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Short stories featuring musical instruments and those who play them!.

 

 

‘Stop’ I said. ‘Listen. Music, beautiful music’.

‘What music?’ said my friend, ‘I can’t hear music. You really shouldn’t have had that extra cup of coca tea before we set off this morning!’

Five of us and our guide were on the final leg of our trek along the Inca Trail in the Andes mountains.  Soon, we’d be arriving at Machu Picchu.

They carried on walking, but I just stood there transfixed by the haunting sound.

When I caught up with them again, the guide took me aside and told me that now and again a person will hear it when others can’t and have done so for generations.

‘What is it?’ I asked.

‘A Quena’ he said. He told me it’s a pipe instrument that dates back some five hundred years and played at rituals, celebrations and folk dances. 

‘They say it’s heard in paradise’ he said.

‘But why me?’ I asked. ‘Why do I hear it when my friends don’t?’

He shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

To this day, I still hear the Quena. I hear it when wandering in the countryside, I hear it in the middle of the night. It soothes, it comforts. I hear it when others don’t.

I can hear it now. Can you? 

‘

 

BTW. Coca tea is made from the leaves of the coca plant which contain several alkaloids including cocaine. It originates from the Andes mountains, particularly Peru – and you can’t bring any home with you!  

 

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Years past

2020 – Stories featuring obsolete words – Q

2019 – Stories for children – Q

2018 – My friend Rosey – Q

2017 – The village of Amble Bay – Q

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Short stories featuring musical instruments and those who play them!

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‘It has to be there somewhere’ said Percy.  Percy was a pianist of note, and he was performing at the Piano Palace when things went pear-shaped!

‘Come out, come out, wherever you are’ he yelled as he searched through the piano strings.

He’d been playing The Flight of the Bumblebee when one of the notes went missing.  B had suddenly fallen silent.

Plinkity-plonk-plinkity-plonk … nothing … Plinkity-plonk-plinkity-plonk … nothing!  

C Sharp hadn’t seen it; neither had A Flat.  F told him that it had, erm, gone off!

It seems that halfway through the piece, B thought being an actual bee would be far more fun so it buzzed off to make honey!.

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This is how it should sound! 

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Years past

2020 – Stories featuring obsolete words – P

2019 – Stories for children – P

2018 – My friend Rosey – P

2017 – The village of Amble Bay – P

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For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt where the given word is Uncanny and the limit just 39 words.

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He was hung by the neck that morning. Never again could the evasive massacrer mysteriously escape captivity.

That night a lad encountered a vile creature bearing an uncanny resemblance to the manslayer.

The unfortunate soul’s not been seen since.

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Short stories featuring musical instruments and those who play them!

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Sitting in the organ loft, he arranges his sheets of music, flexes his fingers and prepares the magnificent instrument. 

Members of the congregation shuffle their way into the wooden pews which are bathed in tinted sunbeams beneath the glorious stained glass windows of the ancient building.

They mutter to one another as the organist’s fingers lightly dabble the ivory keys, a mantle of delicate tones creating a serene and tranquil atmosphere. 

Then, hush.

With a blast from the organ, the melody of a much-loved hymn fills the air. A procession of meditative ecclesiastics makes its way down the nave followed by a score of choirboys and lay clerks in their gowns of red and white. As they burst into song the dulcet tones of their mellifluous voices reach heavenward. 

Upon reaching their stalls they turn, and their soaring decant enchants the worshippers as they sing along.

Prayers, hymns, anthems and a sermon follow.

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Too soon the service is over and the organist plays his closing piece.

The doors are flung open and the congregation makes its way out into the dappled sunlight. The organ falls silent.

His footsteps echo as he walks through the empty cathedral, and leaves.

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Years past

2020 – Stories featuring obsolete words – O

2019 – Stories for children – O

2018 – My friend Rosey – O

2017 – The village of Amble Bay – O

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‘

‘Thank you’ I said as I unwrapped my birthday pressie. ’It’s just what I’ve always wanted!’

I hadn’t a clue what it was. It looked a bit like a recorder, those tooty-toot things you played at school.

‘Go on, give us a tune!’ said Garry.

I gingerly placed it between my lips and began to…

‘Stop!’ he laughed. ‘You don’t put it in your mouth idiot, you stick it up your doo-dah!’

I repositioned it.

‘NO, not there you plonker, poke it up your nose!’

(Incase you are wondering, I’d tried pushing into my ear)

I glanced at the calendar. April Fool’s Day was the day I started the A-Z Challenge, not today. Was this a joke?

 

Right, nose flute up one…’

‘Woah there buddy’ I interupted. ‘Nose flute? Are you being serious?’

‘Yes, now do as I say. Flute up one nose-hole and use your finger to block the other one’.

 I decided to humour him and did as he said.

‘Close your mouth tight and … ready, steady, BLOW!’

Well, if I’d known what was going to happen I’d have blown my nose into a tissue first. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, I can tell you!

I sorted things out and had another shot.

‘AaaaaCHOO’!

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Believe it or not, I eventually got the hang of it. In fact, I quite like it now. 

