leather jackets and dresses that were vintage but would still look nice.

All the people that were having the yard sale had bunches of cd’s, records and a recorder player for sale. Between the four of them, they end up spending six hundred dollars. Lindsey bought a French horn, cello, and another saxophone that the seller was selling. She found out that the ladies late husband used to play in a jazz group a long time ago before his health started failing him.

The woman showed Lindsey pictures of her husband when he uses to performed. That’s was how they had met. He played at an event she went to and they started dating. He played in an orchestra and a few big bands. The cello Lindsey bought needed some repairs but would be a
nice instrument to learn how to play. She figures that it would be good to use to help Tessa’s song along.

Tessa was stuck on where to go with it and the instruments in their music collection didn’t have the right tone for it. The electric guitars and synthesizer just didn’t sound right. They played around with several different ways to play the song and tune, but something was missing.

As for the French horn. Lindsey has been curious about playing one. She loved how it sounded and wanted to see how hard it would be to learn how to play it. All the records and CDs they bought were records that they had heard and loved how they sounded when they were playing.

Lindsey wrote a song about the state trooper that pulled them over a few days ago. She didn’t remember his name, but Krist did and she included it into a song called Bad Cop. She made sure to describe him perfectly in the song, so everyone will recognize him.

They loaded Maxine’s SUV up with their purchases. They stopped to have lunch at one of their hangouts. The owner of the restaurant loved it when they stopped by. While they are waiting for their meal.

A young girl comes over towards their table “can I have your autograph please?”

Alisa had spotted the women from Dusty Gasket sitting and waiting for their meal. She had two of their cd’s and a t-shirt she got when she went to the concert, they put on in front of city hall. She couldn’t wait to show her friends when she sees them in school.

All the girls write their name for the little girl. When she looked at the names, she wonders who two of them were. She looks up at the other two girls and wonders who they were.

Lindsey saw the confused look on the young girls face “Maxine is our sound engineer and Kaja makes and design all our beautiful merchandise.”

The little girl looks at each woman and smiles. She didn’t know they were part of the band.

“Thank you.” As turns around and head back to her mother.

“Geez, I feel unimportant all of sudden.” Maxine takes a sip of her drink.

“I'm used to it.” Kaja knew Lindsey and the others got all the credit and praise.

“You know we couldn’t do our job without you guys.” Tessa knew how it felt to be left out of things.

The pizza place she works at, always undervalued her. She helped make the dough, pizzas and other Italian dishes. The thing was, she never got any credit for what she did. Now, the restaurant was doing extremely well, thanks to her reputation with the band.

After lunch, the girls head to the spa for some pampering. All of them get a massage and soak in the hot tub. Since they all were under twenty-one, they receive non-alcoholic champagne.

By the time they leave the spa, it was dark outside. They decide to go to a karaoke bar and have some fun. They choose a variety of songs from the ’80s and ’90s. They pick I miss the rains in Africa by Toto, Is This Love by White Snake, U can’t Touch This by M.C. Hammer, A few Culture Club songs, Joyride and Listen to Your Heart by Roxette. They also sing I’ll Do Any Thing For Love, But I Won’t Do That, by Meatloaf.

When the girls go back to their table after performing for the crowd. A slender man with black hair comes over to them “excuse me ladies, but I couldn’t help to hear the four of you singing up there. I was wondering if you four ever thought about forming a band and performing for real?”

A playful smile appears on Lindsey’s and Tessa’s face. Kaja just smirks and Maxine was trying very hard not to laugh. Lindsey looks at the guy “thank you for the comment. Why don’t you leave your card and we’ll think about it?”

Jacob digs his business card out and hands it to Lindsey. He wonders if they will call him or not. He turns around and leaves the bar.

All four of them start laughing once he was gone. They couldn’t believe that he didn’t recognize two members of the Dusty Gasket. It’s not like they wore a lot of make-up or anything.

They all head back to Maxine’s place and party until around midnight or so. Everyone slowly starts to fall asleep. Tessa takes the sofa, Kaja and Lindsey sleep next to each other on the floor and Maxine sleeps in her bedroom. Sometime during the night, Lindsey ends up spooned against Kaja.

Maxine is the first one awake and stumbles through the living room towards the kitchen. She notices Kaja was spooned against Lindsey.
Which wasn’t nothing new. When they travel, Lindsey normally slept with Kaja. She checks Tessa and she was still out of it. Maxine heads into the kitchen and brew some coffee for everyone.

While the coffee brewed, Maxine was thinking the morning breakfast buffet at Golden Corral would be nice to go too. She’ll give the others a few more minutes to wake-up, before waking them. Once the coffee was brewed, she poured herself a cup and enjoy it.

