[Tranquil Port]An experiment in Music (Lacerta, please)

by **Arcturus** on November 3rd, 2013, 2:47 pm

Transaction :

4th of Summer, 408 AV (Mid-morning)

Arcturus sat on the beach close to the Tranquil Port, several feet from the waters, staring at eight glasses filled with varying amounts of water, placed on the flat top of the closed chest he used to carry them. He was unused to such an environment, preferring the enclosed space his magecrafting laboratory was to the seaside. Then again, Spica had ordered him to spend some time out of his lab. Since his Svefra friends were visiting Lhavit again, bringing a cargo of goods from other cities in Mizahar, the timing was perfect.

However, Arcturus would be rather bored simply waiting for them to finish their current business before they were free to spend some time with him. Thankfully, he had discovered a strange new phenomenon: when he ran a moistened finger along the rim of a glass, a pure note would sound. It was loud, but it wasn't as loud as, say, a drum.

He had noted that the glass appeared to be shaking slightly, and as such theorized that making the motion with his finger cause the glass to vibrate and somehow make a sound. However, he had made no headway into that, seeing as he didn't quite know how to measure vibrations or how to progress from that point onward.

Whilst experimenting with the glass, Arcturus varied the amount of water in a glass, and found that several pitches could be made, although the notes became slightly duller or impure the more water he added. The best was achieved with an empty glass. And so he was currently at that point - with eight glasses, he made a rough representation of the classic heptatonic scale - the major scale - for one octave only, after consulting a local fiddler and the books at Bharani Library.

The Ethaefal had to be careful when attempting to make a note - exerting too much pressure would cause a nasty sound, diminishing the volume of the pure note. Exerting too little pressure would simply make no sound at all.

And... Seawater and pure water appears to have no effect on the sound. Curious. It appears that the cleaner my hands and the glasses are, the easier it is to create music. Excellent use of soap, then. No oily fingers.

He ran a finger along each of the glasses' rims, attempting to gauge that he had the pitches right. With his inexpert knowledge of music, he determined that it was about right. He was simply too lazy to get up, brush the sand from his pants and walk a few feet to the sea simply to add a fraction of an ounce to a glass to get the pitch correct. He wasn't a musician by any stretch of the imagination, although he could try to become one using the beginnings of a glass harp.

Having nothing else to do, he contented himself by playing around with the eight notes.

OOC note :

by **Lacerta** on November 4th, 2013, 3:27 pm

Lacerta had been wandering across the beach, flute in hand, trying to find a nice, quiet place to practice. The docks had become surprisingly busy, and she didn't feel like completing the massive walk up to the city to find peace there. Instead, she'd fled to the beach, trying to find some sort of a rock to sit on so she didn't get sand all over her pants. The day was slightly gloomy, with clouds that promised rain later on... but for now, she was safe and (mostly) dry. The sand stuck to her boots irritatingly, and would probably soak her breeches if she did sit. She grumbled about this, and kept her eyes open for a suitable seat.

During her observation, she noticed a few notes - barely noticeable - fill the beach. Confused, she glanced around to spot a man crouched over a few glass-like objects. She frowned at them, wondering where the music came from. As she approached, she spotted the man rubbing his fingers along the edge... and that noise again. This was just strange. Making music from glasses? And from the sound of it... he had different notes... though most were slightly off, to her trained ear.

"Excuse me, but... what are you doing?" she asked, the confusion obvious in her voice. He had eight glasses... wine glasses... and all were filled with various amounts of water. It was a strange way to make music, if this was what he was doing... though not very effective. Flutes could make sound faster and louder than these glasses could.

She paused for a moment, before continuing with her questioning. "Are you trying to hit certain notes? As those three are too sharp... and the rest are too flat." She indicated the glasses as she said so, crouching beside the man. Her flute was held protectively in one free hand, and she used the other to tap the nearest glass experimentally. "How did you make sound anyways?" She flicked the same one lightly on the side, and received a slightly dull 'ping'... but the man had been touching the top, rather than the sides.

by **Arcturus** on November 5th, 2013, 1:57 pm

"Hmm? Oh, good morning. I'm experimenting with wine glasses, seawater and fingers."

