(Past) First Lessons (Roderich and Lili)

[Lili Walser]

The basics... yes... that seemed best. If she didn't learn the very beginnings, however could she learn the complexities? That was something one of her maths tutors never entirely explained to her... perhaps that was why numbers never spoke to her like they did to Cousin Luddy.

But Her-- Roderich was speaking. The notes went from A... to G? Seven letters? Was that truly it? How could seven letters represent eighty-eight different keys? The blonde tilted her head, following his fingers as he played each key in turn. Oh! So the letters repeated themselves... but then... how could one differentiate between one A and another on a musical piece? When he paused, she bit her lip, then hesitantly spoke. "B-but... He--R-Roderich... w-why are there only seven letters? A-and... how do you tell on a piece of music that it's... th-that it's this A, and not another?" She questioned, barely letting her finger rest on the note in question.

Arpeggios would be strange to remember. First, third, fifth, eighth? That was a strange combination... it wasn't as though they were all the odds, or all the evens... but perhaps that was as spread out as the first pianist could make them so everything was equal? She'd ask that another time... that was more for her own curiosity, rather than for any sort of learning process.

As his fingers moved again, walking up each note one after the other, Lili tilted her head ever so slightly. It sounded as though the notes were climbing... getting higher each time - like he'd mentioned before... So... so when he was showing her the different pitches... he was showing her scales? Like the one he was showing her now... ? And to scale something was to climb it, so that ought to make those rather easy to remember.

And then he was offering her books. She took them hesitantly, resting them in her lap with her hands folded neatly on top... though she was dreadfully curious about what was in them, that could wait for a moment or three. "R-Roderich... how many different scales are there? Do... Do any of them use the... the black keys? W-why do they sound strange? Th-that is... th-they don't sound nearly as pure as the white keys..."

[Roderich Edelstein]

Ah, she was now catching on to what he was trying to point out. On an one hundred key piano, there were about eight different A notes of varying pitch, not even then counting the A sharps, which would add on another eight. So then, how did one learn to distinguish one A from another one? Why, by sheet music of course! "There is something that pianists, along with most conductors and other musicians had to learn to read. This is called sheet music. I believe you are familiar with the lined paper with dots and sticks and weirdly shaped figures upon it? I'm sure your mother has it out whenever she plays. That is sheet music. And where the notes fall on which line means which version of a note you will play."

After his demonstration, he was bombarded with more questions, which was to be expected. Roderich smiled, allowing Lili time to finish speaking. That had always been one thing that annoyed the Aristocrat: when people never allowed you to finish talking and just interjected right then and there.

"Those are good questions you know. I once heard that there were at least 2048 different scales on a piano. Now granted, more than likely that was a combination of more than just the regular eight note scales that you can do on a piano. There are seven note scales, a twelve note scale, eleven note scales, single note scales which are called root scales, the likes. As for the black keys, those notes are sharps and flats." Once more Roderich pressed a key, the A sharp, before beginning another small lecture. "This is A sharp, because it is higher than the A key in pitch. However, right next to it is also the note B, which is higher in pitch than A sharp. That means, it is also B flat, because it is lower in pitch than B. That is why they sound so different compared to the white keys."