Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side sim - A Concert for the Ages

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim - A Concert for the Ages

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side sim - A Concert for the Ages
Posted by… suppressed (24) by the Post Ghost! 👻
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Achilleas shrugged in response. “To get better at something? Were you satisfied with how you played? I thought we did well but there is room for improvement. We don’t need to play or practice if you don’t want to.” He stretched his shoulders and set the cello on the stand next to him. “Why were you alone playing the violin? Why no orchestra playing with you?”

CSO Petrakos

“My performance was… less than adequate on that song.” He said, placing the violin’s bow on the music stand. His next question was harder to answer. He did not want to call it ‘embarrassment’, because that was… too human. But that seemed the only word that came to mind in response. But he could answer the last part. “I never played in an orchestra. I had private lessons.” He responded with a shrug. “So I am not accustomed to playing with others.”

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

“What do you think of doing a duet then?” Achilleas asked. “Could you feel energy as we played off of each other?” He wasn’t trying to convince Solal that he needed to practice or that they needed to play together again. However he was regretful over untapped potential and Solal had a decent foundation. Some polishing and practice of a song would show great results.

CSO Petrakos

Solal had no idea what Achilles meant by ‘feeling the energy by playing off each other’ but it did certainly sound different with the voice of Achilleas’ cello added in. So, after a long moment’s thought, he replied, “…Okay.” He wanted to experiment with the sound. See how other pieces sounded. And maybe see how this piece was if he played better.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

“Okay… what?” Achilleas asked in confusion. It felt okay to play together? It would be okay to play more together? Feeling the energy while playing with someone else felt okay?

CSO Petrakos

Solal hadn’t realized his answer might be confusing, so he gave Achilleas a confused look in response and clarified, “Let’s do a duet. I want to hear how the music sounds with your cello in it, too”

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

“Oh…” Achilleas said in response. “Oh! Cool! I wasn’t sure what you meant but that’s definitely a good thing to hear. Do you want to do a couple more runs of it now then? How long is your booking of the holodeck for?”

CSO Petrakos

“An hour and a half,” Solal replied, and then he checked the time. “It’s been 48 minutes… So we probably have time to run through it again today.” At the first ‘Oh’, Achilleas had sounded kind of… un-enthusiastic, and then it seemed he had suddenly become very excited. Solal decided that was probably a good thing.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

Achilleas nodded then took the cello and bow off the stand and set it up between his legs. “Okay then let’s give it another run. Here are some things to keep in mind, maybe it will help a bit.” He then gave some general tips that should help but who really knows. After checking that Solal more or less understood what was said, he counted the beat then started to play.

CSO Petrakos

Solal picked up his violin and its bow, pulling the instrument up to his chin. He listened to Achilleas’ tips, planning to try and use them this play through, but well, they’d see how that turned out. And on the first beat Achilleas played Solal began to play as well.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

The second run through the score went a bit easier for Achilleas. Mainly because he was more familiar with some of the trickier parts and knew when he could end a note slightly earlier to get more time to smoothly turn the page of the music sheet. He was able to immerse himself a little deeper into the music and feel the intent behind the composer’s writing.

CSO Petrakos

The second run through was still rough for Solal, but less so, as he already knew the notes. But it still took some techniques he wasn’t familiar with, and those parts sounded kind of rough. Soon the song had ended once again, and Solal lowered his violin, looking to Achilleas as he stretched out his arms.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

Achilleas closed his eyes for a moment as he pondered their performance before opening them again and nodding to Solal. “That was better. I think that this could definitely be something that with a bit of polish would be fantastic. How do you feel about it after having a second run?”

CSO Petrakos

“It sounded better, I think. There’s a section of the middle that I find particularly difficult,” said Solal honestly. “It would take several more practices to get it to sound ‘fantastic’ as you put it, though.” He added.

~ Lt. JG Solal, Doctor

Achilleas smiled and shrugged in response. “Most things take great effort to perfect or get good at. Naturally it’d take several practices or more for it to sound fantastic. I don’t know about professional orchestras but my siblings and I would take weeks at the very least for a song or months to learn and perform well a selection of songs.”

