//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Musical Critique in A minor // Story: Beethoven's Tenth // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// Octavia still had a look of shock as her jaw had yet to recover from that performance. Vinyl, on the other hoof, had already pressed stop on the recording button but wore a grin. Twilight only had a smirk. The unicorn DJ picked up Ludwig’s conversation book to write down a very short message. Dude! That was incredible! Beethoven gave a low chuckle. “Why, thank you, Fräulein.” He then turned to the still stunned Octavia. "What?” "How did you do that?” the gray mare asked aloud. At first, Twilight was about to remind her that he couldn't hear and was going to reach for the conversation book until she noticed that Ludwig was silently moving his lips. “How… did… I do that?” he asked, and Octavia nodded. “Well, since my ears were useless for… the last seven years, I’ve found ways to still hear music outside of my own mind. I found that vibrations through my bones tend to help a bit to hear what I’m playing. As long as my head is rested against something vibrating, I can still hear what I’m playing.” Gears were turning in the white unicorn's head as Beethoven spoke. This talk about vibrations made her look at her earphones, and then to her speakers with which she had played at countless clubs on countless nights. Where at times, whenever she used either, they could get so loud that she could even feel- suddenly, a lightbulb went on in her head. With the conversation book nearby, she quickly wrote down for the giant: Vibrations? Hold on a second! Let me try something! She took off her earphones, making sure that the cord was still connected to her device in which she kept her music, along with other songs she liked and turned up the volume as high as it could go. Using her magic, she hoofed them over to the old man while moving her front hooves over her own pointed ears a couple of times to urge him to put them on. Beethoven looked confused. “What do you want me to do?” Facehoofing, Vinyl reached over for the conversation book to write her message. Put these on over your ears. I want to see if you can hear anything with those. Ludwig deadpanned."Not to disappoint you, Fräulein, but I don’t think that these will work. I’ve been with too many quack doctors that had given me false hope in recovering my hearing. Why I wouldn't be surprised if these were just as ineffective as the desk full of hearing horns that did nothing but make me look ridiculous.” Trust me on this. I think it might work. “I doubt that it will,” Beethoven said, folding his arms. “My hearing is completely gone. I don’t think that even two hundred and some odd years is going to change the very thing that I can no longer get back.” But Vinyl was persistent, so Ludwig eventually gave in and stretched the earphones over his ears, but he found that it didn’t fit around his head, so he just pressed one of the discs close to one of his ears. Okay, now I’m going to let this play a short song of mine, so tell us if you can hear something. “I still doubt it,” Beethoven mumbled, but the DJ ignored him and scrolled over to one of her playlists and chose one of her songs. Even before she could press play, both Twilight and Octavia already knew what the unicorn had in mind. When Vinyl pressed the button, it got an immediate reaction from Ludwig. He was startled. Twilight wrote a note to him asking what happened. “Can you play it again?” Ludwig asked, this time pressing one of the discs to his jawbone. Nodding, Vinyl rewound the song to the start and let it play at full volume while the giant sat there silently. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the vibrations that the earphones were giving as the short DJ song was blasting out. “Oh, that’s clever!” Twilight said before turning to the DJ. “You’re using your earphones as a kind of hearing aid.” The white unicorn smirked. “Now that I think about it, this could help us a lot. As long as he can feel the vibrations at high decibels, it could help us play his music correctly.” “As much as I can see where this is going,” the Cellist started “I can already see a huge problem with both of your lines of thinking.” At this, the princess of friendship asked what she meant. “For starters," Octavia replied, "even if he could hear music from the vibrations of Vinyl’s earphones, the equipment for him to be able to hear is too big, awkward, and clunky to move around. Not to mention that it would take some time to disassemble the parts from the microphone downwards, move it, and reassemble them. Plus, who’s to say that he can pick up everything from that music she’s playing him?” The three of them turned to Beethoven as the short techno song wrapped up. Vinyl inquired if he could pick up anything. “From this contraption? Surprisingly yes, but not all,” He said. “I couldn’t pick up the higher notes, or some of the softer moments there, but it’s almost like my hearing was when I was starting to go deaf.” After a silent, celebratory “Yes!” from the white unicorn, she asked through writing what he thought of her song. “It needs work,” he said folding his arms. “It’s the most innovated thing I’ve listened to with these weird sounds that are coming out of this. Not to mention that you might be able to cause a riot or five from where I come from. What I like is that you were able to use a wide range of sound, but give a surprise in every step of the way. You have an interesting melody that I think you can play around with and do countless variations on. However, with that said, there is a problem with it.” Vinyl frowned and Ludwig went on explaining. “You see, Fräulein, the way you use the drums for every beat of each measure, they lose their strength and excitement if you just play it straight from beginning to end. Where I come from, using drums for rhythms are used to highlight certain notes to make them strong and powerful. Here, however, your song falls flat on the discipline side because those drums are always present, so it’s no longer a surprise, but instead a distraction from the main theme. Not to say you shouldn’t use these downbeats at all, but give each of them space and good timing to really make it effective.” The white unicorn sighed. Everypony’s a critic. “But tell me,” he said, “Is this the only music that it can play?” By this point, Octavia waved in to get a hold of the conversation book. To answer your question; that device can contain hundreds of recorded music, not just that one song. Ludwig took a hold of the device to which the earphones were connected. “Such a useful invention,” He commented. The Cellist looked over to her roommate. “You do have my recordings on there, don’t you?” Octavia asked. Vinyl nodded, taking the small device back into her violet aura. the rest of them watched as the DJ switched over to another playlist in which she showed Octavia’s recorded music. “Play that one," she said, pointing. Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “What? It was written last year and, considering his background, he might appreciate it.” Octavia then took the conversation book and told Beethoven that the next song to which he was about to listen was recorded by her on her cello and written by a friend of hers who played the piano. “So it’s new?” Ludwig asked as he took the earphone back to his chin. The gray mare nodded. “Now I’m curious. Let it play.” Vinyl did, and for a moment, Beethoven closed his eyes as he focused on the vibrations of the duet. However, about half a minute later, his eyes sprang open, taking the earphones off his jaw with a frown on his face as he looked over at Princess Twilight. “Your Majesty, I know exactly why classical music as I know it is dying.” Octavia was taken completely by surprise, “What!” She pulled on his sleeve, “Excuse me, but what?” she questioned. Ludwig looked right in the eye and said, “That music you’ve played, it has no soul.” “I don’t understand!” she said in frustration, looking away. “Face me, then talk.” she did so, and Beethoven told her, “Before you get angry at me, at least let me explain why I said what I said. From what I can pick up from that so-called recording, you and your friend that composed that had committed the biggest sin in music.” Octavia’s eyes narrowed, getting a little too angry, she wrote in his conversation book. Oh? And what, pray tell, is that? “There was a lack of passion,” Ludwig answered. “It’s clear that you can play the cello, but on the other hand, it sounded as if you were bored with it. I’ll give your friend over there credit that, while I may not fully support her music, at least there was passion being put in.” To this, Vinyl gave a smug grin. But that performance was flawless! There wasn’t a single note that was out of place! “And that,” Beethoven stood up, minding the low ceiling, “is the problem with it. To be playing the wrong notes is insignificant, but to play music without passion is inexcusable. Come to think of it, it’s no wonder that your friend, with all of her new instruments, seems popular if Twilight is correct. It’s because musicians like yourself are more focused on getting the right notes then playing it with fire!” “Ludwig!” Twilight called out, but he didn’t hear it. Instead, he paused for a moment to notice that the gray mare’s head was turning scarlet with rage. “Question: What do you feel now?” He asked. Her eyes answered for him that she was very upset. “Angry? Distraught? Think I'm an idiot for saying so?” Ludwig asked as he walked over to pick up her cello and bow and hand it over to her. “Do me a favor right now, and play what you’re feeling.” “Are you mad?” she asked, but Beethoven didn’t hear her. Instead, he picked up the earphones and asked Vinyl, “Is there any way you can make this play what she’s going to play?” Indeed, the white unicorn connected one of the best microphones she had and the earphones to her remix table. After turning it on, she nodded. "Now then, still angry?” Octavia nodded. “Play!” And so, in a rage, she played out her emotions. Although improvised, her thoughts transcended from her mind to the strings. On that solo, wooden instrument, the fury she felt was unleashed onto the deaf man who was pressing the earphone to his jawbone. Then, as Twilight noted, as Octavia’s bow hopped from string to string in her angry melody, Ludwig’s foot was tapping. For the next several minutes, as the Cellist played, she found that despite what she felt from what Beethoven had said about her recording, there was something… liberating about what she was doing. All that bottled up anger and aggression that she would never allow to show in public was draining away as her bow beat in time. Eventually, as she ended her song, she found herself calmer than before. “That,” Ludwig said, taking the earphone away from his jaw, “Is exactly what you should have been doing. That was the passion that was missing, and just now, even when I insulted you, Fräulein, you have unleashed that fire that was missing. Much better!” Twilight wrote in his conversation book and showed it to him. Wait! You were making her angry on purpose? “Because that’s what was needed,” he turned to the Cellist and the DJ. “Remember, ladies; to be a great musician, you must have the spirit of a gypsy, and the discipline of a soldier. Perhaps it’s a good thing that you live within spitting distance of each other because you two need to learn from the other. And, you know what? That is what my music is about and why it needs to be played. I will say that it will be difficult for you ponies, but it will give you the passion that music in this world needs. My symphonies alone have revolutionized the world where I come from, and perhaps it will do the same here with the three of you.” After taking a calm breath, Octavia took the book into her own hooves and wrote her message. Alright, I admit that you do have a point. The orchestra I’m with is going to discuss what to play next week, but since we don’t know you, we’re going to have to play something you’ve written to convince them to play your music. Beethoven smirked when he read it. “Very well, we’ll do just that; let’s give your orchestra a taste of what I can do. Lucky for us, I know just the piece to make my introduction.”