It was an Ethaefal of Syna, just like Spica was. White horns and brown hair. With specks of gold here and there. Then again, she wasn't as good looking as Spica. Naturally.

He frowned at the indicated glasses. It was to be expected (unless he was a prodigy at music and had perfect pitch), but he had not anticipated getting every note wrong. That was inacceptable.

"Thank you for telling me that. I'm not much of a musician, so do pardon me if I've offended your musical sensibilities."

He smiled briefly as she attempted to make the sounds he was making before she interrupted him, failing to get anything except a soft, dull sound. At least he knew something she didn't.

Oh, that's a childish thought. Looks like she knows something about music, judging by that metal flute she's holding. Excellent! I can tune my instruments with her help.

"Well, making sound is rather easy. You just need clean hands for this one. Here, have a bar of soap."

He held out the aforementioned object to her, continuing his explanation after a brief pause.

"Take it and wash the tip of your index finger for whichever your dominant hand is. Seawater will do as a liquid in a pinch. It's rather clean. You'll want to get your fingertips as clean as possible. Oily fingers mean that you'll be producing a pretty pathetic sound. Not to mention disagreeable. Trust me, I've produced that sound many a time."

He ran his finger around the fourth wine glass' rim, drawing out another note.

"Dry your fingers and clean them off with a towel or something like that. Then wet your fingertips again, and place your fingertip to the wine glass' rim and move it along the rim. You'll want to experiment with how much pressure you place on it. Too little, and you won't make any sound. Too much, and the sounds you make will be horrible."

He allowed her to make a few attempts before making a request.

"Since you're here, could you use your flute and play the notes as they're meant to be? I'd like to tune the glasses."

He picked up his waterskin from his side and opened it, ready to pour it into any glass that made a note that was too sharp. The pitch would decrease with a larger volume.

by **Lacerta** on November 5th, 2013, 4:10 pm

Lacerta nodded at the simple introduction, still watching the glasses curiously. She took the bar of soap wordlessly, and scrubbed the tip of her finger as instructed. It was oddly confusing, but... might as well learn another way to make music, right? She wiped off her finger on her shirt - it was the closest thing to a towel - and wet it again, before taking in the edge of the glass. She placed the tip right on the edge, and, pushing just a little, rubbed it along. It made a slightly dull, but crystalline sound, that was oddly satisfying to the ear.

She pursed her lips and pressed slightly harder, this time creating a purer sound. It as an A... but too flat for her liking. She tried a few of the other ones, and identified them as generally off pitch. Of course, it was nearly impossible to get anything perfectly pitched, but she could try. When requested to play her flute, she frowned slightly, annoyed that she would have to get sandy after all. However, she agreed, and sat cross-legged on the wet sand.

"I'll need to tune myself first" she explained, before focusing on her instrument. She raised it to her lips and blew a finger-less note, pausing once or twice to adjust her position on the mouthpiece. Still... it was too sharp. Slowly and gently, she eased the mouthpiece slightly off of the body, to lengthen the instrument and therefore flatten the pitch. She blew again, but wasn't satisfied with the progress. She pulled even this time, and found that the tone was (mostly) spot on.

She leaned over and tested each of the glasses as well, figuring out which note each was supposed to be. Luckily, they were arranged by note, meaning her job would be easier. "Right... just start with the one to the furthest left. I'll play that note, a long one, and you try the glass... alright?" Leaning back to her original position, she lifted her flute again and blew softly into it. She tried to keep the note slow and steady, attempting to use as little air as possible. She wanted to keep going as long as she could, and not overide the notes made by the glasses with her own.

