Players:
Summary: Daisuke and Kieran talk a bit about family and music preferences.
Date: May 18, 2011
Log Title: The Drummer And The Pianist
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.
Not having to attend classes gives Daisuke a lot of free time which is why he's in the music room banging away on the drumset there. He's got his earbuds in as he practices. On the floor next to him is a hoodie and a large bottle of water as he's been in the room for about a half hour now. He's completely lost track of time and hasn't realized it's nearing lunch time as he's absorbed into practicing, mimicing what he hears on his earbuds.
Having a bit of free time on his hands, Kieran decided to actually come down and see if the piano was free to do a little bit of practicing in before his next class that he has to take. His eyes flicker slightly as he catches sight of Daisuke. The teen's got a folder of sheet music with him and his backpack. He begins to wonder if he should have brought his guitar down to play with the drums.
Daisuke isn't the greatest drummer but he's got some skill and does know what he's doing. It doesn't take long for him to notice someone else in the room and he quickly stops, putting a hand on the symbol to quiet it. "Oh..sorry…if you need to use the room feel free. I'm just messing around." He says seeming a bit surprised at the sudden appearance of Kieran. He grabs his hoodie quickly and goes to throw it on to cover the various scars that run up and down his arms.
"Well I wouldn't say that I need to use it but I was going to practice piano." Kieran says shrugging a little bit,"I've just got a bit of free time and thought I'd get a bit of time, so thought I'd practice. I've been slacking on piano lately, mostly just been playing my guitar." He says casually, not commenting or even reacting much to the scars on the man's arms.
"I was doing the same since Mr. Gil..I mean Kenta doesn't have any classes today." Daisuke says. "I can come back later so if you need to use it, that's fine. I'm not a student here anymore so if you want to practice for class I don't mind leaving." He brushes some of his hair out of his face. "Oh, I'm Daisuke by the way, or just Dai. I'm one of the tutors and student teachers here."
"Not class." Kieran says shaking his head a bit,"It's just something that I do. I prefer the guitar most of the time, but piano does have a time and a place where it's better." He says casually as he moves to sit by the piano,"I'm Kieran, student here… A recent one too."
Daisuke nods. "Nice to met you Kieran, I've been here a long time at this point." He says. "But I don't always know who is recent and who isn't. I just play the drums and it's for fun. That's about it." He says shruging a shoulder. He's been great at opening up around new people and his shyness is kicking in quite a bit.
"Yeah. I have only been here a couple weeks. Well, my mom insisted on lessons when I was younger and it just sort of stuck." Kieran says smiling a bit,"A lot of people play just one instrument. I've never actually studied the drums at all."
"My Father never really insisted on me doing anything, well academically or musically. I just picked it up cause I wanted to." Daisuke says as he fiddles with one of the drumsticks in his hand. "I started around when I was thirteen and I'm twenty now so seven years now. But it's just a hobby I don't want to be in a band or anything."
"Well my mom was into music and thought it good for us. My dad…well he was more about our academic grades being 'up to par'." Kieran says shrugging indifferently,"I think I've been playing guitar for around that long." He says absently,"Maybe less, but I have been learning to play Eric Clapton's music a lot lately."
"I didn't really know my Mom and my Father..well..I didn't get along with him." Daisuke says looking down at the ground as he pulls on the sleeve of his hoodie. "I kept my grades up cause I wanted them to be up. I probably would have been Valadictorian at my old school if I didn't come here but…I'd rather be here then win some 'best grades' award." He says looking u. "I never listened to a lot of Eric Clapton. I don't listen to a lot of American music honestly."
"I wasn't valedictorian level because my english grades were never great." Kieran says shrugging a bit,"He's a blue guitarist. A very great one. Probably one of the best of all time if you ask me. I've not had much exposure to music from outside of the US. Well, other than old style classic music."
"Oh I know who he is I just neer listend to him much." Daisuke says as his eyes still linger on the floor. "I was the only one in my family born here and my Father didn't like much of anything English Speaking in the house so my brother and I used to go to Chinatown and find a bunch of Japanese music. Dir En Grey and anything kind of heavy sounding is what I like."
