In the belly of the Whale – Music n Motion
by Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Eredh Hay'legh

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Title   Music n Motion
Mission   In the belly of the Whale
Author(s)   Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Eredh Hay'legh
Posted   Sun May 23, 2010 @ 10:34am
Location   Briefing room
Timeline   early morning
Tag   Eredth Hay'legh
Tell arrived at the briefing room complete with music, stands and violins. She hoped that the Eredh wouldn't be to long as Tell was eager to start. While she waited she picked up her own violin to play through the song she had been working on about the FHew.It started off slow as if the ship was coming from a distance into land....

Hay’Legh leaned against the entrance and listened to Tell play. And it reminded her a little of another human song that she had heard a long time ago…that player had made the violin sound like the cry of seabirds and from then the instrument had always intrigued her, though Hay’Legh had never found someone along with the time to be able to learn it. To bad she had to kill him…that player had been her third assassination.

Just as it would be so easy for her to kill Tell. Hay’Legh shook her head. The girl had a lot to learn if she wanted to just keep herself alive much less protect herself.

“You should not sit with your back to an open door and you should always be aware of your surroundings at all times, no matter what you are doing.”

Tell jumped as Hay'legh walked in, she had been so lost in the music. "I'll remember that next time" she replied
as she hung up her violin. "What would you like to do first Eredh, music or motion?"

"I prefer music." Hay'Legh moved lithly through the room, slightly moved the chair set out for her and sat down. "How do you wish to start?"

Tell walked over to the instrument stand and picked up the violin that Jamie had helped her to make when she was young. "Eredth if you would like to stand"

Hay'Legh rose from her chair and took the offered instrument from Tell. In Tell's hand it looked small and delicate but as Hay'Legh took it in her own, she realised that it was tougher than it looked.

"Now If you could hold the violin horizontally, and in a straight forward position. Place it on your left collar
bone , and rest the left side of your jaw on the chin rest." Tell moved the Eredth into position. "You might find you need a shoulder rest in time which will help keep the violin up."

Tell walked around her putting her into position. "The elbow should be under the center of the violin,keep the wrist gently rounded, avoid resting the wrist against the violin neck. The thumb should be opposite the first or second finger and maintain a curved, open space between the thumb and index finger."

Hay'Legh adjusted her fingers on the neck of the instrument and then moved her arm into the correct position. But she also kept an eye on Tell as she moved behind her. That is something else that she would have to teach the Engineer...never trust completely in another person.

"Now your posture" she went on to explain "When standing, stand straight with feet shoulder width apart, and with relaxed knees. Try standing with the left foot slightly forward. When your sitting, use a chair with a firm base, and sit up straight. Some violinists sit towards the front of the chair, and prefer placing the left foot slightly forward. Its a lot to take in but you'll get used to it and your looking good so far"

She did not have to adjust her posture that much to suit Tell.

"Hold the bow snd relax the hand,Relax hand, slightly turn wrist to the left, and let the fingers drop into place.
The tip of the bent thumb touches the frog contact point.Fingers gently curve over the top of the bow stick.
The middle finger is opposite from the thumb. Good that's great"

Hay'Legh held the bow for a moment and then swung it in her hands and them made a stabbing motion. "this would make a very good assasination weapon."

"Good tone quality is achieved through proper bow placement, bow speed and bow pressure.Slightly tilt the wood of the bow towards the fingerboard." she instructed " Now place the bow on the string at the middle point between the bridge and the fingerboard. Draw the bow in a straight line so the bow remains parallel to the bridge. Keep the level of your arm and bow constant while playing on different strings."

Hay'legh did as instructed and ran the bow over each string, listening to the pure notes that resonated from the instrument. She smiled

Tell smiled as well and could see how the Eredth was responding to the music. Just play with it and get to know the instrument.

"Now lets try some scales, they can be a bit boring at time to practice," and then Tell brought over the music stands with sheet music on it. "We'll have a go together, the coloured dots represent your fingers and shows you were to place them on the violin. Ready to have a go?" and Tell picked up her Skeletal violin.

"I know how to read your musical scripts. Not as elegant as the Rihannsu but adequate for what humans can do."

By the end of the session the Eredth had made such a lot of progress that Tell thought she would push her a little further by giving her an easy song to practice. That Hay'legh could only remember that it was something about a twinkling star.

"Your really very good you know, just keep practising" complimented Tell

"Hmmm. Thankyou for the lesson. Now it is your turn to be the student." Hay'legh rose from the chair and moved to the open area near the conference table. "We will always start our lessons with warm up excercises and these excercises will be the first thing you will learn. These forms will lay the foundation of the Karrienahre "

Tell tidied away the instruments and the stands not wanting them to be damaged. "I'm ready, Eredh"

Hay'Legh stared at Tell a moment, studying her posture. "First you need to learn how to stand. This will improve your posture and balance your centre of gravity. Do as I do. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, back straight, arms hanging by your sides."

Tell did as the Eredh instructed her to do with out question and centred herself to get the correct balance.

"Feet pointing forward if you please Ne'," Hay'Legh snapped as her keen eye moved around Tell's posture. "Now, raise your arms up slowly in front of you until they at shoulder height, then hold it there, palms up and bared. You need to hold in that position for the next five minutes, keeping absolutley still."

She stood still palms up and waited and focussed on what Hay'legh would do next.

"Very good. Now, as you are holding that position I will show you how the seperate forms of the warm up excercise flow together. Observe."

Hay'Legh then went through the flowing motions one by one, showing Tell all tweleve positions that make up the warm up excersise and naming each one as she moved. "The sahe'lagge [Passion flower], oiswuh [Raptor], Rei'kara [Imperial Legion]...." As she moved, slowly and deliberately, making sure that each position and form was noted and when the Rihan had finally finished Tell had been holding her position for a full twenty minutes.

"You may release yourself from the stance."

Tell's arms ached and she shook them slightly to get the feeling back into them. "Can you explain to me the reason behind that please Eredh?" she asked

"It was to see if you had patience and perserverance. If you had neither then there was no point in teaching your any further. Now that I see you do then when we next meet, we can continue the lesson."

"Thank you" replied Tell "I look forward to our next meeting."