What harpering is all about

Writers: Anna, Rebecca
Date Posted: 18th July 2006

Characters: X'amor, M'tias
Description: X'amor talks to M'tias about his gitaring and about being a harper.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 12, day 16 of Turn 3

X'amor strolled around the Weyrbowl as he enjoyed listening to the going on's of the Weyr. Hearing the dragons' bugles after they completed a formation as their Wing practiced, the chatter of people heading to the Dining cavern, The chittering of many little firelizards as the argued over who got to scrub down the dragons in the lake, it was all refreshing.

Then he heard something that made him squirm. Some one was playing a tune on his gitar, and kept hitting the high notes of the song. The Senior apprentice headed towards the playing and saw a young rider leaning up against the rock wall of the Weyr, struggling to get his fingers to play the right notes.

M'tias sighed and set down the gitar. His hands had become used to riding straps and firestones Not musical instruments. He wonderd why he'd even thought about going back to it.

"Having a hard time at the strings?" X'amor asked as he sat next to the young man.

"I guess it's obvious." M'tias sighed. "Give me rding straps and I can untangle them easy. Gitar strings are another matter."

The older rider chuckled and nodded in understanding, "I remember when I first picked up an instrument after going through a good amount of my weyrling training. It seemed like I had never played before in my life." He smiled and gave the young man his hand, "I'm X'amor, rider to blue Calodith.
I know I've seen you around."

"M'tias, I belong to that brown lump. His name is Woenth." M'tias shook his hand.

X'amor smiled at the weyrling's sour humor. He picked up the gitar that the young man had set aside and strummed a few chords. "So what seems to be your problem?"

"I can't get my fingers to streach for the right cords."

X'amor nodded as he picked a few strings, testing their strength, and how tight they were. "Did you make this?"

M'tias shook his head. "I left the hall before I had a chance to learn. I've only just picked up a few classes. I'm borrowing it."

"Hmmm," X'amor felt the neck of the instrument, looking to see how straight it was. "Well one of your problems might be that this gitar id to big for you." He grasped the neck of the gitar with his fingers wrapped around it, "See how my finger tips," he pointed, "are that far apart from my thumb?" He handed the gitar back, "Now look at how far away yours are from your thumb."

M'tias felt sheepish, it hadn't occured to him that the gitar might be too big for him. "Oh."

X'amor shrugged, "It's an easy thing to miss. Especially if you missed learning how to make a gitar. They explain it in the lessons; different lengths of necks for different sizes of bodies, or you can mix them for different sounds." He nodded towards the gitar in the lad's hands. "You should take advantage of the Harper Hall being here and take some lessons on making a gitar. One learns how to play something better if they know how to make it."

"I thought I'd get the classes like charter and such out of the way first. I've olny got so much free time. I want to be an archivist anyway."

The bluerider raised an eyebrow, "Why an archivist?" It was odd to to find some one that young that wanted to have his nose in dusty hides.

"I like reading about the way things were. Before the pleague. When people could be who they wanted and not have to hide. Or the old weyrs."

X'amor nodded in understanding, "History is interesting, I'll give you that, but when you write music, or play a song it's about the now, how it will affect people _now_.

"In my experiance people don't want to change."

X'amor nodded, "That's true, but that doesn't mean they don't need to change." He pointed his finger while he continued as emphasis, "One of the most important jobs of a harper is to help people throught the process of change."

"What about those who refuse, I don't want to be banging my head agianst a wall."

"True, I don't think anyone would. But it's our responsibility. And I didn't say that Harpers are supposed to forse-feed people new ideas. Our responsibility is to relate the new ideas to people in different ways so that hopefully they can understand it from at least one of the points of views we offer through our songs and ballads."

X'amor sighed and shrugged, "But of course there are those that won't accept it at all. All we have to do is try our hardest to help people understand what we're trying to say and then leave it to them to decide how they feel about it. Of course we can put different emotional emphasis on different subjects, but that's when you _know_ what you're playing or singing has a purpose you believe in. Being a Harper can turn into a very political posision, you just have to make sure what you're trying to get through to people is something that you believe as well."

"Oh, I get it. I think."

X'amor smiled at the simple statement after his long rant. "Well I'm glad you do, because you can't be a _true_ harper without understanding that. But give yourself some time and I'm sure you'll come to see what I'm saying."

The blue rider picked up the momentarily forgotten gitar, "Now what I suggest is that you make a trip to the Weyrharper and ask him to help you find a used, but still in good condition, gitar that fits your hand better."

"I'll do that." M'tias smiled, "Thanks X'amor."

The blurider smiled, "It was no problem M'tias."

Last updated on the July 19th 2006

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

What harpering is all about