"Ah. I don't have clue who Dir En Grey is." Kieran says laughing a little bit,"And that's cool. I think listening to what you're heritage is, is a pretty good idea." He says smiling a bit at Daisuke,"So you graduated from here?"
Daisuke can't help but give a bit of a smile as he finally looks up. "I don't know if cross dressing Japanese Metal is really much of a heritage but..I like the music. Well they don't do the cross dressing thing anymore but they're pretty heavy." He says brushing his hair ouf of his face. "Yeah, a few years back. I haven't a clue what to do next so I've been lingering here."
"I don't… From what I hear about anime and kabuki theater…" Kieran says grinning broadly,"Of course the English also did the crossdressing thing. They banned from their stages for the longest time." He says shrugging a little bit,"Well you could start teaching drums to students? I'm sure there are plenty that would love to learn the drums."
"Some anime is good, I watched a lot of it with my brother as a kid. It's pretty cool what you can find in Chinatown." Daisuke says with a small smile. "Well a lot of Japanese musicans, their style was influenced by Glam Rock and evolved into what it is today. And as for teaching, I'm better at teaching academics and do the tutoring thing here. I don't think I'd be a good percussion teacher."
"I've only seen Neon Genesis Evangeleon." Kieran says shrugging a bit,"It was pretty good, but I have little exposure to it." He says casually,"Well why don't you see about doing that? You seemed a good enough teacher to give kids the basics."
Daisuke gets really quiet again and just shrugs. "I don't really want to teach drums and it's kind of a personal thing." He tries to explain as drumming is an excape for Dai. "Neon Genesis Evangeleon was okay but I think I was too young when I saw it. My brother liked it but I didn't really get it. I liked Cowboy Bebop and Trigun a lot more."
"It was really kind of confusing as to what was going on I think. I didn't see all of it though. My dad wasn't happy with it." Kieran says frowning slightly, before nodding his head a bit about the personal thing,"I've heard of Cowboy Bebop, but never seen it. Never heard of Trigun."
"As long as it wasn't in English my Father didn't really care what we watched. The less interaction I had with that man the better." Daisuke says a bit harshly. "Cowboy Bebop is cool and so is Trigun. It's like this futeristic Western in a lot of ways. I have it on DVD if you ever want to check it out."
"Sure. My dad… Well he could be odd. He was far more strict than my mother and didn't really approve of a lot of tv watching unless we had completely one hundred percent averages on all our tests, otherwise there was room for improvement." Kieran says shrugging a bit,"That and I don't think he liked the monsters being Angels and how demonic some of the stuff looked. Mom didn't care, and probably thought it interesting."
Daisuke pulls his legs up to his chest, hugging them, and nods. "Oh that stuff never bothered anyone in my family much. Even if my Mom were alive when we watched it. I kind of a Shintoist. My Grandmother is and taught me a lot about it and makes me go to the temples when I visit her in Kyoto."
"Well we're not like every sunday go to mass or anything, but I think my dad's just a bit uptight." Kieran says shrugging,"I've heard about Shinto but don't know anything about it." He says before pausing,"Kyoto's near Tokyo isn't it?"
Daisuke nods. "It's a few hours away. I love going to Tokyo, I miss it a bit. I usually go there two or three times when I visit my Grandmother." Daisuke says with a smile. "I don't know much about Christianity just that there's one God and Jesus and something with Heaven and Hell, mainly the mainstream media stuff." He says. "Shintoism is a bit more spiritual"
"Christianity depends on the sect but that's the basis. Although don't think stuff that some of these people spew and call themselves Christians has /anything/ to do with what the religion is supposed to be." Kieran says as he looks over seriously,"Spiritualism is good. Less harm there."
Daisuke shrugs as it's all stuff that's over his head. "Theology has never been my strong spot. I just try to visit my Mom and Brother's grave once a year, clean it up with my Grandma and pay my respects. I don't have a shrine to them since I live here but my Grandmother does at her house."
"My mom occasionally has taken me to her grandparents graves, but that's about it. Don't really know anyone that's died. Guess I'm kind of lucky." Kieran says seriously,"Are shrines in the house a normal thing for the Shinto religion?" He asks after pausing for a moment.