Tessa wakes up next and notices Lindsey in Kaja’s arms. She has woken up before when they had shared a room and found Kaja and Lindsey like that. She stumbles towards the bathroom and relieves her bladder. She smells the aroma of fresh coffee in the air.

Tessa completes her business and heads to the kitchen, where she spots, Maxine. She was enjoying her coffee “morning.”

Tessa sits down at the counter next to her on the bar stools. She looks at Maxine “have Lindsey and Kaja always been that close?”

“If you mean, have they always slept in each other’s arms, yes. It didn’t really start till our fifth gig. Kaja is bisexual, just like Lindsey is, I think.
Lindsey is still learning things out about herself.” Maxine knew how people like Lindsey and Tessa had to decide which way they swung.

She had a cousin that used to be female and always thought she was the dike type of lesbian but later learned that she was really trans. Once she accepted that about herself, she started transiting from female to male. She wonders if the relationship that was forming between Kaja, Ian and Lindsey were going to last.

Lindsey wakes up next, followed by Kaja. They do their morning business and join Tessa and Maxine in the kitchen for coffee.

“I was thinking, breakfast at the Golden Corral might be a good idea. What do you ladies think?” Maxine was refreshing her cup of coffee.

“Sounds, like a plan. Afterward, can we go by a place that repairs cello’s and drop the one I bought off?” Lindsey wanted to get her new cello worked on.

“No problem. I know the perfect person for the job.” Maxine knew an old man that owned a shop that specialized in string instruments.

They get dress and head out for breakfast. Maxine was walking behind Tessa and was watching how she walked.

“Tessa, sweetie. You need to put a little more wiggle in your walk.”

“What do you mean??” Tessa was curious.

“Walk like this.” Maxine walks in front of Tessa showing her how to put a wiggle in her walk and turns around and walks back.

Tessa watched as Maxine’s ass wiggled. She watches her hips and arm movement.

“Do you mean like this?” As she starts walking as Maxine did.

“Yes, but more fluid and graceful. Watch how Lindsey’s moves.” Maxine motions for Lindsey to walk.

Lindsey does what Maxine wanted her to do. She never thought about how she walked before. It all came naturally to her.

Tessa watches Lindsey and notices what Maxine was talking about. She copies how Lindsey walks.

“That’s it, Tessa. Just like that, put a little shake in that ass.” Maxine smiles as she watches Tessa.

They all pretend they are walking on a runway with an exaggerated wiggle to their walk. When Kaja starts her walk “shake those butt cheeks.”

They all laugh as they head inside the restaurant and have breakfast. Lindsey has her normal, which is a fruit bowl and then a load of bacon, eggs, and sausage.Tessa has grits mixed with eggs and plenty of bacon. Maxine and Kaja have hash and hash browns with theirs.

When they get back to their table, Maxine looks at Lindsey “why did you buy a French Horn and Cello?”

“I thought it would be neat to learn how to play. Plus, the piece Tessa is writing is missing something. We have tried all our instruments and different ways to play them to see if we can get that special tune, her music needs. I’m hoping the rich sound a cello make will fit in.” Lindsey
didn’t have any other suggestions.

“Man, how many instruments do you play?” Maxine knew Lindsey play a few.

“Mmm, four right now. The cello and French horn will make six.” Lindsey figures she should keep developing her musical talents.

“When do you find the time to practice with all your instruments?” Kaja looks over towards Lindsey because she was an honor student at school. She was taking college-level courses, while most kids took normal courses in school.

“I practice an hour per instruments. So, I try to set time aside to practice before and after school to practice.” Lindsey bites a piece of bacon.

They continue to make little chit chat while enjoying breakfast. When they are done, Maxine takes Lindsey to the person she knew that repaired string instruments. An old fashion brass bell rings when they walk in.

Tessa and Kaja look around, while Lindsey and Maxine take the cello to the counter. There was an old man standing behind the counter, wearing an old black apron.

“How can I help you, young ladies?” Lawrence looks at the four young women in his shop.

He recognizes Maxine, but the other three were new to him.

“I would like to drop this cello off for repairs and tuning.” Lindsey lifts the cello up onto the counter.

Lawrence unzips the cloth case that had been protecting it. He pulls his little flashlight out and starts examining the cello. He stops when he reads the markings inside it. He looks up and at Lindsey “do you know what type of cello you have here, young lady?”

Lindsey looks at him with a puzzled look on her face. She was confused by the question.

“What do you mean sir? Isn’t it just a normal cello?” Lindsey didn’t know the differences in string instruments.