Next week I’m due to perform the second movement of Mozart’s Nose-flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major at the Pig and Whistle pub’s open-mike night!

You’re more than welcome to come along!

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In case you are wondering, the nose flute really does exist! According to Wiky, the nose flute is a popular musical instrument played in Polynesia and the Pacific Rim countries. Other versions are found in Africa.

 

 

 

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Years past

2020 – Stories featuring obsolete words – N

2019 – Stories for children – N

2018 – My friend Rosey – N

2017 – The village of Amble Bay –N

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Short stories featuring musical instruments and those who play them!

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It was my turn to choose the questions for the pub quiz. I usually have trouble answering them so this was my chance to get my own back on the clever clogs that set those unfathomable ones.

I thought I’d pop into the bookshop to try and find a book of questions, and there in the Quiz Book section was my friend Rosey.  I asked her what she was looking for, and she said she needed a book on French Cuisine!

Anyway, I found a suitable ‘quizionary’ and dashed home to get setting! I thought I’d go with a musical theme.

See how you get on –

1 Which instruments are cocktail bartenders best at playing?

2 What do you call a musical cow?

3  What instruments do Lynne and Mandy play?

4 What do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft?

5 What’s a metronome?

6 What did Mozart do in his grave?

Best of luck!

 

Answers

1 Maracas

2 A moo-sician

3 Mandolins

4 A flat minor

5 A city-dwelling dwarf

6 Decompose

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Years past

2020 – Stories featuring obsolete words – M

2019 – Stories for children – M

2018 – My friend Rosey –M

2017 – The village of Amble Bay – M

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for Friday Fictioneers

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I was walking down the road with Bible-basher Bob.

I’m thirsty I said, I need some water.

Drink no longer water, but use wine for thy stomach’s sake. Timothy 5:23. 

Okay wine then, or maybe a beer.

Wine is a mocker, beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is unwise. Proverbs 20:1. 

Now I am confused. What should I do?

Give beer to those perishing, wine to those in anguish. Proverbs 31:6.  

Make your mind up! I’ll play safe. Fruit juice … or perhaps coke.

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8.

I gave up!

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Thanks to Rochelle for hosting and to Anne Higa for the photo.

Click on Froggies to join in the fun!

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Short stories featuring musical instruments and those who play them!

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I really like being a statue in the museum, it certainly beats being stuck outside in all weathers. People assume that as I was carved from a lump of rock, I don’t know what’s going on around me. How wrong they are!

Oh-oh, here comes another lot of visitors, time to adopt my stony-faced expression again … pardon the pun!

It was funny the other day. A bloke said to his wife ‘I wish you had a pair like that’ and he got a slap around the face!

Once, someone pointed at my instrument and said ‘I can play one of those’. 

‘Lyre’ said his mate.

‘No, honestly’ he said, ‘I really can’!

Here come twenty old folk with the tour guide. 

‘How interesting, goodness me, I say, well I never, that’s fascinating, Isn’t she beautiful Doris?’

Wow, look at  this handsome chap walking towards me.  Fancy a stroke of my marble young man? Oooh, you cheeky boy!

Oh good, the lights are going out and it’s almost time to join One Tit Tina and Noseless Nick for our nightly chat. Headless Harry too – no doubt he’ll be talking out of his ass as usual!

‘

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Years past

2020 – Stories featuring obsolete words – L

2019 – Stories for children L

2018 – My friend Rosey – L

2017 – The village of Amble Bay – L

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Short stories featuring musical instruments and those who play them!

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She couldn’t play an instrument. Such a shame because she loved music. She was mesmerised by orchestras and envied those that brought the works of great composers to life. 

‘Can you sing in tune?’ asked her friend.

‘Pretty well’ she said.

‘Then get yourself a kazoo! All you have to do is hum into it!’

So she did. And she loved it.

Unfortunately, orchestras don’t employ kazooists.

‘Start your own’ suggested her friend.

She put a video of herself on social media and asked for people to join her in a virtual kazoo orchestra. 

They did, lots of them! And so it was, The Kazorchestra came about.

They meet up every week on Zoom and buzz away to their heart’s content!

Move over The Royal Philharmonic!

‘

 

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Years past

2020 – Stories featuring obsolete – K

2019 – Stories for children – K

2018 – My Friend Rosey – K

2017 – The village of Amble Bay – K

 

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Short stories featuring musical instruments and those who play them!

 

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Wang Li plays the Jinghu in the China Opera Company’s orchestra.

It’s a sweet little thing that produces high pitched sound.

A bit like Wang Li actually! 

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Wang Li practices Wing Chun.

It’s a vicious form of self-defence.

Who’d have thought tiny Wang Li capable?

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Once, someone tried to rob Wang Li of her Jinghu.

A very unwise thing to attempt.

The Jinghu was not the only high pitched sound heard that day!

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                                                                   He won’t try that again!

 

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Years past

2020 – Stories featuring obsolete words – J

2019 – Stories for children – J

2018 – My Friend Rosey – J

2017 – The village of Amble Bay – J

Click on the letter of the day to revisit.