Chapter 17: Serenade

"Those are some big speakers!" Sandra exclaimed, as they entered the recording control room.

Richard grinned. "So size does matter then?" he asked suggestively.

Emily and Sandra just gave him a look before peering through the window to the concert hall. A cellist was practicing with a pianist.

"Wow, the view is really good from up here!" Emily said.

"Yeah. It sounds good, too," Richard said. He flipped on the power amplifiers and then brought up the faders for the hall microphones. The cello and piano music streamed into the room.

Richard gestured for Sandra to sit in the sweet spot in front of the mixer.

"Close your eyes," he said gently, his hands gently massaging her shoulders.

After a moment, Sandra said "Mm, that feels good."

Richard pulled his hands away abruptly. "You're supposed to be listening!"

Sandra turned and gave him a little pout, but Richard just pointed to the speakers with a stern look.

Sandra listened for a while. "You can hear every detail of the cello playing," she said at last. "It's really rich."

"Box seat view, front row sound, as Dave likes to say," Richard offered.

Emily took a turn in the seat. "Can we watch concerts from up here from now on?" she asked, after listening to the music.

Richard chuckled. "If I'm recording, maybe. Dave probably wouldn't mind. As long as you don't distract me from my job."

"Oh, we would never do that," Emily said innocently, sidling up to him.

Richard looked at her levelly. "Right..."

"Are these the tapes where you found your teacher's concert?" Sandra called from the anteroom.

"Yeah."

Emily and Richard joined her in front of the stacks of tapes. They scanned the spines, every now and then pointing out a famous name.

"Hey, look, here's a recital by my teacher!" Sandra said.

"Want to take a listen?" Richard asked.

"Sure!"

Richard pulled the DAT tape from the shelf and brought it to the machine in the control room. He handed the J-card to Sandra, and she scanned over the program printed on it.

"Ooh, go to track eight!" she suddenly exclaimed.

Richard skipped forward on the DAT, and then turned up the volume on the mixer as the music began. Richard recognized it as the piece he had tried to accompany Sandra on when Allison had listened to them play.

Sandra sighed as her teacher made the first entrance sound so easy. "I wish I could do that..."

"Beautiful voice," Emily said quietly.

"Mm hmm," Sandra concurred.

When the piece finished, Sandra turned to Richard. "This is amazing, Richard. It's like being right there!"

"I know," Richard said. "It's cool to have access to all these tapes. Do you want to hear more?"

"Not now. I want to go play Emily's piece."

"Okay." Richard rewound the tape.

"Good evening," Dave said, startling the trio. He was grinning at them.

"Oh, hey Dave! Do you need to use the room?" Richard asked as he carefully replaced the tape in its case.

"No, no, I was just on my way home. I thought I'd see how your guests like the control room."

"Very neat," Emily said.

"Oh, Dave," Richard said suddenly, "this is Emily ... and Sandra."

"Nice to meet you," Dave said, nodding. "Have you played them the CD I lent you?" he asked Richard.

"No, I haven't yet," Richard said. He dug through his bag and pulled it out.

Dave loaded it in the player. "There are some great stories about this CD," he said, as he brought the volume up.

"The 1812 overture?" Emily said, recognizing the opening theme.

"Yeah. It's one of the CDs people use to 'test' their high-end sound systems," Dave said. He pulled the grille off one of the speakers.

"Why?" Sandra asked.

Dave fast-forwarded into the CD some, and then let it play. "The cannons," he said simply, and pointed to the speakers.

As the music reached the final climax, the cannons started going off. Sandra instinctively reached for her ears. Richard watched as the speaker cones stretched to accommodate the sharp transient and ensuing low frequencies. The whole room shook from the blasts. Richard noticed everyone bracing themselves against the onslaught of artillery.

Dave turned down the volume as the final chords sounded.

"Damn!" Emily exclaimed. "That was a little loud."

Dave laughed. "Yeah."

"Did you see the speakers moving?" Richard asked.

