Music & Meaning

SWING

On the first day of middle school Duran’s teacher said to talk to their tablemate about their interests and goals. So Duran had to tell the most beautiful girl she had ever met that she didn’t really have any interests and didn’t know what she wanted to do. The beautiful girl said Duran should join the school jazz choir with her. Duran had learned about swing rhythms in her piano lessons when she was six. She remembered the names of the keys, the approximate proper posture and that in swing, the eighth notes were a little late instead of even. She felt comfortable enough to give it a try. She probably would have done whatever Roux had suggested to her anyway.

SUPERTONIC

Duran thought she knew why she enjoyed playing piano in the jazz choir so much. Just like how the tonic note was the basis for the key of a song, her piano provided that basis that the singers would reference. Her favorite song to play was the one where Roux stepped in front to do a solo, which started and ended on the supertonic, one note above the tonic. Duran was awestruck every time.

SOLO (Second)

She’s just so… cool… If I could just follow behind her… That’s probably all I want…

SIGNATURE

When they started high school, Roux declared that she and Duran were a band. Like a key signature or time signature that set the rules of a song at the beginning, this defined them. Other band members came and went as they found new hobbies or realized Roux was out of their league, but Duran and Roux stayed together. Roux had a vision of signing her name millions of times - on recording contracts, endorsement deals, on hefty royalty checks, and memorabilia. Duran loved that.

ROOT

Four years after meeting Roux, Duran’s dedication to her daily practice regimen had kept her from taking up other hobbies or bonding with many friends. Her parents reminded her how she used to bounce from one thing to another, flitting between softball, piano, ballet, Aikido or anything else they thought she might stick with. She told her parents that she felt a purpose playing piano with Roux. Just like in the jazz choir, Duran was the roots and Roux was the flowers and stems and leaves.

SOLO (Rubato)

I never disliked any of those things. I just switched when you said to. What else should I have done?

STRAIGHT

Duran knew the reason she talked her parents into getting her back into piano lessons was not because she liked being the tonic, the foundation for other singers. The real reason she became a music aficionado, bought clothes she didn’t always feel comfortable in and researched how to attract agents was because Roux wanted her to. When asked why she would accept the little put-downs from Roux or let Roux take sole credit for songs they wrote together, Duran wouldn’t answer, but she knew it was because she was in love. Even though she was heartbroken every time Roux had a two-week relationship with another boy, Roux gave her direction in life. Roux’s goal was to be a famous singer, so Duran’s was too. She would be lock and step, following Roux in a straight line, not equal but even.

STACCATO

A staccato note is one that is cut short. Tight articulation. During their final verse of high school, Duran and Roux performed as a duo. A short set, but they could have kept going. They were locked in together. An A&R representative happened to catch it, and said they were interested. In a burst of excitement, Duran declared her love. Not the love Roux expected. For the first time in what seemed like years, Duran did something on her own. Moved her face close.

SOLO (Legato)

Do you No I’m sorry I didn’t mean… Wait Don’t go What do you mean “some time”? Is this the end How long Can we…

SOLO (Sustain)

I’ve been waiting so long. Stupid. Will she get back to me? Why did I do that? I made a huge mistake. I waited so long.

MAJOR

On her first day at the local community college, Duran went to the major fair. Roux hadn’t planned on going to college, so neither had Duran until her parents urged her to. She certainly hadn’t decided what to study. A very pretty girl named Suki introduced herself and showed Duran around the fair. After talking a while, Suki said Duran could join the music department, or if she wanted to branch out to other arts they had a flourishing fine art program. Would she be interested in life science? Maybe social studies? All the other new students seemed to be celebrating - like a song in a major key - as they exercised their new autonomy to choose their own direction. But Duran never felt more childish than when she asked Suki what she should do and was told to decide for herself.

TACET

Duran didn’t register for her second semester of college. When asked why, Duran tried to frame it as a tacet: she was being silent for part of the song, but she would come back in at the right time. When would that be?

SUSPENDED

Duran hadn’t seen Roux in person since graduation. But she saw her online more and more now - on YouTube, Spotify, and on classmate’s social media celebrating their adjacency to burgeoning stardom. Duran knew how unhelpful it was to train the internet algorithms to show her so much Roux content, but she didn’t know what else to do now. She did still play piano a little, and when she did, she had really taken to suspended chords - sounds that lacked tonality and just seemed to float around.

SOLO (Extension)

If I were a song… What kind should I be? Would it be a minor key, or…?

SEVENTH

The tonic is a bland, safe note. The musical equivalent of blank canvas. In the middle of the night Duran realized she couldn’t keep living without color like this. She grabbed the key to her dad’s car, deciding against the family vehicle next to it. She couldn’t keep waiting for someone else to decide the tonality around her. She loaded her essentials quietly at first, but as she finished she didn’t care as much whether she was heard. Right now, at this moment she had to be the seventh in a chord, the note that turns a stable triad into something more vulnerable. Something that could come apart if heard from another perspective. She started the engine, and her tears started in tandem. Her root stayed firm, holding the two sounds together. She still didn’t know where she was going, but at least she was doing something.