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Post by emilybuj on Oct 4, 2012 0:59:10 GMT -5
"Uh..." Gabe looked at her hands on piano. "I mean I could try... yeah... yeah sure... I don't have anywhere to go," he said, turning himself to face the piano. He wasn't sure how to approach it though. He had taught little kids to play piano and guitar over the summers for some extra cash, but he could honestly say he never had a blind student.
"Here," he said taking her hand gently, hoping it wouldn't shock her. He placed her five fingers on the right keys, her thumb on 'middle c'. Alright... He racked his brain for ideas on how he could possibly explain to her how to play without it getting confusing. "Ok...uhmmm.... I'm going to play the part first, over your hand so you can feel what keys I'm pressing?" he half asked as if to say 'would that even work?' He thought it would. His fingers were long enouch to go between Mikayla's and hit the keys beneath. He slowly played the simplest melody he knew, Mary had a Little Lamb. It didn't require her hand to move any. Just her fingers, and actually only the first three. He slowly played around her, hoping she could somewhat memorize the part. "I mean it's simple and childish but gotta start with the basics right?" Gabe said, once the short melody had been played. "Try it," he said, moving her fingers so they were fully on the correct keys.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 4, 2012 14:33:05 GMT -5
A smile lit up her face when he agreed to teach her. She sat on the bench, ready to get started. If this worked and she could learn to play music without having to read, then maybe she could take some music classes at the school. She just had to prove to the headmaster that it was possible.
She allowed him to guide her hand and place her fingers and thumb on five keys. She wondered which song he would teach her. Would it be something she already knew the tune of? Or would it be something completely new?
"Yeah, that sounds good," she told him, nodding. If he played with her, she would be able to know exactly which keys to press at what time. When he began to play Mary Had a Little Lamb, a grin spread over her face. It might be childish, but he was right; she was new to this, and a classic and simple children's song was perfect.
"Okay," she said after he told her try it. She pressed the keys in the order he had before, only she moved a lot slower, making sure she was doing it correctly. "It sounds really weird slow," she commented, then hit an incorrect key and flinched. "Sorry. Let me try again." She did, and this time managed to get it correct. Or at least, it sounded right to her.
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Post by emilybuj on Oct 4, 2012 17:22:18 GMT -5
Gabe chuckled a little as Mikayla messed up and a small blush formed on her cheeks. He could tell she was concentrating hard though. Even with blank eyes her face was contorted with concentration, and when she heard a wrong note she flinched. At least she could tell it was wrong. When she played it through she had only played one note "wrong" even though it still sounded right. "That was really good," Gabe said happily with a smile. "You missed a note at the end but that's ok. You kept going so it still sounded right. Sometimes that's more important than playing it perfectly," Gabe explained. "But see? You could learn if you wanted too. You'd just have to learn a different way is all."
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 4, 2012 17:29:19 GMT -5
She was disappointed that she had messed up again at the end, but she supposed it was silly to expect herself to get it perfect. "I guess that's true," she said. "Although I do want to get it completely right. I strive for perfection in that way," she admitted with a half smile.
She turned slightly towards him, letting her hand fall into her lap. "Knowing that it's possible that I can learn all of this even though I'm blind is great. Even though I'm not nearly as passionate about music as you are, knowing that it's possible and that my disability does not get much in the way is relieving, you know? Thanks," she added happily.
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Post by emilybuj on Oct 4, 2012 17:35:50 GMT -5
Gabe smiled lightly then said, "Well I'm glad I could help." There was a short silence, before Gabe decided to break it, fearing things would become awkward again. "So uh... why don't you try it one more time?" he said, taking her hand and putting it back where it belonged. "And this time... I'll play some chords down here," he said putting his left hand a little lower. "I'll just have to teach you the left hand another time. Then you can do the whole thing yourself..."
"You just start I can follow," Gabe said, and when Mikayla played, he played the corresponding chords which made the song sound a little fuller and less childish - even though it was still clearly Mary had a Little Lamb.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 4, 2012 18:10:59 GMT -5
Mikayla nodded and did not resist as he guided her hand again to the keys. She felt his arm cross under hers to the lower keys and became excited by the idea of them playing together. She just hoped her green-ness would not mess up his playing.
"Sounds good," she said, then began to play the notes he had taught her before. She tried not to go too slowly and to keep an even rhythm, and smiled brightly at the music they were making.
"Wow, we sound good. I mean, you do," she corrected herself after they went through an entire verse. "But still. Not too shabby." She tried playing a few random keys like she had heard Gabe do earlier, but it just sounded random whereas when Gabe did it, it sounded like it could be a part of an actual song.
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Post by emilybuj on Oct 4, 2012 21:48:02 GMT -5
"Hey you were playing the melody. And in the music world that makes you the star," Gabe said with a smile, laughing as she played some random notes. "I was just the fancy undertones that nobody really understands or appreciates," Gabe half joked, knowing the truth behind people who thought they understood music and people who actually did. Most people listened only for the melody, while Gabe liked a song with intense harmonies and key changes and more than just a simple tune.
"Uh... maybe I could teach you how to play the other part sometime. I mean... the left hand part. It's uh... yeah it's definitely harder and it's harder to play two hands at once but... I dunno. If you wanted me to, I'd teach you," Gabe offered.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 4, 2012 22:06:24 GMT -5
"The undertones are what made the melody sound good, though," she argued lightly. "If it was just the melody, it would feel... I don't know... lost. If that makes any sense," she laughed. "Empty. Alone..." She shook her head, her smile lingering on her lips. "I don't think I know what I'm talking about," she admitted, then dropped her hand once again into her lap. She was enjoying playing the piano, but if she kept playing the same tune, the children's rhyme would be stuck in her head all night, and she knew she wasn't ready to learn anything else.
