Title: The Miracle of Music: Adagio for Strings
Author: Emi-Chan
E-mail: EmiChan14@aol.com
Rating: G
Keywords: 'Adagio for Strings' (another song), Miranda.....
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine (except for Chloe). I don't pretend to own them, but I don't think anyone will mind if I borrow them for a little while.
Summary: Declan persuades Miranda to come to a choir rehearsal.
4:00 Monday Afternoon (a week later), Miranda's Lab
Miranda picked up a test tube filled with a blueish-green colored liquid and examined it.
As always, it was exactly the way it was supposed to be.
She put down the test tube and scratched a few notes in her notebook. She then measured out a small amount of a white powder and mixed it in with the blueish-green liquid and put it down again.
She sat down in a chair to wait for the chemical reaction to take place. It usually took a minute.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," she said.
The door opened and Declan popped his head inside. "Hey, Miranda," he greeted her as he walked in.
"Hi." Miranda answered simply. She looked up at him and could tell that he had a surprise for her. She sighed. She didn't have time for a surprise right now.
"Are you busy?" Declan asked.
"Yes,"
"You wanna take a break?" Declan wasn't going to give up that easily.
"Declan, I've got homework," was Miranda's weak excuse.
"Can't you do it later?"
Miranda opened her mouth to protest, but she knew she wouldn't get anywhere. "All right," she said reluctantly as she stood up and grabbed her notebook and a pen, just in case she had time to do homework.
"Let's go," Declan said excitedly.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
It was late February and the weather was somewhere in between winter and spring. There was snow on the ground, but there had been a constant, misty rain all day. It was actually quite refreshing after being in the stuffy laboratory all day.
"So where exactly are we going?" Miranda inquired.
"You'll see," was Declan's reply.
To Miranda's surprise, they didn't go toward Declan's truck. Instead, they were walking across the campus toward....
"The Music Building?" Miranda gave Declan a 'what's going on?' look.
Instead of giving a reply, Declan simply opened the door to the Music Building and they went inside.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"Catherine!" Chloe called to her best friend, "Come sit over here!"
Catherine looked up at Chloe and walked quickly to the empty seat beside her.
"So how's your week been?" Chloe asked.
Catherine made a face, "I had three tests on Friday, can you believe it?"
"Three tests?" Chloe gawked, "Goodness! I feel sorry for you."
"Don't be," Catherine replied, "it meant I didn't have any homework."
"Okay, so now I envy you...."
"Good afternoon, everybody!" the choir director, Mr. Caldwell, said perkily, "Let's start off with some humming."
The entire choir immediately sat up in their seats and began humming along to Mr. Ivory playing the piano.
Hmmmmmmmm and up a half step, hmmmmmmmmm and up a half step....
"Sit up, Miss Brenner," Mr. Caldwell reminded one of the sopranos.
Declan and Miranda walked quietly in.
"So you took me away from my homework so we could listen to a choir practice?" Miranda whispered, a little mad.
"This isn't just any choir, this is the best choir I've ever heard!" Declan whispered back as they sat down.
"Declan, I don't have time to listen to a choir practice!" Miranda said, almost forgetting to whisper.
"Shh!" Declan shushed her.
Miranda sighed and took out her notebook. Might as well get *something* done.
The choir soon finished their warm ups and went on to singing songs. Declan was right. They *were* good. Of course that didn't mean he should have interrupted her study for this....
They finished a song.
"Take out 'Agnus Dei'." the director said. The choir members immediately flipped through their folders until they came to the right page.
The accompanist played the first note and the choir began to sing. Right from the first few notes, the piece sounded familiar to Miranda.
The slowly moving soprano line, the sustained chords underneath...... all in the most beautiful harmony.
Miranda sat in her chair, scratching out the one-page essay she had for homework while humming along with the choir and trying to figure out what song she was humming. The name of the piece, 'Agnus Dei', didn't ring a bell for some reason. Maybe she had heard wrong.
She stood up. She had to find out what piece it was. She walked over to a woman who was sitting by a box of musical folders and other things.
"Excuse me," Miranda whispered as she tapped the woman on the shoulder.
The woman looked up.
"Do you have a copy of the piece they're singing?" she asked.
The woman rummaged through the box by her feet and pulled out a folder. She handed it to Miranda saying, "It's belongs to a choir member who's absent so you have to give it back."
"Okay," Miranda said. She brought the folder back to her seat.
She leafed through the music, but found nothing until the very last piece in the folder.
Sure enough, it was entitled, 'Agnus Dei', but there was another title written in small print underneath, it said, 'Adagio for Strings, Op. 11, transcribed for mixed Chorus with Organ or Piano Accompaniment'.
"Adagio for Strings," she muttered.
Adagio for Strings! Of course!
The memory suddenly came back to Miranda. She remembered being sixteen years old and the second chair violinist for her school orchestra. This had always been her favorite piece. She remembered practicing for hours until she got a mark on her neck from the chin rest and callouses on the fingertips of her left hand from pressing down on the strings.
As a child, she had always been musical. She considered it the balance to her scientific side. Once she started college, she neglected her music because science had become more important to her -- a part of her everyday life. Her violin now lay in a box somewhere in her apartment, forgotten.
As she listened to the last notes of her once cherished song, Miranda realized that maybe it *was* a good thing Declan had taken her here.