CSO Petrakos

“Do you want to practice for weeks in order to perform this song? And perhaps we could pick some others?” Solal asked. He wasn’t sure they’d have the time for that, but they could at least try if they decided they wanted to.

~ Lt. JG Solal, Doctor

“I think that depends on how often either of us could get a holodeck booking, when both of our schedules are free, and how much effort you wants to put into this. I’m game for seeing how this goes in the meantime. There’s no such thing as wasted time on an activity that is fun to do.” Achilleas replied with a nod.

CSO Petrakos

“I am willing to put the time in,” Solal replied. “We can always improvisions le moment venu. See when we have time by the day.” It would give him something to do with his time, besides read, or sit in the lounge people watching.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

With a grin Achilleas stood up from his chair and stretched his arms above his head. “That sounds fantastic to me. I’ll check in when I’ve got some free time.” He dropped his hands down to lightly stroke the cello’s neck. “I almost wish I had brought mine from home, but I didn’t want to risk damaging it. A holographic recreation is nice and serves well enough but just isn’t the same.”

CSO Petrakos

“This is a holographic reproduction of my violin as well. But I haven’t played in years, so I didn’t notice much of a difference,” Solal said. His violin had inhabited the bottom of his closet for the last probably seven years - it hadn’t even crossed his mind to bring it. He’d really only brought necessities and a few of his books.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

“Mine at home certainly isn’t a Stradivarius, good luck even finding an intact one, but it’s certainly something like a family heirloom. There’s something about a history filled instrument that just plays different then a new one or a holographic one.” Achilleas shrugged as he couldn’t think of how to describe it. “I don’t mean to ascribe some sort of non-scientific, metaphysical attribute to it but… an old but well-kept musical instrument has a richer tone to it.”

CSO Petrakos

“Ah, but there is a scientific explanation. The wood becomes ‘looser’ so to speak. Vibrates more easily. That’s what creates the rich tone of a well-aged instrument.” That was something he could enjoy about instruments, the mechanical inner workings, the way the vibrations and movements created the sound one heard. That was quite interesting to Solal. The music sounded good, too, of course.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

Achilleas nodded but then shook his head. “In theory yes, but too loose and the sound goes flat. It’s kind of why cheap and expensive instruments do have a discernible different when they’re new, though most wouldn’t notice it, but when they age the cheaper one doesn’t sound all that good at all.”

CSO Petrakos

Solal nodded. “My violin isn’t the cheapest one around, but it certainly isn’t expensive, either. It probably hasn’t done fantastically in the bottom of my closet, but at least it hasn’t been a century or more.” He said with a shrug.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

“Well maybe we could get a hold of some real ones to use as that will increase our opportunities to practice beyond the holodeck. It would be nice to practice in the arboretum but I’m not sure we’d want to do that in public before we’ve gotten better at the song.” Achilleas said while contemplating alternative practice locations.

CSO Petrakos

The idea of practicing in public was pushing it for Solal. It was not a very Vulcan thing to do. But it would give them the opportunity to practice when the holodeck was occupied. “Perhaps we could get real ones next time the ship docks at a space station? I’m not sure…” He said. An instrument wasn’t the most common thing to just happen across.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

“Yeah… and I’m not an engineer or experienced with woodworking, so I don’t have the skills to make one. Though… we could see about replicating one. I’m sure the specifications for instruments could be found and input. Maybe get an engineers advice on how they’d go about it. Or maybe see if anyone in security knows someone who could acquire things. See if they might have a lead.” Achilleas replied while his excitement kept climbing at each knew idea.

CSO Petrakos

Solal nodded apprehensively, not wanting the whole ship to know what he was up to. “A replicated instrument would have to be very precise, but it would be faster than trying to acquire one.” He said. If they could decide the best way to acquire the instruments, they could involve the fewest possible people, which Solal preferred.

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor