A/N: Originally, I had intended on having this segment be two separate chapters - which is why it's a bit lengthier than expected. However, upon further thought, I figured it'd be a nice little holiday treat to put these two together.
Also, I'm pleased to say I will be giving every chapter a proper title - to not only provide a better reference as to the plot, but also to add a bit more fun. And, if you'd like to know which particular version of this upcoming song I was inspired by, I'll give some details down below.
Enjoy!
_._
Mr. Carson couldn't help but walk on eggshells when he arrived to the academy on Thursday.
On one hand, he was unwilling to subjected to the gaudy stuff of television series and movies.
On the other hand, he wanted to understand why Mrs. Patmore had said in passing that a cappella music was Mrs. Hughes's specialty.
And, he really did want to know if she managed to obtain approval from Violet Crawley of all people.
_._
The happy bounce to her keys as she entered the room told him everything.
"But, how on Earth did you manage to do it? How did you get her approval?"
The keys, still cheekily attached to her lanyard, came to a jangling stop.
"Did you really not believe that I could, Mr. Carson?" She was teasing, but there was a hint of steel in her tone. Sensing this, Charles tried a different track.
"Well, what will you be working on? What did you finally select?"
"Mr. Carson," She arched an eyebrow. "You told me I needed to get Mrs. Crawley's approval. You never said I had to run my final selection by you." He spluttered at this.
"Now, if you don't believe that she did actually agree, you're welcome to ring her up and check." She was already picking up the room's landline, handing him the receiver as she dialed the appropriate extension. He debated for a moment about whether or not this interruption was appropriate, but decided that all that mattered currently was seeing just how Elsie had managed to obtain the permission of one of the most traditional-minded people in the school.
"Hello? Mr. Carson, is that you?" Isobel Crawley's voice crackled to life and in those few seconds all made sense to Charles. He scowled into the receiver, surprised that he'd allowed such a loophole to exist.
After all, he never specified which Mrs. Crawley she had to obtain approval from.
"I do apologize, Mrs. Crawley," He sighed, looking back to see Elsie was barely withholding a smirk. Still, even if her lips remained firmly neutral, her eyes revealed the humor she was currently experiencing. "It appears I dialed the wrong number."
"Oh, it's quite alright, happens all the time." She paused, before, "Good luck with the new selections, Mr. Carson. I look forward to hearing them in person!"
"Selections?" But Mrs. Crawley had already hung up the phone.
He turned to his colleague, whose keys were now absolutely silence and who was now looking anywhere but him.
"I may have accidentally mentioned wanting to put together an a cappella choir, instead of getting approval for only one song."
… Why did this have to happen to him of all people?
_._
"Mrs. Hughes," Mary Crawley was one of the last people she expected to pay her a visit after-school. "May I have a word?"
"Certainly."
"It's just that Mama- that is, Mrs. Crawley, had wanted me to relay a request."
"Oh?"
"Yes. She wanted me to say," Mary paused, trying to recall her mother's exact words. "'When you've convinced Mr. Carson that this is indeed a worthy endeavour, you simply must incorporate Journey into the show.'"
"I will certainly try my best to do as such." Mary smiled coldly at this, and Elsie felt as though there was still more to come from this particular Mrs. Crawley.
"She had a feeling you'd say as such, and also informed me that if you find your attempts are not quite successful, you are to highly consider asking for her assistance in the matter."
"Oh, I see." So, whether or not Mr. Carson approved, this school would be performing at least one song from Journey at some point in the near future.
"I do believe you really do." And with the air of a lady, Mary strolled out of the room.
Only once the door properly closed to Elsie allow herself permission to roll her eyes and smile somewhat fondly.
It's a good I'm already a fan of the idea. Not that I'd really have all that much choice.
_._
Come Friday afternoon, it was time to finally start preparing for the a cappella's "audition".
"I know I promised at the start that we'd have a bit of fun." Nodding heads looked up at her, still perplexed by the old-fashioned sheet music being passed out to them. "But, first, we have to prove to Mr. Carson that we all can afford to have that bit of fun."
"If we prove that to Mr. Carson, could we then sing Journey, Mrs. Hughes?" Apparently, Cora Crawley wasn't taking any chances in regards to making her request known.
Not that Elsie really minded.
"If we prove ourselves to Mr. Carson in this matter, we might be able to do Journey. If we can't this semester, we'll definitely do so in the next." Sybil seemed appeased by this, though Tom looked less than thrilled at the idea of performing music from Journey of all bands.