Daisuke nods. "Yeah, it's common in Japan. We don't have one for my Father though. He…my Grandmother and I don't really feel the need to pay respects to him." He says a bit coldly. "She has their ashes there, since I don't have any of their ashes I don't have a shrine. We're very supersticious with rituals such."
"Ah. So your father passed away?" Kieran asks curiously,"Have you ever thought of playing the piano?" He asks curiously,"Sometimes the sounds that a piano can produce are kind of expressive of how you feel. Maybe not as good a stress relief as say the drums, but it can let you express things you can't normally."
"Yeah but…it's not a sad thing. I miss my brother more then anyone else though." Daisuke says. "My father..he wasn't a good man. When I found out he died I was kind of numb to it. And no, I never really thought of trying the piano. I draw and paint and stuff to express how I feel."
"Ah. I suck at art." Kieran says laughing a little bit as he begins playing piano softly, just a background sound. "I'm not great at piano either but better than art." He says as he looks towards the keys for a moment,"I should probably write some of the stuff down. When I play it's usually soft stuff if I'm just playing around and not trying to play a specific piece." He says seriously, fingers coaxing a soft slow rather melancholy piece from the piano, not a great piece but he's better than an amateur at least.
"When I play drums I usually try to mimic what I hear in songs I like but the problem with that is the drumset here is much smaller then what they use." Daisuke says. "The drummer of Dir En Grey's set is huge, it's got a double bass drum." He says as a part of him would love to play on a drum set like that. "And from the little bit I'm hearing now I think you play the piano just fine."
"Never said I was bad." Kieran says smiling a bit,"The piano is a great mood instrument. It's easier to play slow sad songs that perky hyper ones though." He adds shrugging a little bit,"So why not try and get one that's the same size? You seemed to enjoy playing the drums when I got here. If you enjoy it and it isn't something that is done at the expense of someone else or is damaging to you, why not?"
"It's because I don't have anywhere to put a kit. I was going to invest in one when I got my own apartment with a friend in the City but she ended up moving back home to Chicago." Daisuke says. "And a lot of my other friends are in college and I don't want to clutter up the music room with a massive drum set. Maybe someday I will though. And the piano is very relaxing to listen too."
"Before I left I was working on Moonlight Sonata." Kieran says smiling a bit,"It's hard though. As for where to put it, I guess that might be a problem. But least you can play the set that's here. It's big enough for you to enjoy playing I guess." He says as he closes his eyes and takes a breath before he begins trying to play the Moonlight Sonata, his fingers moving slowly over the keys as he hums along using that to try and help him remember the piece, although it gets a bit muddled quickly.
"It's just a hobbie anyway. It's not like I plan on becoming a professional drummer." Daisuke says with a bit of a smile. "Good luck working on Moonlight Sonata, I'm sure you're parents would be proud if you finished learning it when you go back and visit them…assuming you are on good terms with your parents still?"
"I am on as good as terms as ever with my dad, not sure how my mom's really handling it. They're great at hiding their emotions." Kieran says shrugging a little bit as he continues playing, getting a little better with a bit more confidence in the notes he's playing,"Have you ever heard this one before? This and Fur Elise, are probably my favorites to try and play. They aren't his hardest pieces, or anything but they're just kind of nice."
Daisuke shakes his head. "Not that I know of. I don't listen to a lot of classical music. When visiting my Grandmother she listens to a lot of Shamisen music which is really relaxing and usually puts me right to sleep." He says chuckling. "Well that's good, so many other people here don't even have that much."
"Yeah. I've heard that. My friend Kevin's dad that he grew up with just wanted to use his powers. His current dad one and two are connected to the school and supposedly really good people from what I've heard." Kieran says before glancing towards his watch and sighing,"I should get going. I don't have long before the next class I have to attend."
"Dr. Parker-Mayfair…his son Eddie is one of my closest friends. The Parker-Mayfairs are probably some of the greatest people I've met." Daisuke says as he's grown to care for the teachers and their adopted son. "I'll see you around Kieran. And if you ever need help with English homework or any other subject, let me know. Have a good day."