Author: Emi-Chan
E-mail: EmiChan14@aol.com
Rating: G
Keywords: 'Adagio for Strings' (another song), Miranda.....
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine (except for Chloe). I don't pretend to own them, but I don't think anyone will mind if I borrow them for a little while.
Summary: Declan persuades Miranda to come to a choir rehearsal.
4:00 Monday Afternoon (a week later), Miranda's Lab
Miranda picked up a test tube filled with a blueish-green colored liquid and examined it.
As always, it was exactly the way it was supposed to be.
She put down the test tube and scratched a few notes in her notebook. She then measured out a small amount of a white powder and mixed it in with the blueish-green liquid and put it down again.
She sat down in a chair to wait for the chemical reaction to take place. It usually took a minute.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," she said.
The door opened and Declan popped his head inside. "Hey, Miranda," he greeted her as he walked in.
"Hi." Miranda answered simply. She looked up at him and could tell that he had a surprise for her. She sighed. She didn't have time for a surprise right now.
"Are you busy?" Declan asked.
"Yes,"
"You wanna take a break?" Declan wasn't going to give up that easily.
"Declan, I've got homework," was Miranda's weak excuse.
"Can't you do it later?"
Miranda opened her mouth to protest, but she knew she wouldn't get anywhere. "All right," she said reluctantly as she stood up and grabbed her notebook and a pen, just in case she had time to do homework.
"Let's go," Declan said excitedly.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
It was late February and the weather was somewhere in between winter and spring. There was snow on the ground, but there had been a constant, misty rain all day. It was actually quite refreshing after being in the stuffy laboratory all day.
"So where exactly are we going?" Miranda inquired.
"You'll see," was Declan's reply.
To Miranda's surprise, they didn't go toward Declan's truck. Instead, they were walking across the campus toward....
"The Music Building?" Miranda gave Declan a 'what's going on?' look.
Instead of giving a reply, Declan simply opened the door to the Music Building and they went inside.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"Catherine!" Chloe called to her best friend, "Come sit over here!"
Catherine looked up at Chloe and walked quickly to the empty seat beside her.
"So how's your week been?" Chloe asked.
Catherine made a face, "I had three tests on Friday, can you believe it?"
"Three tests?" Chloe gawked, "Goodness! I feel sorry for you."
"Don't be," Catherine replied, "it meant I didn't have any homework."
"Okay, so now I envy you...."
"Good afternoon, everybody!" the choir director, Mr. Caldwell, said perkily, "Let's start off with some humming."
The entire choir immediately sat up in their seats and began humming along to Mr. Ivory playing the piano.
Hmmmmmmmm and up a half step, hmmmmmmmmm and up a half step....
"Sit up, Miss Brenner," Mr. Caldwell reminded one of the sopranos.
Declan and Miranda walked quietly in.
"So you took me away from my homework so we could listen to a choir practice?" Miranda whispered, a little mad.
"This isn't just any choir, this is the best choir I've ever heard!" Declan whispered back as they sat down.
"Declan, I don't have time to listen to a choir practice!" Miranda said, almost forgetting to whisper.
"Shh!" Declan shushed her.
Miranda sighed and took out her notebook. Might as well get *something* done.
The choir soon finished their warm ups and went on to singing songs. Declan was right. They *were* good. Of course that didn't mean he should have interrupted her study for this....
They finished a song.
"Take out 'Agnus Dei'." the director said. The choir members immediately flipped through their folders until they came to the right page.
The accompanist played the first note and the choir began to sing. Right from the first few notes, the piece sounded familiar to Miranda.
The slowly moving soprano line, the sustained chords underneath...... all in the most beautiful harmony.
Miranda sat in her chair, scratching out the one-page essay she had for homework while humming along with the choir and trying to figure out what song she was humming. The name of the piece, 'Agnus Dei', didn't ring a bell for some reason. Maybe she had heard wrong.
She stood up. She had to find out what piece it was. She walked over to a woman who was sitting by a box of musical folders and other things.
"Excuse me," Miranda whispered as she tapped the woman on the shoulder.
The woman looked up.
"Do you have a copy of the piece they're singing?" she asked.
The woman rummaged through the box by her feet and pulled out a folder. She handed it to Miranda saying, "It's belongs to a choir member who's absent so you have to give it back."
"Okay," Miranda said. She brought the folder back to her seat.
She leafed through the music, but found nothing until the very last piece in the folder.
Sure enough, it was entitled, 'Agnus Dei', but there was another title written in small print underneath, it said, 'Adagio for Strings, Op. 11, transcribed for mixed Chorus with Organ or Piano Accompaniment'.
"Adagio for Strings," she muttered.
Adagio for Strings! Of course!
The memory suddenly came back to Miranda. She remembered being sixteen years old and the second chair violinist for her school orchestra. This had always been her favorite piece. She remembered practicing for hours until she got a mark on her neck from the chin rest and callouses on the fingertips of her left hand from pressing down on the strings.
As a child, she had always been musical. She considered it the balance to her scientific side. Once she started college, she neglected her music because science had become more important to her -- a part of her everyday life. Her violin now lay in a box somewhere in her apartment, forgotten.
As she listened to the last notes of her once cherished song, Miranda realized that maybe it *was* a good thing Declan had taken her here.