As the music was almost fully passed out to the students, she took a moment to scan her current crowd. She already knew that for a fact that they weren't convinced that this would be worth it.
But, bless their hearts, they were willing to try.
"Now, I know I've been playing your notes out on the piano in our regular choirs. And, while that's we'll be doing for the next week or so, I want to introduce you to a marvelous invention: the pitch pipe." The round device sat proudly in her hand, having waited patiently to be played. "At the start of each song, this is how we'll communicate our pitches."
"How does it work, Mrs. Hughes?"
"Quite simply, Anna. I blow into the appropriate hole and-" At this, Jimmy and Alfred started cracking up into snickers. "And," They knew better to continue laughing with a tone like that and proceeded to shut up immediately. "You'll then hear the appropriate key, which will lead you to your respective pitches."
She gave them an A flat as an example, gently blowing into the pipe. After hearing the pitch carry throughout the classroom, they sat riveted.
"Now, I fully intend to show you how you can hear your parts just by listening to the pitch. But, if we're to impress Mr. Carson soon, we'll have to start learning our song with the piano first!"
_._
She had given him a week to become accustomed to the fact that he'd be listening to her choir in the near-future.
But when one week turned into two, and they were already beginning to pick it up so beautifully, she couldn't just let it rest.
"Mr. Carson, surely you're now ready to at least listen for thirty seconds if not the full length?" They managed to arrive at the academy at the same time. That happenstance was something she took this as a sign that it was time to convince him to give her little choir a listen.
"Mrs. Hughes, I can assure you that I will drop by at some point in the future. I'm just not sure if my ears are quite up to the task just yet."
Elsie Hughes, do not roll your eyes at this hopeless man. He may be a daft traditionalist who you currently want to throttle, but you cannot roll your eyes at him.
_._
"Are the two love-birds still bickering about what's 'appropriate' choral music?" Mrs. Patmore could hear the conversation as it carried itself up the stairs. She herself was running a bit behind and couldn't really afford to eavesdrop but, still, she had to ask.
"Love-birds?" Mrs. Bird snorted at this, even though she still found herself in agreement about the rest of the statement. "Well, they're hardly that now are they?"
Mrs. Patmore chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Quite right you are, Mrs. Bird, quite right."
_._
Now, it was true that Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes prided themselves on their level of professionalism. That they never cared to bring unnecessary personal feelings into work matters.
Still, when there was a work matter that inherently involved personal feelings, it couldn't always been hidden under a mask of professionalism. Sometimes, it led to an unresolved tension of sorts. Much to the point where even teenagers would take note of it.
Not only that, said tension was strong enough that a boy who was normally timid when it came to dealing with authority figures now felt that it was his responsibility to stay after school and question said authority figures about it.
_._
"Mr. Carson?"
"Yes, William?"
"Do you really think we'll sound that bad? Is that why you won't listen to us?"
The choir director paused, honestly shocked by such a question. It was certainly not his intention to imply that he thought they would be abysmal or some equivalent.
The problem was, Mr. Carson didn't know how to properly explain that it wasn't about their sounding bad or good. Rather, it was about the uncertainty of going down this path. It was about the odd feeling he got every time he heard that particular set of keys come down the halls, keys attached to a specific lanyard. It was about how that peculiar feeling didn't work well in his established world of tradition, precision and propriety. Furthermore, it was also about having the strange urge to humor his new coworker in her peculiar musical interests, an idea that informed Charles Carson that he had absolutely no way of properly handling the situation without it somehow spilling into untested waters.
"Mr. Carson?" Upon realizing that he'd never answered the boy, he felt a flustering air take over his words.
"It's not that, no."
William waited a minute, the patient lad that he was. But even patient teenagers were still teenagers at that. And, so,
"Then, why won't you listen to us, Mr. Carson?"
The man sighed at this, taking a minute to think over his response. Upon finding that he still couldn't explain himself, he took the coward's way out:
"I'm not really sure."
_._
"Mr. Carson, surely you can spare five minutes to give my students a listen." She brought out the big cannons by finally throwing caution to the wind and making this request in front of his precious Advanced Mixed Choir. At the sound of this request, about one hundred teenagers focused their piercing stares at the man before them. And if that wasn't intimidating enough, he could tell she herself was truly reaching the limit of her patience. That soon enough she would simply start her own rehearsals and outright ignore his opinion in this matter.
It only took a minute for him to break.
"Mrs. Hughes, seeing as how it is a Wednesday, I presume you will be rehearsing with your chorus after school?"
"Quite correct, Mr. Carson."
