〄 band practice

@ᵐᵃᶰᵃᵍᵉʳ s. johnny Hyeonju nodded as she listened to him, flipping through the notebook until she found a list of seemingly odd numbers. “They vary in BPM but their on average around 150bpm. Two of them are in a major key while the other is minor. All of them have some time with just one instrument before introducing the others a bit more suddenly.”

She deciphered from her notes. “I think I like the way things sound more when using the minor key, and I want to make something more energetic like they are, just using the minor key because it would make a change to a lot of things. I was also thinking of picking a main chord, probably an E-minor chord, in a higher octave, and separating it out into individual notes, using those to create the main melody?” she demonstrated the chord she wanted to base the melody around, using an E-minor starting at the 2nd fret, using four strings of the guitar.

@ᵗʳᵃᶤᶰᵉᵉ j. hyeonju "ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ" “I see.” Johnny nodded as he listened. Though he wasn’t quite sure of the songs Hyeonju mentioned (he should probably try to familiarise himself in new songs sometimes), he knew that they were to serve as inspiration for the final composition. In the end, all that mattered was the music comes out well.

“Have you studied the music composition of those songs yet?” Johnny asked while fishing out his phone to open YouTube and search for the songs, adding them to his watch later list to listen to later. “You should write them down in your notebook too for reference purposes, I feel.”

@ᵐᵃᶰᵃᵍᵉʳ s. johnny Hyeonju found herself grinning slightly as the man confirmed that she was correct, then as he motioned her closer she followed, accepting the guitar and putting the strap across her body. She nodded as she listened to him, before strumming a couple of chords on the guitar to get a feeling for the guitar and how it felt while she nodded to him.

"I have three songs I was using as inspiration, all from western groups. I really liked Grace and Mojo Pin by Jeff Buckley, and Domino the Destitute by Coheed and Cambria. That last one is super long though, so it's more the introduction and beginning that I was using for inspiration. The part up until the drums come into. I really like the way the guitar sounds there, and the way they incorporate it later parts of the song in various different ways." she explained, unsure as to whether she was making much sense to the man.

@ᵗʳᵃᶤᶰᵉᵉ j. hyeonju "ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ" Johnny raised a brow in intrigue after hearing Hyeonju’s explanation, smiling broadly. “You’re indeed correct.” He let out an amused chuckle as he motioned for the female to come closer, carefully passing the electronic guitar to her. “I tuned the notes so that they won’t sound like those hardcore metallic rock. Though you can still adjust it to your liking if you’d like.”

Johnny rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he hummed, quizzing, “Which songs have you chosen for your inspiration?” Though he had seen a few of them on the first page of her notebook, he wanted to know which songs had she chosen for this piece. “The usual duration of a music is three to four minutes. We should keep it around that much time.”

@ᵐᵃᶰᵃᵍᵉʳ s. johnny "Mhmm." Hyeonju nodded as the man spoke, then watched as he got a guitar and strummed it a bit, listening to his words carefully. "Yes, higher notes are usually in solos more than anything, right? With the rest of it you want it all to fit together but when you want bits to stand out you use the high notes, right?" she said, hoping that she'd remembered things properly.

"Like with vocals too, you have the range which everything fits and then a point at which there's emphasis on it?" she had remembered a few things from her time at school, although whether she remembered them correctly or not was a different story.

@ᵗʳᵃᶤᶰᵉᵉ j. hyeonju "ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ" Johnny nodded as he listened to Hyeonju’s response, nodding his head. “I see.” A small smile tugged at his lips in amusement at her choice of instrument and genre, chuckling as he nodded. “Yeah, that will definitely work. Electronic guitars are definitely a classic for rock music. One moment-”

He stood up briefly to retrieve a nearby electronic guitar, plugging it in and turning it on before strumming the strings, adjusting the notes until he was satisfied. “Rock music tend to be heavily bass-based, so there will probably be a lot of lower notes.” He pulled at a few strings to emit lower hums. “Of course, slightly higher notes than these exist, but we’ll need to see if it fits with some background bass.”