"Is that bad for them?" Sandra asked.

Dave shook his head. "Not unless they get damaged. That's about as loud as I'd go, though."

"What happens if you turn it up more, besides making us deaf?" Emily asked.

"Funny you should ask," Dave said, grinning. "I was at a party once, a long time ago, and the host decided he wanted to show off his new stereo system in front of fifty people. He played this CD, and got a little ... overexcited with the volume."

"And?" Richard urged.

"And when he got to the cannons, it was interesting. The speakers took the first few without problem, but then the woofer ripped out of its frame. A few more hits and it stopped moving altogether."

"How embarrassing!" Sandra said.

"Yeah, a little. The CD does have a warning on it, see," Dave said, pointing. "The host was a little ... dismayed. But after the fact, we all had a good laugh about it."

"I saw this piece live once, in a park concert by the Hudson River," Richard said. "They had some of the cannons firing from a barge out in the river, and they had to fire those early since the sound would take a few seconds to get to the audience. It was pretty cool. Like a real battle."

"That must have been fun to see. Pieces with cannons in them don't get performed very much, I'd guess," Dave said. "Well, I need to get home. Nice meeting you both."

"See you around, Dave," Richard said.

"By the way..." Dave said, turning back to the girls, "we're always looking for people to help record concerts."

"Oh, I don't think so," Sandra said, pointing to the mixing board. "Just looking at that thing makes my head spin."

"You'd learn. If Richard can do it..." Dave gave Richard a wink.

The girls laughed.

"Thanks, Dave," Richard said.

"I better go before I get in trouble," Dave said, smiling mischievously. "Goodnight."

Dave slipped out of the room.

"He's pretty laid back," Emily observed.

"Yeah, I like him. He's easy to work with," Richard agreed.

"Well, should we go try this new piece out?" Sandra asked.

Emily put her horn to her lips, and blew the opening notes of the Serenade. The first section was a horn solo.

Richard watched closely as she sounded the notes, restarting a phrase a few times when she messed up. What was fascinating was that she never depressed the valves on the horn for the entire melody.

"Cool!" Sandra said, when Emily finished the call and took the horn from her lips.

"How do you play that without pressing the keys?" Richard asked.

"Well, Britten indicates that it should be played naturally, which means all harmonics."

Richard frowned.

"Here, listen," Emily said. She played a low note on the horn, and then by adjusting only her lips and breath, she changed pitches, ascending through the natural harmonics of the instrument.

"The high ones are close together and hard to hit cleanly," Emily said, raising a brow.

Richard nodded appreciatively. "Play the prologue again," he said.

Emily shrugged and raised the horn.

We need more space, Richard thought. Her horn playing was beautiful, but it filled the small practice room too quickly, pressing in on his ears. Unfortunately the large piano room was occupied. Richard suddenly remembered that the concert hall had gone dark as they were listening to the 1812 overture with Dave. Maybe...

"I'll be right back," Richard said, as Emily finished the prologue. Before the girls could question, he was walking down the hallway.

A quick peek into the hall showed that it was still dark. Richard looked around backstage and found the light board. A few tests of the switches gave nothing, but then one switch threw on a few stage lights. Richard grinned and ran excitedly back downstairs to the practice room.

"Bathroom break?" Emily asked.

"No, change of practice room."

"Is the big piano room open?" Sandra asked.

"Not quite," Richard said, gathering his music. "Let's go."

Emily shrugged and grabbed her music and case. They followed Richard upstairs and into the stage door.

"Oh, sweet!" Emily said. "No one is here?"

"Not for now," Richard said.

"Are we allowed to be here?" Sandra asked.

"I don't know. What's the worst that can happen?"

The three of them slipped through the gap in the curtain and onto the illuminated stage. The wooden floor glowed golden and their footsteps on it echoed into the dark and empty audience seating. It seemed like every sound was amplified as they set up stands and turned pages. Emily and Sandra stood facing Richard and the piano, rather than the audience.

"Now try the prologue," Richard said to Emily.

