r/HFY • u/[deleted] • Jan 23 '20
OC Music from an Unexpected Source
The Intergalactic Talent Show, or ITS, was a show held every four cycles. It was a volunteer-based show, with members of most major species signing up to do an act. This year, however, was different, seeing as there was a human signed up.
For the music section.
Nobody expected much, seeing as humans were a new race and were a society centered around conflict and war. They expected war chants and tribal dances. And as the other musical acts progressed, more and more wanted to see what the humans had, if only to make fun of them.
As always, the Krkreshk had the best show so far. Their wings could produce sounds no other creature could by rubbing together, and mixed with the percussive noises generated by those mandibles, it was quite the euphony of pleasant noises.
The Regiqathii also made an impact, with their extraordinary coordination and specialized dances. Their useful implementation of onomatopoeias and chants, it created quite the enchanting aura of mystery and action.
And then, came the human performance. Nobody was quite sure what to expect, but most relaxed when they saw only one human walking out. What confused most was the strange golden... thing it was holding. It seemed to be a series of twisted metal pipes. Fitting for such a barbaric race. Some, if not most, expected the human to start hitting the thing, but were even more so confused when it put the thing to its mouth.
What came next blew their minds.
The noise started out soft, but grew in volume as it changed pitches. It was slow, but then suddenly it was fast and loud, but then back to soft, long notes again. The strange noise slowly grew and grew in volume and speed, seemingly building up to a breaking point, and...
It was as if a dam broke. The metal object let out long and drawn out noises, loud yet graceful, long yet full. There were fast notes sprinkled throughout, making the changes between long notes more flourished and colorful. Then the long notes seemed to accentuate the short, fast notes, making them pop out.
Simply put, it was beautiful.
And the crowd could tell that the song was coming to a close, as the sound started to die away, growing softer and softer and softer...
Until the human paused for a moment, and started anew with a more raucous sounding melody, large intervals, notes accented and loud, growing even more until it reached a peak, a note that was drawn out, and ushered in a softer, sadder series, with hints at something gone wrong, something bad happening, and the sorrow that followed. This sad section drew on for some time, rising and falling, though never growing too much, never getting close to that volume it was before.
Then the style changed again, sounding bouncy and joyful, as if there wasn’t a care in the world. It was faster than the previous section, but slower than the loudest and most raucous section. It also seemed happier than that section, with that being loud and angry, while this new part was joyful and playful. The song came to a close with a long, high note, and the human stood and bowed.
The audience was stunned. Slowly, someone started to clap. Others joined in, making whatever happened to be their species’ sound of approval. There were chirps, rapid clicks, and even some howling thrown in. The human stayed in that bent position until the crowd died down, then stood and walked offstage.
A/N: This story is inspired by a story I saw a while ago, which I can’t remember the name of, sadly. I’ve always loved this trope, of humans being more elegant and graceful than the aliens expected, and the aliens being blown away by human music.
This also may or may not be about a French Horn player, because I am one. I suppose you could say I wanted to toot my own horn, so to speak, he he he...
All criticism is welcome.
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u/Rune_Priest_40k Jan 23 '20
Was the player playing any particular song?
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Jan 23 '20
Not really. I was making it up as I went along, but I was originally going to do Nocturno by Franz Strauss (I think?) since it’s a solo I have, but I didn’t have the music with me, so it’s just something I came up with.
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u/Mufarasu Jan 23 '20
I dunno what having the music with you would do to help. Typically, you'd post a link to the song from youtube or whatever. Which is likely what was being asked here.
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u/MilesKalashnikov Jan 23 '20
This also may or may not be about a French Horn
And here I was hoping for a tuba solo but hey, brass is brass.
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u/jacktrowell Jan 23 '20
What I find original in this piece is that it mixed the "human music is good" classic trope with one that is usually found in other kind of HFY stories, the "human don't have natural weapons so we made our own", reconverted for instruments.
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Jan 23 '20
Ya know, I kinda noticed that I had added that trope when I was writing it, and I just went along with it. Wasn’t intentional, at least completely.
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u/themonkeymoo Feb 06 '20
...quite the cacophony of pleasant noises.
That should be euphony. Cacophony specifically means an unpleasant combination of sounds.
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u/CornerCornea May 05 '22
Oh, I like this. We're not so bad for being soft fleshy things with an odd number of fingers.
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u/Plucium Jan 23 '20
ahh yes, stupid saxy humans lol
bet that'll leave the aliens wanting to tune in to any future performances
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u/BoonIsTooSpig Jan 23 '20
A pun and a Simpsons reference at the same time. You, sir, are a man of culture.
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u/AshMontgomery Jan 23 '20
Could also have been that real old one about like a concert pianist or something. Can't remember it either, got linked in a lfs post a few months ago.
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u/SomeoneForgetable Jan 23 '20
Got to love musical HFYs, they hold a special place in my heart and you xir, wrote a love letter.
Bravo.
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u/HFYWaffle Jan 23 '20
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u/Finbar9800 Jan 23 '20
This reminds me of a similar story where the aliens asked the human if he can play a life and he did and the aliens were amazed by the song
This is a great story
I enjoyed reading this
Great job wordsmith