2010-04-18: Nirvana Hockey And Giving Up

Players:

Kenta_icon.jpg Lucas_icon.jpg

Summary: Lucas reluctantly meets Kenta for his first music lesson as 'punishment'.

Date: April 18, 2010

Log Title Nirvana, Hockey and Giving Up.

Rating: PG


Xavier Mansion - Music Room

The music room has four levels of tiers that each sit one row in a semi circle. On the floor in the semi circle is grand piano. There is a large closet on either side of the room, one filled with string instruments and the other filled with various wind and brass instruments. There are a few guitars in the back of the room next to a large variety of percussion instruments. All the instruments here are for the students to use provided they take care of them and clean any necessary parts after they use it. The room is sound proof, so once the door is closed, the music being played will not interrupt the other classrooms.


It's the first offical music lesson for Lucas with Kenta. Why did Kenta pick Sunday, well who knows, but at the moment he's waiting in the music room. He's got his electric guitar hooked up and is playing away and even singing. It's got a heavy rock sound, and it's defiantly his own as he's developed his own style over the years. He's also singing but it's hard to hear over the guitar since he doesn't have a mike set up. In regards to guitar and his vocals, he's good. He's very good. And while he plays, Kenta can't help but act like he's playing in front of a crowd as the short music teacher is very animated when he plays.

Lucas slowly opens the door, a hesitance in his step. He peers in, sighs, and then steps all the way in. He's carrying a worn notebook and is wearing a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a white Tshirt, a short sleeved button up shirt over it, left unbuttoned. He slinks to a chair and sits. Waiting. He's not going to rush this, maybe Kenta won't notice him until the times up and he can get out.

Kenta does notice Lucas walk in and immediately stops playing. He puts his guitar down on the stand with love and walks over to Lucas, sitting down next to him in a chair. "HEy there Lucas, glad to see you didn't punk out on me." He says with a smile as he runs his hand back through his hair. "I got bored waiting for you so I decided to play a little. So, what is it that you're expecting out of these lessons, besides a punishment?"

Lucas sighs, "…damn…" he mutters. Another sigh, and then he offers, "Ah dunnow. Ah'm here because y'all are makin' me, so…" He shrugs, "Ah dunnow. Are you gonna teach me? Are you just wantin' Ah should jam with you? Or are you assignin' like, work?" He raises his brow, "It's your show, Prof."

"Well it's a bit of both, someone to jam with and teach you. I'm not gonna assign you any homework, just, I wanna see what you can do. Do you have a guitar here?" Kenta knows they talked about it but he really can't remember. "I wanna see what you can do and what I can teach you. I wanna see if you're all talk or if you've actually got something." He says teasing a bit.

Lucas sighs, and shakes his head. "Ah don't have a guitar. It was destroyed in the fire." He looks away as he says the last, and doesn't elaborate. Then he shrugs once more, "Ah ain't super great. Ah qualified to attend the school for biology and voice, but Ah play okays, Ah reckon. It's been a year or so since Ah played. Well, exceptin' the other night when James an' Ah tussled."

"Yeah, there's still some damage in here." Kenta says with a chuckle as he looks about the room. "Okay, so do you wanna sing for me or do you wanna play guitar. You can use mine if you just treat her kindly." Wow, that's something Kenta rarely allows, someone else to touch his guitar. "And I'll be the judge of super great or not."

Lucas looks at the guitar, following the cable to the floor to see if it has any pedals. He glances at Kenta, "Great. You're judging me. No pressure an' shit, right?" Then he walks over to the guitar and straps it on. He plucks a few strings, testing the tuning. "What should Ah play?" he asks, a hint of shyness in his usually confident and aggressive voice.

"Nah, I wouldn't call it judging you, just more of a placement test I guess. Honestly, I just wanna know what I can teach you and what I can't. I don't know what level you're at. It's like going in blind to teach someone match, you start with algebra and find out they already know pre-calc." Kenta says as he hopes that makes sense to the student. "Whatever you want to play. Play me your favourite song."

Lucas sighs, nods a little, and then turns the volume dial up on the guitar. He reaches over to the amp and does the same thing. He looks at the strings, picks up a pick from the amp, and then begins to strum. He plays Nirvana, Pennyroyal Tea. His guitar is good, he could play rhythm in a garage band, but it's not anywhere near Kenta's. However, when he sings, it's perfect pitch. His voice is loud, audible even over the guitar, and he sings with a great deal of power. He's a little higher pitched than Cobain, and it's a little cleaner, too, prettier even. He does even manage the gravelly yell/sing parts quite well in the chorus.
"I'm on my time with everyone
I have very bad posture…
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
Distill the life that's inside of me
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
I'm anemic royalty"

Nirvana, how come Kenta isn't surprised. He listens to Lucas play, and doesn't interrupt until he's finished, he's actually pleasantly surprised at Lucas's voice and how he can get some of those higher pitches. His guitar skill, he'll offer a few pointers later but right now, he wants to comment on Lucas's voice. "Hey Lucas, do you know you're octive range?"

Lucas shrugs, "Ah can sing tenor and baritone, and can do some countertenor parts, but not the REALLY high ones." He furrows his brow, suspiciously, "Why?"

"Well I wanted to see your voice range, you've got a good voice and I'm thinking that with practice you can probably have a pretty decent range." Kenta can defiantly tell Lucas has had vocal training, his voice is strong, it doesn't waver and his breathing is good. All in all, he's impressed. "Man, I should introduce you to my old band, they're new singer sucks." He says with a chuckle before asking Lucas another question. "How much do you know about music theory and reading music and telling what key it's in?"