Much better! The horn filled the hall, bathing them in rich reverberation. It was a significant improvement over the claustrophobic tightness of the practice room.

Emily responded to the setting, and played a more sensitive rendition of the opening.

"Man, it's really hard to get that right on first reading," she said, staring at the music like it was a puzzle. "But let's move on," she finally said. "I don't want to be the only one playing all night."

"It sounds great, Em, especially for a first run," Richard said. Sandra agreed.

"Thanks," Emily said. "Pastoral, or another movement?"

"Let's just read through it, and see what's in here," Richard said. He stretched, and looked at Sandra. "Ready?"

She chuckled. "Um, sure..."

Richard began to play the opening chords of the Pastoral.

None of them noticed the figure slip into the concert hall and sit in the back corner.

The rehearsal ended with Emily playing the epilogue.

"You're supposed to be offstage for that part," Richard said, pointing to the score.

Emily looked at him levelly. "I'm not moving now. Next time."

Sandra yawned. "It feels late."

Richard checked his watch. "Damn, it is late! Eleven. We should go."

"This was really fun," Emily said sincerely, as she packed up her horn. "Much more fun than my ensemble class."

"We should do a recital and play this," Sandra said suddenly.

"I don't think we give recitals in our first two years. We just have juries," Richard said.

"Yeah, I know, but we could still do a joint recital," Sandra said. "Gwen gave a recital last year and she was just a sophomore."

Richard pursed his lips. "Hmm. We could each do one piece and then do the Serenade together."

Emily nodded thoughtfully. "It would be a lot of extra work though."

"Not so much," Sandra countered. "We have juries anyway. We can each do something from that. Richard can play one of his fancy pieces..."

"Fancy?"

" ... and you could play the Hindemith you are working on, and I could do some songs, and then we play the Serenade." Sandra was clearly excited about the idea.

"But Richard will have to learn the accompaniments for us. Plus the Serenade is no easy piece," Emily said.

"Do you think your teacher would let you work on accompaniments?" Sandra asked Richard.

"Um, I don't know. I do have some ensemble requirements but I don't know if this would count."

"Can you ask? I mean, if you even want to. I know you are really busy with your regular practicing. Oh, well, maybe it is a bad idea..." Sandra finished glumly, as she remembered Richard's situation with his technique.

"Hold on, hold on," Richard said. "I'd really love to do this."

"Really?" Sandra said, brightening.

"Yes, definitely. But, let's see how things go. It might mean we have to spend more time in the practice room than in the dorm room together."

"That's okay," Emily said.

"Will you ask your teachers then?" Sandra asked them.

Richard and Emily looked at each other, and then nodded. A big smile spread across Sandra's face.

Back in the dorm room, Sandra was walking on air.

"I'm trying not to get my hopes up," she said, although it was clear that it was too late for that.

"You really want to do this, huh?" Richard noted, as he sat in the desk chair.

"Can't you tell?" Emily said, smiling at Sandra.

"My two favorite things right now are hanging out with you two, and singing. Why wouldn't I want to do both together?" Sandra asked.

"Aw, isn't that sweet!" Emily teased.

"It's the truth," Sandra said simply.

Sandra got out a piece of paper and pencil, and wrote 'Richard, Emily and Sandra's Recital' across the top.

"What would you play on it, Richard?"

Richard laughed. "Didn't know we were having the programs printed tomorrow..."

"Trying not to get your hopes up, Sandra?" Emily said.

"I can't help it!" she admitted. "At least I can pin this on my board and look at it. It will keep us motivated."

"How long is the Serenade, anyway?" Richard asked.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. Sandra pulled out the score and started skimming through it, humming parts. Between the three of them they figured it to be perhaps twenty-five minutes long, depending on the final tempi.

"So that's perfect, if we have three other things on the program," Sandra said.

"I'd probably play my Liszt piece, then," Richard said.

"That would be awesome!" Sandra exclaimed. "How long is it?"

"It runs about seventeen minutes," Richard said.

