Stephen's Secure Blog #311
These stories about Stephen began was when he was 10 years old, and
moving to a new part of the country to attend a special school for
gifted students, in the 1950's. This was from a time before computers
would fit on a desk, and when people communicated with friends in other
countries by actual letters sent through the postal service. He wrote
225 of them to a friend. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he
still wanted to record his life, in case he lost his memory again, and
wrote 30 entries in his first logbook. Then he wrote to an artificial
intelligence called Geenee, in the master computer in his school for
gifted students, which he started attending in 2016. Now it's after
2018, and he's continuing to save his memories in a secure blog.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stephen is 17 in this story, in Summer of year 7 of his special school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #311 "Before the First Vienna Concert"
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Chad and I arrived early for the concert in Vienna. Dan was with us.
The music director asked why I did that, when most guest conductors
didn't. I said "I'm not most. I'm only me. I'm a composer, too. Being
in settings like this inspires me." Chad said "A lot of Stephen's solos
have come from situations like this." The director looked very pleased,
and said, "Please come as early as you wish." I said, "Well, yesterday
is already used up." He looked strange, but laughed when Chad did. He
was about to go to his office, but decided to stay and watch. I asked
Dan what kind of music he liked best. He looked embarrassed, and said,
"Ballads, mostly. Broadway musicals, too. And the Beatles." I said
"Want to do Suddenly?" He grinned and said, "Suddenly, I would!" We
laughed. I ported in his guitar. He started playing, and I sang it.
Chad went to the piano and contributed. In the right places, I played
the flute. Then all three of us sang the last chorus together. I said
when we finished, "That was very good. Thanks." The director was
nodding, and so were some of the musicians.
I said "Hmm, 'The Sound of Music' is an Austrian story. Know anything
of it?" Dan said, "One of my favorite things. Well, I HAD to say it." I
said, "Absolutely! We'll have to do that one first. Take turns on vocal
parts? I'll conduct." He started on the guitar, and I sang to start.
When we got to the list, we each sang one of them in turn. When Chad
sang, "When the dog barks," I had to bark at the end of it. He almost
broke up. After that, I said, "Chad, you be sixteen, and I'll be
seventeen." He nodded agreement, because he had the highest tenor. It
went VERY well. We played more songs from the play. To finish the set,
I said, "Dan, may I borrow your guitar for Edelweiss?" He gave it to
me. I sang it in Austrian German, slowly and lightly, but with feeling,
accompanying myself on the guitar. There was silence when I finished.
Then everybody applauded. I bowed.
Dan said, "You were terrific. I didn't realize before just how
talented you are!" I said "Thanks, but it's Chad's fault. I only got
into music to please him, after disappointing him so much with my
inability in my last life." The director came to me, and said, "Please,
I really mean this. Make this your first encore tonight. PLEASE!" I
said "I suppose I should. I thought you would ask, just before I
started it." He said "Thank you!" While we were talking, I had been
absently fingering the guitar strings. Then they stared at me. Chad
knew I was about to stop, and said, "Don't stop! What is that?" I said
"I don't know. Just playing around. I never really played the guitar
before, myself. Interesting things you can get from it, with both hands
on the strings. Like pizzicato in a bow instrument. Can even do two
melodies at once." I did that, and then wove them together. Then I
added some thumping on the body of the guitar. Then I went really wild,
trying out all kinds of techniques. After a while, I stopped. My hands
were all bloody. I ported a cloth to me, and wiped them, and then
healed them. There was still silence.
I looked around, and said, "Turned into statues, everybody?" I wiped
the instrument, and handed it back to Dan. He looked at me in awe, and
said, "That was impossible!" Chad said, "Used to be. Not anymore. You
should have seen him do that the first time he cut loose on a harp.
Almost shredded his fingers to the bone. He's a good healer, though."
Dan, looking, said, "I'll say!" I said to him, "No, Chad said it." He
had to laugh. The director was too stunned to talk. I waved at him, and
he almost choked. Then he said, "Today was the first time you have
played that instrument?" I said "Yes, but I'll do better with practice.
First times are usually a little awkward." He didn't know how to
respond to that. Then he walked away, muttering things under his
breath. I called out to him, and said, "I can hear that." He hunched
his shoulders in embarrassment, and continued walking, while Chad was
laughing his head almost off.
I said "Chad, I just composed a violin concerto. I wanted to try some
guitar techniques on it." He said "Will anybody else be able to play
it?" I said "Probably not." He said "Like your harp pieces." I said "We
don't really know. Somebody, someday, might do it." He said "Not do
much after it, though." I said "Maybe. Think I spooked him?" He
laughed, and said, "Probably. He'll recover. Nobody ever really accepts
who you really are. They can't." Dan said "So who is he?" I said "Hey,
I'm Stephen! That's all." They nodded. I said "I have an idea. There
are songs about animals. But how often are they sung like the animals
might sing it themselves? Or singing any other songs?" Dan said, "What
do you mean?" I said "How about a demonstration." In falsetto, I sang
"Memories" from the play "Cats", with just meows. They didn't know what
to say. So I sang, "Loverly" from "My Fair Lady", clucking like a very
expressive chicken. Chad went hysterical with laughter. Dan wasn't far
behind. The director across the room, was shocked at how undignified I
was, doing that. When he could, Chad said, "Thank goodness it wasn't
called Pygmalion!" I said "Er, oink?" He laughed some more.