When the man began playing his own notes, she would let it go on for a moment, before stopping. This one was too sharp... "Flatter, please. Just a little." When her companion added (or subtracted) more water, she would continue her playing. Only when the note was as spot on as possible, since it was hard to change the pitch with a glass of water, would she move on to the next note, and the next. It would take them several chimes to finally finish the last wine glass, since the Ethaefal was particularly picky about accuracy.

Lacerta eyed the glasses for a moment, thinking on the possibilities. "Though it's interesting to make music with something so mundane, using wine glasses as instruments is quite inefficient... The tuning is much harder, and even carrying them around would be nearly impossible. They also aren't very loud, and can't play notes quickly... It would simply be easier to play a flute, or the chimes." She shrugged at the conclusion. The sound was quite original, however... she had to agree on that... it would have been nice to replicate them in a more practical way.

by **Arcturus** on November 10th, 2013, 9:42 am

He waited patiently for her to finish her adjustments with her flute. It wasn't the most accurate process - he had read of tuning forks manufactured using magic that were extremely accurate in pitch, and as such could be used for delicate tuning of instruments.

Once she finished, he turned to the glasses, awaiting her instructions.

"Yes, that'll be the C note. Do try not to play the note too loudly, or I'll have difficulty tuning the glass. It isn't as if I have your trained ears."

The first note was played, and he made the corresponding glass vibrate in response. Feeling that it was too low-pitched, he tipped it slightly, removing some water from the glass. Testing it again, he determined that it was sufficiently accurate, and motioned for Lacerta to move onto the other notes.

As he continued to tune the basic glass harp, he noted another phenomenon that occurred whenever the note played by both musical instruments coincided almost perfectly. It was resonance. If what he played was practically the same as what Lacerta played - with negligible differences - the resulting combined sound was much louder than if the pitches were different.

Curious. I may use this in crafting later on. Perhaps an enhancement to the structural properties of an item, increasing its range of susceptibility to sound and hence providing an amplification effect on sound. But it isn't just sound, is it? It might affect all existing vibrations. The glasses are vibrating as I play them. I posit that Lacerta's flute does vibrate too whenever she plays it. Best to check it first. So if both vibrations fit each other, then this effect occurs.

"That is quite true. Though if I used glasses of different sizes and shapes, I'd imagine that the pitches would differ. I detected a slight difference in the notes produced by the empty glasses here earlier. If so, I could forgo the use of water in tuning - and perhaps the entire tuning process. If I were to practice more, I could play notes more quickly. Loudness is quite an issue, but magic and gadgeteering can accomplish miracles. Unfortunately, it would very likely be expensive. I did notice something though - when the note played by your flute coincided with the note I was playing, the sound was amplified."

by **Lacerta** on November 10th, 2013, 1:32 pm

When the tuning was finished, the man began explaining things about tuning, speed, and loudness. Lacerta listened patiently, picking out one or two issues she found with the explanation. Only when he was fully finished did she speak again, wanting to correct the few things she'd found wrong. "Well... for such a difference in notes to completely forgo water, you'd have to have massive glasses, and tiny ones. I doubt the size affects the pitch that much... also, even with speed, the human body can only move so fast. With the extra time taking to moving your hands around, and actually playing the note... it would be slower than most instruments."

There was one thing she didn't understand, however. When the they both played the same note, it was louder? It would make sense, simply for the same reason one plus one equaled two. However... was he talking about something else? Honestly, she hadn't noticed. "I don't know what you mean by the increased loudness. Of course it would be louder, since the two sounds added together. There shouldn't have been any sort of... exponential... increase." The Eth frowned in thought, trying to remember any such increase from before. However, she rarely played with others in general... so that wasn't saying much.

On a whim, she picked a simple tune in her head, something from one of her other pieces, and played it out on her flute. She blew softly into the mouthpiece, going up a complete octave then down again, playing the first few notes of a scale, then heading up a third. If written, it would have only taken up a line, but she took the notes slowly, not wanting to make any mistakes. She wasn't very good at memorizing songs, but she'd been practicing this one earlier that day... so had it stuck in her head.

