An exercise in music... And patience by Aprilertuile

Chapter 1

For the Challenge Bollywood, I received the following prompt :

The movie : Andhadhun (Blind Tune): a blind piano player unwittingly gets embroiled in murder trailer (with subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iVYI99VGaw

It's actually pretty fun to watch ;)

Read Chapter 1

Makalaurë was sitting at the harp in his music room. He was holding a dark blindfold in his hands and was looking at it with much scepticism.

It was an exercise given to him by his teacher: he was supposed to use the blindfold and play music with his sight impaired.

According to the older elf, taking away his sense of sight was supposed to help the body focus on the other senses, including sound, a trait much desired in a musician.

Makalaurë wasn’t convinced.

At all.

But nevertheless, despite a heavy sigh of pure annoyance at an exercise that would probably amount to a dramatic loss of time and nothing else, he put on the blindfold and started to play the music he was supposed to practise for class.

Well... he tried to start playing the music.

27 chords. No sight to help in his hand placement.

Muscle memory wasn’t all that successful there.

He grimaced, but well... He hadn’t learnt to play the harp in a day, so to speak.

So he tried to find the proper placement of his hand, the proper strings and chords to play, by ear instead of sight.

He wasn’t satisfied with the results. Muscle memory did play a role to a point, so he was not too far from the mark, but the results made him grimace in despair nevertheless.

The moment he hesitated, he lost the position of his hands.

He hadn’t played the harp so badly, failed so hard at a piece since he started to learn.

He let his forehead hit the wood of his harp in a dull sound, tired already of this pointless exercise. Why did he even bother?

But he frowned. No. His teacher had so far not led him astray, he shouldn’t doubt him now. At least he should give it a serious chance.

He was about to start again when he heard a heavy crash in the corridor nearby. He started to take off his blindfold and had it already half out of the way when he heard the door of his room open and close, an unmistakable giggle in the overly tired voice of his older brother and cousin Findekáno.

Makalaurë had just enough of the blindfold off of his face to see them hide behind the heavy curtains of the room, when his door opened again on his father, who looked at the room with a critical air:

“Have you seen or heard anything, Makalaurë? Your mother’s vase was broken just moments ago.”

“Oh that’s what it was then?! Sorry father, I was doing the blind exercise and I was focusing, I’m afraid that if I heard the crash, I saw nothing...”

Fëanáro sighed but nodded:

“Alright, thank you. Don’t forget to change before you come to dinner, your mother has guests of the undesired and pompous sort.”

“Yes father. I’ll... Uh... try to remember.”

Fëanáro snorted at that, and left.

Makalaurë waited until he heard his father’s steps fade away in the corridor before he rose to his feet.

He went to the curtains but noticed that he had let the window open: his brother and cousin were gone. Whether they left before his father opened the door or after he left however, he wasn’t sure. He must have been distracted not to hear them move...

Now should he let them know he knew about the fact they were involved in the murder of that vase, or should he firmly stay out of it?

One might be fun but might see a return of a few secrets of his own, his brother having a long memory, alas...

The other would be peaceful and quiet...

He heard his mother’s definitely unhappy voice in the corridor, and that made his decision for him: He closed his window, and went back to his harp, putting the blindfold on again.

He would keep the peace for himself, thank you very much.

He put his hands back on his harp strings, trying again.

He had an exercise to see through after all, and no time to deal with his sibling’s and cousin's shenanigans.

His mother’s anger was one thing he didn’t want to approach in any way, shape, or form. Let the family keep believing he didn’t know! And let the breaking of the vase stay a mystery.

This way laid peace and harmony.

Or at least less screaming.

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Chapter End Notes

Thank you for reading this little piece. :)