"So does the Hindemith," Emily said.

"Well, perfect! I'll do a few songs, and that will be it. Who goes first?"

For a few moments, they considered the options.

"How about you, Sandra," Emily said, "then me, and then Richard after intermission, and then the Serenade last."

"Good, that way I'd get a break between singing," Sandra agreed. She wrote down the program.

Richard couldn't help smiling at her enthusiasm. Still, you have to start somewhere to plan a recital. Might as well be tonight.

"And also, Richard doesn't blow us all away right off the beginning," Emily added.

"What?" Richard exclaimed.

"If you are going to play the Liszt first, I wouldn't want to go right after that," Emily said matter-of-factly.

"I guess..."

Sandra passed the mockup program to Richard. He looked it over, and then laughed. "You know, Sandra, I don't think the programs that Wexford prints up have little flowers and smiley faces on them..."

"Don't give me a hard time! I'm too excited for that!" Sandra cried.

"And you're too cute not to tease right now," Richard replied with a grin.

He passed the program to Emily, who nodded in approval.

"Do you think we can do it?" Sandra asked.

"Yeah, if Mrs. T. lets me," Richard reminded her.

Sandra looked at Emily expectantly. "I'm going to be playing the Hindemith for juries anyway, so why not?" Emily said.

Sandra pinned the program up on her corkboard, and then gave Richard and Emily each a firm kiss. After turning off the room lights and switching to the dim corner lamp, she turned to them, and unbuttoned her shirt. "Get up," she commanded.

"Me?" Richard said, not moving.

"Both of you." The shirt slipped off her shoulders as Emily and Richard watched.

Sandra's shorts fell to the floor, and she stood expectantly before them in her black underwear and bra.

"Why are you both just sitting there smiling at me?" she asked.

"You're just too cute," Emily said, echoing Richard's earlier comment.

Sandra rolled her eyes and went to Richard. "Come on. Do I have to do everything tonight?"

Richard laughed richly. "Not so fast. Before I get out of this chair, it's my turn to watch."

"Your turn?" Sandra said, frowning at him. "What do you mean?"

Emily giggled in the background at Sandra's confusion.

"You two are always taking turns watching me," Richard said. "Now it's my turn."

His meaning dawned on Sandra, and her mouth fell open. "You mean, you want to watch Emily ... and me?"

Richard nodded with brow raised, a smile creeping across his face.

"Doing ... doing what?" Sandra said, voice quiet.

Richard just stared at her, unmoving. She knows, he thought to himself.

Emily, meanwhile, had moved behind Sandra, and was grinning at Richard. When she placed her hands on Sandra's bare back, Sandra jumped slightly.

"I don't know..." Sandra said.

"You don't want to?" Richard asked her gently.

"No, I do. I'm just shy."

"Shy? Why?"

"I've never done this before," Sandra said. She fluttered her eyelids as Emily ran her hands over the front of Sandra's bra cups.

"There's a first time for everything," Richard said quietly.

Sandra was already relenting under Emily's touch. She stood perfectly still with her arms at her sides, as Emily's hands traced down her tummy. Tingles exploded under her fingers, leaving a trail on her flesh.

"I don't know what to do," Sandra said weakly. She held her eyes closed, partly to avoid Richard's look, and partly in early ecstasy.

Emily's hands continued south along Sandra's smooth skin. Is she going to go all the way down and touch me? Right now?

Emily was moving so slowly ... Sandra started to tense up in anticipation. Just as her fingers crossed Sandra's bellybutton, pleasure suddenly exploded across her middle.

Richard, no fair! Sandra opened her eyes wide and looked at him.

"I'm sure you'll be all right," Richard said, grinning. "You are obviously very excited," he added, removing his hand.

Richard sat back again, and took in the sight before him. His arousal was tremendous, and nothing had really happened yet. All day he had been wondering if the kiss was just a tease, or if it was the beginning of a new facet to their relationship. He resisted the urge to join in any more, tempting as it was.