I said "Let's calm down with 'Sunrise, Sunset'. Chad, would you play
the piano? I'll play the violin in spots." He did, and I sang it. It
went very well. I called out to the director, "Better now?" He looked
embarrassed, but nodded. I kept playing the violin, with solos from the
movie of Fiddler on the Roof. Then I did some fast and fancy gypsy
stuff, and ended with some really fancy jazz fiddling. I had to repair
the bow. Then I said to Dan, "Challenge me!" He said "I don't know what
to say." I said "Try, anyway." He said "Er, 'Peter and the Wolf' on the
piano?" I said "Good one!" I went to the piano, and did that, trying to
make it sound like the other instruments and the full orchestra at
times. That earned some good applause. Then I took that basic theme,
and played it in different styles, from Mozart to ragtime, ending in a
complicated jazz workup. The director came over to me and said, "That
was amazing. You show your full mastery of musical knowledge and
technique, and doing that in improvisation, is incredible." I said
"Thank you, but it's just playing around. When I do something, I try to
learn all about it, and do my best. Except golf." He smiled, and said,
"I remember that. I too don't see the attraction of the game." I said
"I bet the ball doesn't, too." We grinned at each other.
Chad yelled "Tennis!" I said "Thanks, but not now." He said "You know
what I mean. You could play against a double." I said to the director,
"He keeps trying to find sports for me to play for charity, where it
looks impossible for me to win." I said to Chad, "Sorry. Won't work.
Two against one isn't even a little challenge. Not even blindfolded."
He said "Oh. Legs tied together?" I said "I am NOT going to do that.
Forget about it." He gave a very disappointed, "Oh, alright." I started
playing Strauss things on the piano. I thought they would like that,
and they did. Then I made up my own polka. Chad said, "That's a new
one." I said "Sure is. My first Polka. I wonder how the 'Sabre Dance',
would sound." I played that, very energetically. Then a shortened
"Ritual Fire Dance". Then I ended the set with a shortened arrangement
of "Festmarsch" from "Tannhouser". I stood, and bowed to their
applause. I said to Chad, "I think I would like to conduct that last
one, for real." He grinned, and said, "I wondered when you would get to
Wagner." I grinned back at him. The director came over and said, "I
have to stop saying amazing, before it ceases to have meaning. From
that I know you have great feeling for that piece. I would like you to
conduct it, if you will, in the second concert." I said "I will. Thank
you." He said "Would you be available next year, for more of this?" I
said "Ask me after the third concert, if you still want me, but I think
my answer might not be no." We bowed to each other.
I went back to the piano, and played some Jerry Lee Lewis things,
even more energetically than he did, ending in "Great Balls of Fire".
Chad and Dan liked it better than the rest did. Then I decided to do
some boogie woogie, going more complicated and faster and faster,
giving the piano a great pounding. Chad really liked it. I could tell
some of the musicians wanted to show they liked it, too. I flashed a
grin at them. Then I played and sang, "Stand By Me." Then "Bridge Over
Troubled Waters." Both in German. Those really earned some applause. I
said "One more." I did Unchained Melody, with full effects and emotion,
in German. The flute player and his father had just come in when I
started, and they and the rest gave me the loudest applause of the day
so far. I said to the director, "It isn't about the style of the music,
what's important is how well you do it." He came over to me, and said,
"Lesson accepted. Thank you." We bowed to each other.
I went to greet the flutist, while Chad took the director aside, and
did some agent work with him. Some of the musicians, who were the
flutist's friends, were telling him what he missed of what I had done.
He looked heartbroken. I said to him, "I'll give you recordings of
today, if you want." He was very thankful. I said "Would you like to do
your piece now, to see how it sounds here?" He did, and took out his
flute and assembled it. He tried a few notes, and nodded. We did it,
and when it was over, there was a lot of applause. I said, "I didn't
think it could be done better than I heard you play it before.
Sometimes I really like being wrong." He was ready to cry, and I said,
"Play something else. If you want accompaniment, let me know." He did
play, and I did join in it at times, even before he asked. Then I said,
"That was great! We play well together." I hugged him, and he almost
fainted again. I said "My friends and I haven't eaten. Have you, and if
you haven't, would you like to join us?" The had, but would join us
anyway.
I said to the director, "Is there a room here we could use for a
catered service?" He said "On such short notice?" I said "Let me worry
about the food. Just tell me where, and what kind. Absolutely anything.
No limit." He didn't notice Chad's face splitting grin. He asked
around, and came back and told me. I said "You didn't have to tell me.
I can hear everything in this room. Even the slightest whisper. So,
where do I put it?" He said "There is a room this way." He led me to
it. I went back with him to the main room, and said, "When do you want
to have it?" He said "Any time." I said "Alright then. Let's go eat."
He was confused, so I yelled out, "Anybody who wants good food, follow
me. Er, and him, too." With some chuckles, they followed us to the food
room, and they were all surprised, but none more than the director.
There it all was, served on silver, everything from hot lobster, to
cold caviar. Most of them went for the roast beef and fine pastries.
There were chairs and tables there too, where they hadn't been before,
further astounding the director.
While I was eating my fried rice and tofu, he asked me, "How?" I said
"Well, thank you." He was frustrated, but understood, correctly, that
I didn't want to say any more about it. I announced, "If you're
interested, the beer and wine have no alcohol in them. I don't approve
of intoxication." Some nodded. One tried to light a cigaret. I said,
"Please, no smoking. I will be singing tonight." He stopped. When we
were finished eating, I held two musicians from going back to the other
put back the silver they took. I grinned and hugged them, and said, "No
problem. Forget it." They were very grateful. We walked out the door.
One looked back, and stopped dead in his tracks, in frozen
astonishment. He stared at me, after seeing the then empty room. I
wiggled my eyebrows, and put my finger to my lips. He almost choked,
but didn't say anything. I could hear Chad's almost hysterical laughter
in the other room.
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Grant
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