"Then, in that instance, I suppose I can find the time to drop by." Several students started grinning, regardless of whether or not they were in the a cappella ensemble. "But, only a few minutes, mind you."
The voice teachers held each other's gaze for another moment, and he couldn't help but admire her widening smile at his capitulation - even amidst this somewhat embarrassing scene.
"Thank you for that." He paused a moment at the gratitude, before nodding to himself and returning to the choir at hand.
"Now, we will take a five minute break and then we're going straight into 'O Come All Ye Faithful'. And if there is a single phone out at the end of the break, 'How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place' will be the only piece we work on for the rest of the week!"
_._
"Can you believe it? Mr. Carson will be dropping by to hear us today!"
"It's about time!"
"Wait - Mr. Carson will be dropping by to hear us today."
"I take it back - it's too soon! We're not ready!"
_._
Before anyone knew it, it was time for the a cappella rehearsal.
They had all nervously entered the room, taking note that Mr. Carson was already in the room and they hadn't even warmed up recently. Fortunately, Mrs. Hughes came to the rescue:
"Mr. Carson," She approached her fellow colleague, "Perhaps you'll allow me the honor of warming my students up before they perform for you?"
It was a tad blunt, but she was becoming impatient with him as of late. And he found, in this particular instance, it was probably well-deserved.
"If you insist, Mrs. Hughes."
_._
Once all her dear students were warmed-up and appropriately organized in their places, only taking a few minutes instead of the usual ten, Elsie invited her colleague back into the room. She then blew the pitch for a full three seconds, prayed to the God above that this would go well, and raised her hands to start them off.
"'Twas on a Monday morning,
And there I saw my darling,"
She could feel Mr. Carson give a slight start at the sound so gracefully brought forth by the men in her little group.
And seeing as how he couldn't see her face from this angle, she couldn't resist an encouraging smile - they were already off to a decent start, after all.
"She looked so neat and charming
In every high degree,"
It was time for the ladies to take over and join in on the fun. Oh, if only Elsie was able to look over and see just how far his jaw was probably dropping. 'Scandalous sound' was hardly emanating from her army of choristers.
"She looked so neat and nimble-o
A-washing of her linen-o"
One of her favorite parts of singing in general was now coming together: the blending of an effective mixed chorus. Something her little group was just beginning to get comfortable with, but was already doing so well with.
"Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron
She stole my heart away."
She allowed them to crescendo ever so slightly, letting the harmony carry forth as her hands maintained a steady beat.
"'Twas on a Tuesday morning,
And there I saw my darling,
She looked so neat and charming
In every high degree."
The echoes within the parts rang out, the voice blended further, and Elsie would swear she heard a slight inhalation of admiration coming from her right.
"She looked so neat and nimble-o
A-hanging of her linen-o.
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron
She stole my heart away."
The energy kept going, bouncing back and forth between conductor and student as they carried on into the middle of the week.
"'Twas on a Wednesday morning,
And there I saw my darling,
Pale hands split the sounds into separate parts: one directing the overall flow while the other guided the staccato-like sound that was accompanying the harmonious foundation.
She looked so neat and charming
In every high degree."
The foundation supported the lilt currently embracing the melody, and soon Elsie found herself thinking of nothing else but the sound in front of her. Her colleague's presence was forgotten in favor of following this stunning procession of music.
"She looked so neat and nimble-o
A-starching of her linen-o,"
This was truly one of the best moments of conducting: watching her students begin to lose themselves in the music and truly let their voices shine as one.
"Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,"
Time to build them further up and bring them into the realm of mezzo-forte bordering on pure forte.
"She stole my heart away!"
Mrs. Hughes grinned, remembering how she motivated them and what perspective she gave them when they were first starting out this piece:
Upon Daisy's face at the look of dismay when reading off all those days, Elsie was reminded of the brilliant idea of having them feel as though, with each day they sang through, it was just like a regular school week - creating more and more excitement until they reached the weekend.
"'Twas on a Thursday morning,
And there I saw my darling,
Now, to bring them back to a more even keel, a softer mezzo-forte than before - it wouldn't work to give Mr. Carson a heart attack.
"She looked so neat and charming.
In every high degree.
She looked so neat and nimble-o
A-ironing of her linen-o,"
Like the flow of the river, she getting them round the bend and preparing them to smoothly rush into crashing waves once more.
"Dashing away with the smoothing iron," The women chorused
Dashing away with the smoothing iron," The men dutifully followed, before they joined together once more.
"Dashing away with the smoothing iron she stole my heart away!"
And now it was time to take note of the sopranos and altos in the crowd, as they allowed themselves free range to float above the crowd as the lads took over the melody.