Lawrence couldn’t believe this young lady didn’t know what she had. He wonders where she got it from. This one was one of the lost ones,
“you have here a 1709 Stradivarius cello. If I remember correctly, its name is Romberg Boccherini and it has been missing for years.

“Are you saying that it is stolen?” Lindsey had heard the name before but didn’t know much about it.

“Actually, it was presumed, destroyed. I don’t know who sold it to you, but it is very valuable.” Lawrence couldn’t believe he had a lost Stradivarius cello in his shop.

“Well, I would like it repaired and tuned. Also, if you have a hard case for it, I would like that as well.” Lindsey wanted to protect it as much as possible.

“Ma’am, you know it will be expensive to repair. It has been neglected for a long time.” Lawrence had spotted several bad spots and other items that needed replacing.

“That’s fine. I don’t mind spending the money on my instruments. You wouldn’t happen to know a good shop I can drop a saxophone off, do you?” Lindsey wanted to have the other sax she brought looked at and cleaned.

“You can leave it here and I’ll have it looked after for you.” Lawrence’s friend Sam a few doors down from him could handle the job.

“Okay, let me go and get it for you.” Lindsey walks outside to get the saxophone and takes it back in.

“Here you go.” As she sets the saxophone down on the counter, gently.

Lawrence knew right away whose saxophone this use to be. The previous owner was a good friend of his. He looks at the young girl “do you know how to play the sax?”

Lindsey just smirks at the question “yes sir, I know how to play the saxophone. I have one that I play in my school band and in my band as well.”

He looks closely at Lindsey and it finally dawned on him, who she was. He saw her and heard her play in front of City Hall, and out in the park.

He smiles at her “I’ll make sure both your instruments are well taken care of. I just need for you to fill this card out, please.” He passes her a registration card to fill out.

Lindsey fills the card out and gives it back to him. She made sure her signature was readable. Her cursive was a little hard to read.

“Thank you.” Lawrence attaches it to the saxophone and the cello.

“Well, that’s done. What’s next?”

As all of them walk out of the store together.

Just as Maxine was going to say something, all their cellphones beep letting them know a message had come through. It read:

Band meeting at the studio at 2:00 pm., Terry

“Well, that answers that message.” Lindsey wonders what the meeting was about.

“Who knows. Lets go and unload the SUV at your places, before we head there.”

“Okay.” Lindsey takes the passenger seat.

Tessa and Kaja take the back seat. Maxine heads to Kaja place since it was closer to them.

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Comments

my son introduced me to musical

instruments, It always bothered me how subservient band was to high school football.

Compulsory

Andrea Lena's picture

When I attended high school in the last century, band members could not refuse marching band. The high school football team had a bigger budget than the entire music and art department combined.

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Medical restrictions

Medical restrictions probably were accommodated.

Marching band

WillowD's picture

That's one nice thing about Canada. The sports teams were not significantly more important than other extracurricular activities.

The orchestra band, which I was in, did march in some civic parades, but that was because we wanted to. And it was probably also because one of the music teachers used to teach in Alabama and wanted to introduce marching to us. Trust me, it's a lot more fun when you aren't worried about your spit turning into ice inside your clarinet.

Marching Band

In both Jr. High and High School we had marching band in the fall, aka football season. In the spring we had orchestra. Separating the two like that allowed students that couldn't or wouldn't march to take other classes in the fall and take orchestra in the spring. However, not being in the marching band meant no PE exemption. In addition to more popular recent music we also did the classics like Sousa's marches. I loved that music!

In addition, we also had a pep band for fall and winter sports, especially basket ball. There was about 6-10 members, some floating and some of us regulars. We would also work out a list of songs we played that the cheerleaders worked out special routines. Anybody remember a song that came out in '69 - "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"? That was a real get 'em standing and moving song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaG2Acg8n60

Easily the most popular song we played. Always got the cheerleaders hyper and bouncing around.


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

if she has a genuine

if she has a genuine Stradivarius the first thing she needs to do is get it appraised and then get it insured.

Also she needs

To do a bit more research on WHO does the repairs before giving it to "A friend of a friend" to have it repaired. I actually went through this when I wanted some repairs done to a very rare instrument I came across in an identical manner, although I bought it in a pawn shop. Not knowing what it was I took it to the Luthier that does all the work on my other instruments and I trust. He recognized it was a very rare antique Bacon banjo and to make a long story short there is only one shop in the US that can do the repairs properly and authenticate it.

We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

Rare instruments

The cello needs to be insured and securely stored.

Heck, renting it to prominent musicians or for special performances might bring her some revenue.

Wonder what up?

Samantha Heart's picture

Another band meeting eather they have another gig or someone else is leaving the band.

Love Samantha Renée Heart.