@ᵐᵃᶰᵃᵍᵉʳ s. johnny Hyeonju nodded, taking a seat when he told her to, nodding as she listened to him carefully as he asked about the type of composition that she was wanting to do, and the genre and instruments she wanted to used. She took a few moments thinking before she answered.

“I was hoping to do something on the more complex side. I don’t want to let anyone down by choosing something that they might say is too simple. And I was looking into doing something more rock inspired, so o was going to focus on guitar?” she said calmly, watching him closely and waiting to see his reactions and responses.

@ᵗʳᵃᶤᶰᵉᵉ j. hyeonju "ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ" Johnny chuckled as he followed behind Hyeonju and entered the band practice room once more, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s really no problem, you don’t need to thank me for it.” He took a seat behind the keyboard again, though didn’t turn it on as he gestured to other available chairs in the room. “Take one of them over here and sit.”

Johnny waited until Hyeonju was seated before asking, “What kind of composition are you looking for? Do you want something simple or just a bit complex? And also what genre do you want your music to be in?” He nodded to the instruments in the room. “Different instruments can give different feelings, which one do you want to use?”

@ᵐᵃᶰᵃᵍᵉʳ s. johnny Hyeonju could feel herself getting more and more nervous as he looked through the notebook. Trying to keep calm, she clasped her hands together, twiddling her thumbs just to give herself something to do with them. Then as he handed her book back, she nodded thankfully to him, before listening to him speaking more before a smile spread across her face.

"Honestly that would be so much help. I'm hopeless with this, I have no clue how to decide things or how to put things together well." she sighed and then shook her head, chuckling lightly before glancing back towards the band practice room and nodding at him, heading back into the room. "Alright, thank you so much by the way. I'd probably fail without your home!"

@ᵗʳᵃᶤᶰᵉᵉ j. hyeonju "ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ" Johnny smiles gently when Hyeonju handed him the notebook, carefully taking it from the latter before flipping through the pages. Like she said, the first page was filled with song titles, some by artists he knew and some in languages he wasn’t sure of. He quickly scanned through the notebook while listening to the other talking, humming as she spoke.

Finally, Johnny glanced up to make eye contact with Hyeonju once again, giving her back her book. “I have a bit of experience in composition, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t help you? And since you need to hand this in soon, I guess it would be better if I help out! These are really precious points and I want to make sure you’ll gain them.” He chuckled, nodding to the band practice room. “Want to go in?”

@ᵐᵃᶰᵃᵍᵉʳ s. johnny As Johnny asked to see her notebook, Hyeonju blinked slightly. She hadn't expected him to take an interest at all, though after a few moments of standing in dumbfounded silence she opened the notebook and handed it over to him, nodding slightly at him. "Really? You'd be able to? That would be really good... Oh, the first page is just the songs I was using for inspiration, none of that is important." she said, watching him closely.

At his next few words, she nodded in response. "Yes, they gave me three days, so I have two days left." she sighed slightly. "I wasted too much time trying to get inspiration for it." she frowned at herself. "All I have to show for it is that rubbish." she exhaled loudly as she spoke, gesturing to the notebook.

@ᵗʳᵃᶤᶰᵉᵉ j. hyeonju "ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ" Johnny quirked a brow in curiosity at Hyeonju’s explanation, nodding his head along in understanding as she spoke. “I see?” There was a slight pause before he gestured to the notebook, asking, “May I see it?” He quickly added, “You don’t have to show me though if you don’t want to! I was just wondering if maybe I can help.” He cleated his throat. “I do composing from time to time, so maybe I can teach you a thing or two? Maybe help iron out some stuff that might not fit, if you know what I mean?”

“Did the coaches asked you to do composition?” Johnny quizzed conversationally, crossing his arms over his chest. “Did they say when the deadline is?” He wouldn’t put it past the trainers to give projects to the trainees and expect them to have it done in a limited time.