Lucas shrugs, "Ah been to an art magnet school for three years for Ah came here. Ah read music, Ah had music theory…" He rolls his eyes, "Ah ain't stupid." He begins to remove the guitar, preparing to sit it down gently on its stand. He smirks, a little cocky, "Ah sing better'n YOU, man."

Kenta doesn't make a comment on who sings better, honestly it'd be a tie if they were the same age but it's hard since Kenta's got several years on Lucas. "Did I call you stupid?" Kenta asks raising an eyebrow. "Man you're touchy sometimes." He says with a grin. "Though if you want me to sing something I'm willing to Luke. But so, what kind of music do you like, besides Nirvana?"

Lucas sort of pauses when he calls him Luke. It's like everything inside Lucas' brain snags for a moment, his left eyebrow twitches as he freezes, before he sort of looks around, and then says, "…no…" quietly. "No, that's okay." He furrows his brow, "Um… Ah like Nirvana… Um… Silverchair, Dashboard Confessional… Anythin' by Sondheim- though, Ah'll deny that one if'n you tell anyone."

Kenta smiles and leans back in the chair and nods. "Cool, now I know what kind of styles you like. So I think our first lesson will be some blues music. Blues is always fun." Kenta says as he knows he's gonna have to get a guitar for Lucas to use here. Sondheim doesn't get a snarky comment though. "Sondheim is a great writer and it's some good stuff to learn off of. I will admit to liking the music from Les Mis myself."

Lucas quickly responds, "Into the Woods. His best work." He nods a little, and then makes a grossed face. "Blues?" He shakes his head, "Seriously? Ah reckon maybe y'all mighta noticed that Ah ain't exactly the right color for that music."

Kenta shakes his head a Lucas and sighs. "Blues isn't about colour, it's a certain style that if it wasn't around, rock and roll as we know it wouldn't be around. Blues is the base for a lot of styles of music. It's a good thing to learn and it would really strengthen your guitar skills. I'm not asking you to change what you like or telling you, you have to play blues the rest of your life, but I'm gonna teach you the basics of playing and then we'll go from there. Believe me, I'm not a blues type but it really did help."

Lucas sighs, "Ah reckon this IS supposed to be punishment…" He shakes his head a little. "You know, it's a damn good thing the rec room has a DVR. Ah'm missin' the Predator's play the Blackhawks right now to be here. It's the quarterfinals for the Stanley, which Ah…" He pauses, and then waves off Kenta, shaking his head. "Nevermind. Ah don't reckon you much know sports, let alone hockey." He sighs, "Okay, so… How's this work? You give me sheet music for Count Blah-sey an' Ah learn to play it by next time or what?" he says, mocking the name.

Kenta shrugs at the punishment part. "Damn straight it is, and if you screw up again, next time it's gospel." Kenta is just teasing at that but he stands up and stretches. "No I don't know a ton about hockey but, how about we call it a night and I'll watch the end of this Hockey game with you. I have a TV in my room so that way you won't be bothered by the other kids here if you want."

Lucas nods, "Anything to be done." He stands, "Maybe, if'n you're real good, Ah might even explain how offsides works when you ask— and you WILL." He smirks, "No one understands that…"

"Yeah, I'll admit, I don't understand that." Kenta says as he goes to turn off all his equipment and sling his guitar over his shoulder, he's not leaving her in here alone. "And anything to be done eh? Tell me Lucas, is this really that bad of a punishment? Cause it if is, who knows what I can come up with, and I can come up with some strange stuff."

Lucas sighs, and he pauses, seriously considering if it's so bad. He swallows, looks around the room, then back at Kenta. "Look, Ah just…" He struggles for words a moment, looking away, shifting his weight to his other leg, and then back to Kenta. "This is a part of my life Ah didn't think Ah'd ever have again. Ah sorta… wrote it off, ya know?"

"What music?" Kenta says as he looks up at Lucas curiously. "Music is something that's inside you Luke. I mean, you can let go of it for a while but if you love it, it's always gonna be there. Maybe you should think about why I decided this should be a punishment for you? Believe me, it's not to make you miserable." Kenta says with a genuine smile. "So if you don't mind me asking, what made you shut your emotional output ya know, that something to express yourself, off?"

Lucas sighs, "Ah lost my hands." He holds his gloves up, "These are new. Ah didn't think Ah'd ever get my powers under control, an' the protective gloves what Ah had before weren't gonna let me be able to play guitar none." He shrugs a little, his expression a little pitiable, "Ah just got used to the idea of leavin' it behind, an' now you got me all confused with it bein' here again…"

Kenta nods to Lucas and looks at his hands. "Well, even with the gloves, at least you have them back. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you Lucas. I figured though, when you told me you went to a magnet school for singing, you had to have chosen that cause you liked it. But there is something I'm kind of curious about, you lost the use of your hands, what about your voice then?"

Lucas shakes his head, and looks at his shoes. "Everythin' else was ruined… Ah just…" He shrugs, and says more quietly, "…Ah just started from scratch. It's easier to pretend that weren't me."

"It's always easy to run, believe me." Kenta says with a hint of regret. "Just, this is you Lucas. If you pretend you're just there hiding and it's gonna be worse when you realize that.

Lucas nods, "Ah know. It's just easier to live with what Ah've done if'n Ah pretend Ah weren't ever somethin' else." He picks up his notebook, "We're gonna miss that game…"

Kenta nods and reaches up to pat Lucas on the shoulder. He's not going to ask what he did, Kenta will save that for another day. "Alright, lets go catch the game Luke. Let's go." Kenta says leading the way out of the room and to his dorm here where the two can watch the game and Lucas can explain hockey to the music teacher.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License