Winter Sight-reading Party 2015 by Annie Chen
Posted on September 24, 2015.
It was a cold and stormy and snowy afternoon. The winds ravaged the Midway Plaisance, threatening to bury buildings and topple warriors soldiering to yet another Sunday battle at the Reg. Only one structure stood tall and defiant against the brutal onslaught of Winter and its allies—the castle known as Logan.
They had built Logan to withstand any force, to stand tall and majestic as a statement that yes!—the Arts would never give up their fight! No matter that the armies of Academia and Theory were gaining recruits every day, Logan and the Arts will persevere, even flourish, and ultimately triumph!
January 11th was the day. Through encrypted messages sent throughout the land the week before, a secret meeting was scheduled at the highest outlook of Logan—the Penthouse—from 3-5pm. As they overlooked the advancing forces of General Midterms and General Winter-is-Sad-and-Dreary from the north and east, a secret coterie known as the CMO was readying for assault. A black ops group under the jurisdiction of the Arts’ General Music, they were tasked with the organization of warriors specializing in small-group combat. They had already helped form numerous collections of compatible warriors and sent them out to learn and practice the acclaimed battle art of Chamber Music. This secret meeting served several purposes: to call for the gathering of some experienced Chamber Music warriors, to introduce new and interested warriors to the high battle art, and to strengthen the network of the Chamber Music warriors so as to best serve in the fight for Arts.
The elite officers of the CMO had gathered many of the documents containing the instructions and practices of Chamber Music. Known as Sheet Music, they would allow for all attending warriors to get a taste of the power of this battle art and possibly see if any new compatible warrior groups could be formed. The process by which the warriors would look at Sheet Music for the first time with other warriors was called Sightreading. The officers of CMO knew that this could be an intimidating introduction to chamber music, so many of them brought their own prized Instruments of battle to aid warriors in their experience of Chamber Music.
Officers and warriors convene; sheet music is distributed, and plans are discussed.
At the appropriate time, warriors began to trickle in to the Penthouse. Familiar faces made their appearances, updating the CMO officers on the progress of their groups and receiving encouragement and advice. But there were new faces too, or acquaintances and allies that current Chamber Music warriors had encountered in their allies. “I am here to partake in/experience chamber music, I want to aid the fight!” they would say, and the response from other warriors would be “Friend, let us come alongside you, together we will learn more about this battle art of Chamber Music!” The warriors selected Sheet Music, then broke off into other nooks and crannies of castle Logan to Sightread them with other warriors. This process repeated many times over the course of the two hours, each time with warriors Sightreading different Sheet Music with new warriors utilizing different Instruments.
A group of warriors Sightreads Sheet Music as the officers of the CMO discuss battle plans.
By the end of the day, after the warriors had left, the CMO officers were tired but pleased with the results of the secret meeting. The network of Chamber Music warriors had been strengthened. Not only that, but those who had attended this secret meeting gained experience with practicing Chamber Music with different sizes of groups and different Instruments. They even seemed to enjoy the experience and like their fellow warriors. This only bode well for the battle against Winter, Academia, and Theory. Before dispersing to their separate reconnaissance locations, the officers of the CMO concurred—they must report these heartening results to the highest authorities of the Arts, and they must petition them to have more of these secret meetings. And they would call these meetings…Sightreading Parties.
And so the battle continues. Winter and its allies made their advances across the land, but the forces of Arts were deploying groups of warriors and armies as well. The success of the CMO’s first major meeting only meant that this group would be ever more important for the forces of the Arts. Perhaps the success of Arts even hinged on spreading awareness, knowledge, and exposure to the battle art of Chamber Music. What does the future hold for this group and their efforts?
The saga continues…