Chapter 35
Chapter 35
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Diana Pierce! 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Young Master! The meal is ready!”
“Thanks.”
“Young Master! I’ll leave your clothes here!”
“Ah.”
“Young Master! Should I deliver the sheet music you drew yesterday to Mr. Erdi?”
“...”
Is it really possible for a house to become this noisy just from adding one more person?
It’s astonishing.
“Young Master? Are you starting your work?”
Same as always today.
I was about to head to the study after a quick meal, but Diana called out to me, stopping me in my tracks.
When I turned back without a word, she clapped her hands over her mouth.
“I’ll be quiet!”
At least she’s quiet during work hours. That’s a relief.
She’s so cheerful that the other servants have already started praising her.
“I heard the Young Master hired her personally? As expected, you have excellent taste, just like the Count!”
“I should teach her kitchen work soon too. She brought some snacks yesterday, and they were quite delicious.”
She passed the first impression test.
I look forward to seeing how she adapts from here on out.
“See you in the evening.”
“Yes, sir!”
Diana left to resume her training, and I entered the study.
Theo was organizing the ledgers.
“Nothing unusual, I trust?”
“Of course not. Everything is proceeding smoothly.”
He handles things perfectly without me having to ask.
I’m lucky to have him.
If it were just me, I could never have managed it all.
I wonder if Father is doing well.
I should contact him soon.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Evening.
After finishing my work, I returned to my room.
“Young Master! You’ve returned!”
A clean table and bed.
A floor and windows with not a speck of dust.
It seems a deep cleaning was done while I was out. How wonderful.
The piano is practically a mirror.
It’s polished so brightly that you can see your reflection if you get close.
“Oh.”
Anyway.
The reason we’ve gathered here is for a different purpose.
Piano lessons.
They start now.
Diana is a complete beginner.
She hadn’t even seen a real piano in person before Erdi and I visited the village.
Since it’s her first time, it’s better to focus on practical application over theory to get her interested.
“Have a seat.”
“Yes, sir!”
After correcting her posture simply, I taught her the musical scale.
“Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si. This side is the lower register, and this side is the higher register.”
“Ooh... I see...!”
“Try pressing one.”
Diana fidgeted with her fingers and gently tapped a key.
“It’s amazing... the pitch gets higher as you go to the right!”
“That’s exactly right. The section you just ‘played’ is called an octave, so make sure to remember that.”
“Yes, sir!”
The basic lectures continued for several days after that.
She would come up to the room to practice piano after finishing her duties in the territory.
In terms of modern Earth, it was about the difficulty of a five-year-old taking their first steps at an academy.
“Let’s review what I taught you yesterday.”
At my words, Diana placed her right hand on the keys.
“Start!”
A cheerful melody immediately flowed out.
“Do-Do... Sol-Sol... La-La-Sol...”
She mumbled the scale quietly, perhaps worried she might make a mistake.
“Fa-Fa... Mi-Mi... Re-Re-Do...”
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Since using both hands at once seemed difficult, I taught her only the right-hand melody for now.
Of course, I significantly lowered the difficulty to match her current skill level.
“Relax your muscles so the notes connect more smoothly. If your wrists and fingers are too stiff, the notes won’t connect properly and will sound unnatural, like they’re being cut off.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Did you use the pedal?”
“I did!”
She’s following along better than I expected.
If she keeps this up for a few weeks, she should be able to play simple children’s songs without much trouble.
Incidentally, the lessons are two hours a day.
“Thank you again today! Good night, Young Master!”
Diana, who had taken her hands off the keys, stood up abruptly and bowed.
“Good work. Don’t forget what I taught you today.”
She then scurried out of the room.
Now, freedom.
...That’s not likely.
Once she’s gone, another job begins.
Jubel Release Commemorative Concert.
I plan to stage the five anime soundtracks I originally revealed through Jubel at the theater soon.
The sheet music is already all finished.
I could have just read the music during recording, but for a live performance, it’s best to memorize everything.
The difference between having it perfectly memorized and not is significant.
It shows in the quality of the performance.
To present a more complete stage to the audience, the sheet music needs to be engraved in my mind to the point where my fingers move even while sleeping.
“Let’s get started.”
Every single measure, corner to corner.
I began the memorization mode, observing every single note meticulously.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Again.”
“Yes...”
The next day.
Practice time with Diana, who has returned.
Since I taught her the right-hand melody for “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” yesterday, today I taught her the left-hand rhythm along with the technique for playing with both hands.
Basically, this is the absolute foundation of piano.
However.
Something isn’t clicking, and she keeps making mistakes.
“Are you tired?”
“My head and hands aren’t working together.”
I figured as much.
“It’s okay to be slow. Try to play while hitting the notes accurately.”
I said it’s basic, but it doesn’t happen overnight.
The first step is always the hardest.
That doesn’t mean I can just gloss over it.
The moment you can use both hands freely is when the real world of piano begins.