Music finished, she glanced up at her companion and nodded slightly. "I would tell you to play that... but you can't go further than an octave, can you? You would also would need more glasses for sharps and flats. In my opinion... those are simply too inconvenient to be useful..." She shrugged once. It wasn't to insult his discovery, she was actually slightly amazed herself, but simply that they would only be useful as, say, a party trick when multiple wine glasses were present. And the tuning was still a little iffy. Most of the time her flute was generally on tune, but these glasses could be completely off simply by accident... you needed a good ear and lots of testing simply to set one at the generally right note.

by **Arcturus** on November 14th, 2013, 2:46 pm

Arcturus shrugged. Both of them didn't really know the exact relationship between the size of a glass and the pitch.

"It could be possible to craft glasses that have different natural pitches. Massive glasses could produce a pitch that could not be heard by our ears - and I'm unsure if they are required. It'll require more experiments before I can inductively prove or falsify your theory. I believe three octaves' worth of notes - thirty-seven notes, including sharps and flats - would be sufficient for most tunes. As for the issue of speed..."

He frowned, and reached out again with his finger, attempting to play an E note as fast as possible. His previous attempts involved him slowly moving a finger around the circumference of the top of the glass, making one long sustained note. His aim now was to play a note as long as the initial note of the acciaccatura.

The first attempt failed, for it was brushed too briefly against the rim to make a note. He tried again, and it made a sharp sound, rather unlike the pure tones he had made previously, which made him wince. His third attempt was more successful, and he produced a sound with the duration equivalent to that of a quaver in vivace or in allegro.

"It can be done, but it's going to be difficult to maintain this speed for more than a few seconds. Naturally, many instruments require less movement - the fiddle, your flute," he nodded at Lacerta's flute, "and as such they would be able to play much faster tunes. Unless you used Morphing to cheat, in a matter of speaking..."

He listened to her comments on the increase in volume.

Hmm. Two sounds added together. Is it that simple? Or is there more? And exponential increase. That would be unlikely. It would break our eardrums - or at least cause discomfort - if there was any kind of exponential increase.

"Of course? Perhaps that could be an statement: two sounds added together will make a louder sound. A statement intuitive in nature. But sound may work in different ways. A sound combined with another sound is simply one sound interacting with another sound. They can combine and form a merged sound that is louder than either one. But what if they interfered with each other? I imagine sound to be an area of influence emanating from its source, its intensity decreasing with distance from its source. If the areas of influence overlap, I'm unsure of what effects could happen."

After Lacerta had finished her short tune, he considered her comments on the limited range and troublesome aspects of the glasses before making a measured response. He wasn't annoyed at what she said - sure, he didn't like criticism of what he had created, what he had discovered by himself, but she made important points that could help him improve on it, and he perceived it as a positive impact of her comments.

"Yes, but you do realise that this is only an initial form of the instrument?" He spoke with a hint of humour in his rough tone.

"Aye, this instrument needs much improvement. Moving it around would be too inconvenient unlike your flute, given its final form that incorporates many more glasses. Perhaps it's more of a novelty. It could also be a serious instrument, an instrument for accompaniment to an orchestra or solo acts at the Ethereal Opera House, if I could find a method of amplification that would make it as loud as any other instrument. That... might be too ambitious, since I have other commitments."

by **Lacerta** on November 15th, 2013, 1:29 pm

The man had a point about crafting different glasses with different pitches... it would possibly work, but require a master glass worker to create something so specific. And you'd probably find said person in the Inartan home of Wind Reach, making it even more complicated than before. In her opinion, it was something you simply wouldn't bother with... too complex and with too many faults.

She watched patiently as he tested out speed on the glasses, flute resting comfortably on her lap. She'd mostly forgotten about the wet sand now, and instead glanced over at the edge of water. It moved up and down several meters, pushing higher and higher... high tide was going to hit them, eventually. She smiled as the waves left a clump of seaweed on one of the the beaches, before retreating. With each wave the green mass was shoved further and further up the beach, until finally resting only about a meter away from the Ethaefal. She observed it for a few more moments, before returning her attention to the matter at hand.

