Together [You & I]

89 | Jamming

Practice Studio, Vienna

After the briefing and meeting the different members of the orchestra, the group headed over to the Practice Studio that was about a 5 minute walk away. The studio was really impressive, it was big enough that it could fit an orchestra. The practice studio also had the facilities to record music which was perfect for the group, they needed to hear how their pieces sounded like. 

The group entered the studio and started to brainstorm. They had to keep to the theme of dreams, hope and perseverance. They first started looking at existing pieces and began to choose some of their personal favourite pieces or pieces they wish to challenge. After that they started to think about who ought to pair up with who for their respective corners. Edwin was really excited about the idea about doing a piano duet for Seokhoon. It would be a difficult task because both pianists needed to be in perfect synchronisation to perform the piece well.

With Edwin and Seokhoon doing one piece together, as well as Seokhoon and Rona's confirmed duet. Now the question was how many solo pieces were they going to be performing versus how many collaborative pieces were they going to do. As of now, the orchestra was set to perform at least 3 pieces. They continued to discuss late into the afternoon. Finally it was decided, each person was given 2 pieces to perform solo, as for collaboration, they decided to make it exciting and create different and fresh combos. So in total that would be 6 collaborations; one with Hye Rim and Rona, another with Edwin and Raph the last two were going to be bigger ground pieces. With Seokhoon, Rona and Raph and the last one with all 5.

As they continued to discuss, the creative juice began to flow. While Seokhoon and Edwin were at their piano, Edwin began to play a tune. Rona didn't seem to recognise it from any famous piece. As she continued to observe Edwin she realised he was actually performing an impromptu performance - a jam session. Edwin continued to fiddle around with different kinds of tunes, Seokhoon was listening along until one particular tune struck a chord with him. Edwin continued to fiddle with that tune, Seokhoon suddenly had a huge hit of inspiration. He started to fiddle with the notes, playing along with Edwin. Edwin looked up from the keyboard and saw Seokhoon jamming along.

The two of them started to play around with the tune, when suddenly the sound of the cello and flute could be heard. Raph and Hye Rim joined in the fray and suddenly the four of them were playing. Sometimes Edwin would take the lead or Hye RIm. All of a sudden, a new song was created. It was not classic in nature but it contained various genres into one. Rona was sitting at the side and had her phone out recording them. This was the first time that Seokhoon and Rona ever experienced a jam session. For most of their lives, they had only really practised either together (the two) or alone.

To now be surrounded by professional musicians, they were now able to really learn and grow with each other. It was slightly different from back in Juilliard where they still received a lot of guidance from their Professors but here, the direction really had to be done by them. This jam session went on for another hour until Seokhoon noticed that the sun was slowly going down. They decided to call it a night for today and made arrangements to meet back tomorrow to further plan for the upcoming concert. They said farewell to the three and Seokhoon and Rona headed back home.

While in the car, Rona noticed how happy Seokhoon was. You seem to be enjoying yourself.

Seokhoon immediately turned to his wife. Did you feel left out? I am sorry.

Haha, I didn't say anything. I actually rather enjoyed watching you four jam. It was something I have never experienced before nor seen before.

Seokhoon smiled in relief, he thought Rona may have been a bit upset that the musicians were really focusing on their own pieces and ignored her. After all, she was the only classical singer so that was a high chance she may have felt left out. Yeah, I really enjoyed myself. This is really the first time I ever did a jam session, one where I just let the music flow and my feelings guided me as we played. It was really an eye-opening experience.

I like that. It seems it was a blessing to have come to Vienna and somehow the three of them were also here.

Yeah, truly a miracle. We will be happy here right?

Rona smiled and kissed Seokhoon deeply. Anywhere with you, we will be happy.

Note: I truly do not like being sick, but it is what it is. Here is another chapter! Hope you all enjoy it!