Just like a house with a weak foundation collapses, if we don’t lay a solid groundwork here, problems will arise later.
Despite that, Diana is still struggling and sighing.
“Why isn’t it working...?”
“Try playing just the left hand first.”
“Okay.”
This time, she does it well.
It’s just a simple bass line, so it would be weird if she messed it up.
Both hands again.
Mistakes again.
“Nothing comes quickly. You just have to practice until you get it right. This is your homework. You’re not allowed to go outside until you’ve memorized all eight measures.”
“Oh! That’s great! I’ll work hard!”
Even so, it seems her joy still outweighs her frustration.
The two-handed independence of the piano, the F-chord on the guitar, and the vibrato on the violin are known as the walls for beginners.
But once you get past this stage, it gets easier from there.
Because confidence starts to build.
A performer loaded with confidence.
No one can stop them.
Because they have the belief and precedent that if they practice, they will eventually succeed, they even begin to enjoy the pain.
Just as expected.
“Ooh! I did it, Young Master!”
It seems she can now play a measure or two without difficulty.
“You have a long way to go. Don’t rest and keep practicing.”
“Yes!”
If Erdi is the genius type who learns ten things when you teach her one, Diana is the hardworking type who moves forward slowly but steadily.
If I had to say, I’m somewhere in between.
In any case, skill isn’t something you get for free.
Whether you’re a genius or a hard worker, you have to pay a price to move forward.
Here, that price is consistent training.
Both of them have bright futures.
If I leave them for five years, a skillful performer who surpasses me might appear in the capital.
Of course, that’s a good thing, but I can’t lose yet.
There’s a lot I need to do to lay the foundation for them to play to their heart’s content.
Leaving Diana, who was focusing on her practice, forgetting the flow of time, I went back to memorizing the sheet music.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
It’s been about three days since then.
Diana is pressing the keys with a bright smile.
She’s now at a level where she can play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” easily.
“Your skill has improved a lot.”
“Thank you for the praise! I’ll work even harder!”
It seems it might be time to move on to the next stage.
“Now, I’ll teach you chords.”
Chords.
The basis of left-hand accompaniment.
“Try pressing Do, Mi, and Sol all at once with these three fingers like this.”
“Ooh!”
Do-Mi-Sol, the C major tonic chord.
“Now, play them one by one.”
Do-Sol-Mi-Sol, the Alberti bass.
One of the forms of left-hand accompaniment that gives a rhythmical feel with soft, continuous movements.
It seems easy enough for now, as she follows along well.
“Now, try overlaying the right-hand melody of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ on the chord I just taught you.”
“Ugh...”
“Practice.”
“Okay.”
Even with the same piece, the mood becomes much more elegant if the playing technique changes.
“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” is suitable for explaining that change.
First, the beginner version that arranges the rhythm with just the bass notes of Do and Sol.
Easy to play, but feels a bit empty.
Next, put the tonic chord and the dominant chord in the bass position.
It can give a much richer feeling.
Going a step further is the Alberti bass, a form where you play a broken chord.
You can also change the melody.
Decorating a simple quarter note pattern with eighth or sixteenth notes, adding ornaments, and occasionally varying the tempo makes for a much more colorful and lively piece of music.
This is called a variation.
The most famous variation of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” is probably the one composed by Mozart.
I plan to teach her that piece someday.
It seems like it will take quite a while, though.
If she can play Mozart’s variations after reaching the level of nursery songs, she’ll surely feel a great sense of accomplishment.
As I thought that and smiled contentedly.
“Young Master! It’s too hard!”
Diana started frantically scratching her head.
“...What part is so difficult?”
“Playing the left-hand chords and the right-hand melody at the same time...! Even when I try to do it well, my hands won’t follow...!”
That’s strange.
Normally, her charm was that she would silently practice and prove it with results, no matter how complex it was.
Did she get burned out already?
A slump can happen to beginners too.
It often comes during times when progress is slow.
She feels disappointed because her skill isn’t rising as much as she expected.
I must have made her practice too recklessly.
There is a solution.
I just need to show her the goal she needs to achieve beforehand.
A role model... No, I need to set a milestone for her.
I walked over to the piano.
“Watch closely.”
After lightly loosening both hands, I played “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” with some appropriate arrangements.
The left-hand rhythm is bouncy, and the right-hand melody is more brilliant.
I mixed in some trills and arpeggios to add a lively feeling.
“Wah...”
Diana, her eyes sparkling as she listened to the music.
“If you practice for just one more week, you’ll be able to play like this too.”
Actually, it seems like it would take longer than that.
Does the time matter?
What’s important is that she can eventually achieve it.
“By the way, Young Master! As expected, you’re amazing! To be able to play the same piece so beautifully... I’m moved!”
I’m glad she’s regained her energy.
Should I show her a few more while I’m at it?
It might be good to give her some solid motivation while I have the chance.
“Go to the side for a moment.”
“Okay!”
I sent Diana to the edge of the bench, then sat down beside her.