Finally, the man agreed that speed would be a challenge... something that was possible, but hard to keep up with. His comment about morphing brought a frown to her face, however, and she wondered how it would work... morphing could change your body, but not your speed... from what she knew, at least. Those of the Twilight House were morphers, though she'd had little contact with said group. It was actually quite surprising how liberal Lhavit was with magic, compared to some cities she'd visited.

She zoned out when he began speaking about the tone, but quickly returned when 'initial form' came up. "Wait what?" she said, confused. So he wasn't being an idiot and trying to do something serious with this... thank Syna. He had other plans. "Initial form... what are you planning?" She frowned irritably, and though her question was slightly answered in the next statement, it wasn't satisfactory. She harrumphed, shifting in her position to be more comfortable on the wet ground.

"On another note, you have yet to grace me with your name. I am Lacerta - Ethaefal of Syna. You are...?" She eyed the man curiously. They had yet to introduce themselves, and the sailor had deemed it time for them to do so. She wanted to stop thinking of this person as 'man', and learn a little more about him. He seemed like some kind of odd scientist to her, despite his youthful appearance.

by **Arcturus** on December 3rd, 2013, 2:45 pm

"Ah. Greetings to you then, fellow Ethaefal. I am Arcturus - though obviously not one of Syna's own. Leth, rather. I am a Svefra in this form. I dislike it though, since it is a tad rough - that is to say, inelegant. I am a Magecrafter in Lhavit. I live with my dear wife, Spica, another Ethaefal, though one of your kin. Oh dear."

The last words were not directed at Lacerta. Arcturus had only just noticed the rising tide, being preoccupied with the conversation and his instrument.

"Shall we move further up the beach?"

He retrieved a silk ruler from his backpack, placing it carefully against the inner surface of the glasses, measuring the length of the distance between the water's surface and the rim of the glasses. Memorising the values for each note, he then poured away the water into the sand. Arcturus placed the glass goblets into the chest before shutting it.

Getting up, he brushed the sand from his pants before picking up the chest, then retreating some distance away from the approaching waves.

"The work of half a bell is gone in a matter of moments. Ah well. Such is life, with all of its caprices. Do you stay in Lhavit? Or have you just arrived from a long journey across the ocean?"

by **Lacerta** on December 5th, 2013, 1:38 pm

Both of Lacerta’s eyebrows raised when she heard that this man was also an Ethaefal. Curious… she hadn’t noticed, but it wasn’t her fault, truly. How could one tell, when they were in their mortal form? She was unusual in her evening appearance, but not by such a margin. It was interesting to hear that he lived with another Eth… a miracle indeed. She’d met and befriended many, but always tried to avoid the aging that inevitably came.

She watched as Arcturus packed up his glasses, measuring the height of the water for future uses… but not writing the numbers down. That was slightly odd, but the man had probably memorized the numbers, for future use. Once the wine glasses were emptied and packed away, the magecrafter’s attention returned to her.

“A little bit of both” she admitted, as, technically, both choices pertained to her. “I’ve been in the city for over ten years now, but… I don’t live here. I live on my boat, and one day… I’ll sail away. Probably back to the Suvan Sea, though I have thought about going up the other side of Mizahar, and visiting the cities there.” She shrugged slightly. It was her life, sailing and travelling, and though she sometimes spent quite long periods of time in some places, with her lifespan… they weren’t much.

“You? Did you fall here, or did you come here after your fall?” She gave the Eth a small smile, honestly curious. She knew Lhavit had a much larger concentration of their race than any other city, though some came simply because of the city’s closeness to their own celestial abode. Though she felt nostalgic at Arcturus’ companionship, she tried to ignore the feeling. That place was long gone and past, and though she would love to return… it might have to wait for another day, another year, another… century.

Flashback [Tranquil Port]An experiment in Music (Lacerta, please)