"'Twas on a Friday morning,
And then I saw my darling,
She looked so neat and charming
In every high degree."
"She looked so neat and nimble-o
A-folding of her linen-o"
Lately with this piece, Elsie could conjure up a world of linen and irons within the sopranos lilts, a life of washing and service spurred on by the staccato sections. A life filled with hard-work embroidered with major chords and pristine projects meticulously organized by the key of F#.
"Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,"
She absolutely preferred what she had right in front of her in every way.
"She stole my heart away."
And, now they were getting into the climax of the piece: the part where she needed them to commit just as much as they did in the beginning.
"'Twas on a Saturday morning,
And there I saw my darling,
She looked so neat and charming
In every high degree!"
"We're almost there!" She mouthed encouragingly to everyone in front of her, receiving even brighter beams in the nervous eyes of her singers. Everyone was doing great, and they just needed to continue doing so for about forty more seconds.
"She looked so neat and nimble-o
A-airing of her linen-o,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,"
They were managing the echoes and ripples within their ranks quite beautifully. And, even if Mr. Carson did in fact shut it all down because he just wasn't satisfied, she would still be quite proud.
"She stole my heart away!"
And, now it was time to let all that building expand into the final section of the piece:
"'Twas on a Sunday morning,
And there I saw my darling!"
She looked so neat and charming
In every high degree!"
She couldn't risk a glance away from them now, not when they were so close.
Not that she was even thinking of looking anywhere but in front of her.
Now it was time for the sweeping movement, for the voices to curve through the air as though the sound could and would happily spin around the space.
"She looked so neat and nimble-o,"
Now was where they would slow to a beautiful crawl, following her pace while still maintaining that powerful sound.
A-wearing of her linen-o."
She allowed one small moment of respite, hands hovering in the air before gently stirring them back into vigorous - yet soft - action.
"Dashing away with the smoothing iron," The ladies grinned.
"Dashing away with the smoothing iron," The gentlemen glowed.
And she happily cued them into their final harmonious chords, letting them build into mezzo-forte one last time.
"Dashing away with the smoothing iron,"
They robustly held out the notes one last time, dedicating time to solidly building upon the music before cheekily finishing off the song as softly as possible.
She stole my heart away!"
_._
Silence filled room 403 as Mrs. Hughes's a cappella ensemble came to a stop.
Silence that was soon tossed aside in favor of a enthusiastic applause coming from only Mr. Carson.
Elsie jumped at the unexpected sound, shocked beyond belief and still caught up in all of the adrenaline that came with conducting such a moment. But, once her brain put two and two together, she could only proudly smile and turn to her fellow colleague.
"Thank you, Mr. Carson." For that applause could only mean one thing.
"No, Mrs. Hughes," Charles said, smiling quite proudly himself. "Thank you."
She smiled further at this, applauding her own little chorus. It hadn't been perfect, but was it ever perfect?
Perfection was overrated in her opinion, and it was with this thought are the forefront of her mind that she noticed someone lurking right outside the door to 403.
"And I may say thank you to all of you for such wonderful effort." Mr. Carson was now speaking to her little army, pulling Elsie back to her beaming students - students who looked so relieved. "I look quite forward to hearing what else you'll be preparing for the concert."
Almost none of her volunteering choristers could resist grinning at that, happy to have received such outright praise from Mr. Carson.
However, Elsie's attention was drawn away once again as she heard a creak coming outside of the classroom. Only, there was no longer anyone outside. She stared for a moment, thinking it over in her head - not believing that she actually saw the person she thought she saw.
"I can't believe we did it," Daisy couldn't help but remark in awe, bringing the a cappella teacher out of her thoughts.
"Now, we've still got a lot of work to do if we want to perform other songs for the concert." The woman couldn't help but warn, not wanting them to become arrogant from this praise. It did the job in focusing the energy of the room. "Still, you all did a wonderful job for today. And, so, we're going to call it a day earlier than normal."
The grins were back.
"Just make sure to come prepared to sing for our next rehearsal. For I will have new music for you, of that you can be sure." Edith began to speak up at this, "And, as I said before, Journey will not be making an appearance in the winter concert - but I'll be sure to make sure Mr. Carson knows we will be incorporating it into the spring's."
_._
A/N: The specific version that I'm enamored with can be discovered with these words: "Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron Choir avi". It should be the first option, featuring the VA Tech Chamber Singers!
And, one last question for now: would you like me to explain some of the music terms used? I'm happy to do so, just let me know.
In any case, have a great day!