Play!

XII

There was no denying that Eddy Chen was a freaking genius on the violin!

Brett could only marvel over the speed in which Eddy’s fingers danced over the fingerboard, how clean and crisp the sound Eddy produced was, how it projected throughout the whole concert hall and how unbelievably precise his intonation was. Those double stops and the way his bow bounced off the strings… yeah, no prodigy my ass! Brett was certain they were going to cancel him out from the competition after Eddy’s performance. No need to listen to him! No sire!
Despite him being busy with leading the section and being struck by Eddy’s playing, there was one thing that came to Brett’s mind the more he listened to the other: Katie had been right. There was close to no emotion in Eddy’s performance. Even in a passage which was dripping with liveliness and joy, behind the perfect execution of the technical difficulties, it was kind of hollow. The arpeggios and the value of the notes were a bit too even, his vibrato lacking tension and sometimes, the lines didn't connect. His playing didn't tell a story. It was too… neutral.

Nonetheless, Eddy brought the piece to a fulminant ending and the orchestra followed suit. A solid first run, Brett dared to say. 
"Good! Good!", Mr. Jones praised and clapped his hands, "Wonderful! You all played very well together! Mr. Chen's pulse makes it easy to follow along, huh."
"Indeed!", Mr. Thames agreed. 
"Good job everyone! We'll keep this level of concentration and continue with Brett. Brett, you're ready?", Mr. Jones said. 
"Yes", Brett lied and stood up. Eddy took his place instead and just like this, Brett found himself in the middle of the spotlight with everyone watching him expectantly, or so he felt.

And despite loving it, despite longing to one day stand on stage on a regular basis, being able to share what he'd worked hard for, there was a huge part of him which wanted to run away as fast as he could and hide himself in a hole so deep no daylight would ever reach it. How on earth was he gonna compete with what they'd just witnessed? Lacking emotion or not, Eddy's third movement had been indubitably amazing. And now, little Brett Yang had to deliver after this? Everyone was going to compare! Hell, it was the conductor's job even!
But here he was! And he had no other choice. So he took a deep breath while they tuned again, propped up his violin and looked at Mr. Thames who raised his baton.

The first chord and Brett's first A sounded through the concert hall, filling it with warmth of the piece in an instant. Brett's melody floated over the orchestra's accompaniment and easily reached the back of the hall, Brett knew. His vibrato was even, adding a hint of sweetness to the piece. 
He got this! And suddenly he recalled with each cell of his body why he'd wanted to try it in the first place. He loved this! Loved playing the violin and doing that with a whole orchestra backing him up was the dream!

When the difficult runs came up, Brett focused on getting them clean and easy to follow rhythmically for the orchestra. Eddy's method seemed to pay off even during the performance, because he didn't fuck up! Brett threw a quick glance at Eddy on the concermaster's chair and got a radiant smile in return, which he matched in a fraction of a second.

This was amazing! Playing the violin was amazing and Brett really started to enjoy every second of it. Even the cadenza went fine! Not perfect, a few shifts could have been cleaner, but it was okay! And way too soon, Brett reached the end of the first movement with a glorious run, ending on a clean high C.

A single applause from the older conductor and soon, the orchestra joined in. Brett beamed into the crowd, waving his bow in their direction to show his appreciation. 
"Great job, Brett! Really! That was some solid playing!"
"Thank you", Brett managed, still a bit breathless.
"Wonderful! Now all of you have gotten a sense of how playing with each of our candidates feels like. Of course, we'll have a lot more time for rehearsals and both Brett and Eddy will get private lessons to prepare for the upcoming audition on Sunday. So nothing's set yet and we do have three weeks until the concert in front of us. Make good use of this time. All of you!"

They got a short break afterwards, on which Brett got overrun by his classmates and new friends from the Sydney con. 
"Dude! You rocked!", Nathan thused, displaying a big glee and lifting Brett's mood even further. With one eye, he was checking where Eddy was though.
"You played really well, mate!", Cole praised, laid his arm around Brett and gave him a big squeeze, "No one would have guessed that you were struggling not even an hour ago."
"Yeah, guess I was lucky."
"Nah! Talent and hard work! I know why they chose you. The gentleness and yet tension you bring into this piece is amazing!"
"Thanks Cole", Brett meant honestly, quite flattered about his good friend's judgment. Cole was a decent violinist himself, having earned quite a few competition's medals and trophies to show for. His praise usually had substance.
In his peripheral vision, Brett noticed Eddy leaving the hall. 
“Guys, thanks for the compliments but I really need to use the toilet.” And with that, he quickly made his way out the same direction Eddy had vanished to.

“Hey! Wait up!”
Eddy turned around, his features showing surprise.
“Yeah?”
Brett breathlessly came to a halt in front of him. 
“Where are you going?”
“Getting coffee, why?”
“Can I come with?”
“Uh, sure…”
They walked next to each other in silence until they reached the cafeteria. 
“You played really well!”, Brett went. 
“You too. Worked well huh? The method.”
“It did! Thanks again! I would have fucked up so badly if it wouldn’t have been for your help.”
“No worries”, Eddy said and placed his order at the counter. 
“Let me pay. As a thank you”, Brett suggested and asked for a cappuccino for himself. 
“What?”, Eddy exclaimed, eyes widening as if Brett had said he’d buy him a new violin, “No, you don’t have to! I was happy to help.”
“Dude, chill. It’s just coffee. I really would have become the joke of the century without you.”, Brett stated and gave the cashier guy his card. 
“Uhm, thanks then”, Eddy said shyly and took the cup Brett held out for him. 

Funny, Brett thought, that someone who could play a whole concerto in front of an orchestra and teachers without batting an eye would get so flustered over free coffee. It was kind of cute though, how his cheeks got a faint blush on them, how he cast down his eyes and only briefly glanced at Brett once in a while when they made their way back to the concert hall.