"If you're willing, I think that would be fun," Mikayla said immediately, excited by the prospect of Gabe teaching her some more on the piano. "You're a great teacher, you know. You didn't hesitate to show me where to put my hands and you explained it very simply for me even though I can't see. Pretty amazing," she added, her smile turning shy. "It helps that you play so well. Like when you play... I don't know. I can feel the music instead of just hear it."
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Post by emilybuj on Oct 5, 2012 19:26:48 GMT -5
"No it makes sense," Gabe said with a smile, secretly happy that he wasn't the one rambling this time. He liked the way she didn't let her blindness stop her from trying things. Gabe wouldn't even know what to do with himself if her were blind. He would probably try to fly and end up killing himself.
"Yeah," he said, "Yeah I mean... it'd be fun," he said with a smile, referring to the prospect of teaching Mikayla. "I might not always be the best, but I'll try if you really want me to," he continued, playing a few more notes. Whenever he sat at the piano he felt like he just HAD to play. It was like music called to him and he couldn't stop himself.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 7, 2012 17:52:03 GMT -5
"Well I think you'd be a great teacher," Mikayla told him. "I mean, you're already so great yourself as just playing, but when you taught me it was like you had been teaching for years. You took into consideration that I couldn't see and showed me where to put my hand. I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Then again, what do I know, right?" she laughed. "I can't teach anything. I tried teaching my cousin how to convince her horse to jump over a fence, and I ended up flying into the fence and in the hospital, so I can't really judge other teachers," she joked.
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Post by emilybuj on Oct 13, 2012 15:21:24 GMT -5
Gabe raised an eyebrow at Mikayla's story. "You ride horses?" he asked, gathering that much, and gathering that she was in some sort of accident because of it. But the way she talked aobut it, it didn't seem like a terrible thing, or even sad. It wasn't a funny story either. Gabe was confused as to Mikayla's emotion behind that story.
"I mean teacher's make mistakes too," he said with a shrug. "Even the best of them," he added. "
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 13, 2012 21:20:23 GMT -5
She nodded in response to his question, her face lighting up at the topic. "Mhm, my family owns a ranch a few hours north of here," she told Gabe. "I've been riding horses for what seems like forever. It's how I became blind, actually," she added with a grim smile. "Turns out if you hit your head hard enough on a fence, it can damage up here," she folded her hand into a fist and rapped lightly on her skull, "enough to affect your eyesight. Guess I hit the fence pretty hard," she joked lightly. She always found that joking about her disability and her accident helped lighten it all up. She came to find that there was no point in moping on about it. She had been blind for years; she was not going to live the rest of her life mourning her eyesight. It had been tough, and some days still were when she got frustrated enough, but joking helped. Jokes always tended to lighten the mood, and she found they even helped other people adjust to her lack of sight. She hated knowing people were uncomfortable around her.
"And you're right; everyone makes mistakes. That's the point, right? Live and learn." Some mistakes were just bigger than others. "So making a mistake as a teacher is fine. We're all always learning anyway, right? I mean look at our teachers," she pointed out. "Our power teacher learns something knew almost every day because of us. Although I'm sure teaching piano is a lot simpler than trying to teach someone a power one is not familiar with," she added, grinning teasingly.
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Post by emilybuj on Oct 13, 2012 21:28:18 GMT -5
Gabe wasn't sure if he liked the grim smile that crossed her face as she talked about her accident. It was weird how easily she joked about it. But he supposed if it happened a long time ago then it would make sense that she was used to it. But still, she seemed a little took cheeky while talking about getting thrown off her horse hard enough to render her blind.
"Tell me about it," Gabe huffed, happy to be off the topic of the accident and onto the incompitance of some teachers. "When someone who is supposed to help you says 'wow. I've never seen anything like this before'... well its hard to believe you'll ever be in control, ya know?" Gabe hated the powers class. He didn't mind his flying lesson, of course. But he hated when they sat him down and made him do random exercises in a blind attempt at "fixing" his charm.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 13, 2012 21:47:14 GMT -5
"I try not to think of it that way," Mikayla admitted. "I mean, they're trying, right? We can't really expect them to know everything about every power, especially when most are so unique in the first place. They know how to control their own power so they help us in any way that they can..." She trailed off and then shrugged. "The most we can expect is for them to try. Imagine where we'd be without these schools. It's support, if nothing else. I mean I still create storms when I don't mean to, but at least there haven't been any tornados or hurricanes around here, right?" she laughed.
"As lame as it will sound, we just have to have faith that we can control our powers in time. Plus it's fun interacting with others who have powers," she said with a smile. She liked learning about other students' powers. She liked that she wasn't alone in all of this.
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Post by emilybuj on Oct 13, 2012 21:54:13 GMT -5
"I guess," Gabe said with a shrug. He wasn't so sure he felt the same, but could see where Mikayla was coming from. And Gabe never liked to turn such trivial opinions into an argument or unnecessary debate. "And yeah, as a flyer I'm definitely thankful for the tornadoes thing. So thanks. And thanks to whichever teacher taught you how to hold those off," he said with a laugh, genuinely glad that he hadn't experienced flying in a tornado yet. Hopefully he never would have to.
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