@ᵐᵃᶰᵃᵍᵉʳ s. johnny Hyeonju heard Johnny speak and shook her head, feeling slightly guilty for interrupting his music. “No no, I can find somewhere else, don’t worry.” she said still somewhat calmly as she looked at him, watching him stand up and switch off the keyboard before walking closers as he spoke.

As he gestured to her notebook she looked down at it, thinking for a few moments. “I have to do a composition, so I had some ideas in here.” she started, shaking her head slightly. “I’m not good at composition though. Like, I like music and all, but I can’t put things together and have them sound anywhere near pleasant, so I was thinking of trying something more abstract so that it doesn’t have to fit together so conventionally but that isn’t working either and I have no clue what I’m doing.” she sighed slightly and shook her head.

@ᵗʳᵃᶤᶰᵉᵉ j. hyeonju "ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ" Johnny caught the sound of a door opening as he was playing, fingers hovering over the keys as he paused, glancing over to see who had interrupted him. His face was kept neutral though and upon seeing who the intruder was, a small smile graced his features, waving his hand nonchalantly as he spoke, “No, no, it’s fine! Did you want to use the band practice room?”

Seeing that she was making a move to leave, he stood up and switched off the keyboard, continuing, “I was just bored, you weren’t bothering anything.” Walking over to Hyeonju, he peeked at her notebook curiously. “What’s that for?” He gestured to it while asking, looking up at her.

@ᵐᵃᶰᵃᵍᵉʳ s. johnny Hyeonju had been given a task to do, one that she was struggling with more than she liked to admit to. Frowning to herself she’d left the dorms, her hands clutching a notebook tightly as she made her way to the band practice room. Her father had tried to teach her some instruments, and though they weren’t her passion she wondered if one of the instruments would give her some sort of inspiration and maybe help her with her composition.

It wasn’t long before she got to the band practice room and opened the door to hear the sound of a piano being played and instantly she swore under her breath, realising that maybe the band practice room wasn’t the best place to be. She bowed in the general direction of the piano. “Sorry for interrupting.” she said as calmly as she could before turning and walking the other way.

Peeking his head into the practice room, the vocalist sighed in relief at finding the room empty, slipping inside and closing the door quietly behind him after adjusting the strap of his guitar case on his back. He was working on a personal project for his birthday and wanted to get the proper acoustics of the practice room versus his bedroom. Plus, here he wouldn't disturb his bandmates if they happened to be working on something else.

Satisfied with having the room to himself, Wonpil settled onto one of the extra chairs and took his time pulling his guitar from its case, fingers gently gliding over the strings as he smiled fondly at the instrument. He may be the keyboardist for Shotdrum, but he also enjoyed playing the guitar and did whenever he got the chance. He took his time warming up, playing some chords and humming along before eventually doing his normal vocal exercises to prepare. Once he felt he was sufficiently warmed up, he paused to set up his phone to record the piece he was about to play. It probably wouldn't get posted, but he wanted the keepsake anyway to send to his parents, show them he was still doing alright even if he couldn't spend his birthday with him.

Wonpil's posture relaxed once he was ready to "perform" for just his phone, fingers plucking away at the guitar strings while he tapped his foot to keep time. The lyrics were soft at first, falling almost breathlessly from his lips before he eased between his chest voice and his head voice. He took his time working through the song, lips stretching into a soft smile as it drew to a close before he waved happily at the camera and turned the video off. He'd watch it later and determine if he wanted to send it, but for now he just wanted to continue to play whatever came to mind on his guitar.

Maybe he could surprise s with a cake later. They might enjoy the sweet treat.

@ᵗʳᵃᶤᶰᵉᵉ j. hyeonju "ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ" Johnny was bored, period. It was a special day off for the girls who decided to use this free time to go shopping. The manager sat out of it though, wanting some ‘me time’ for himself.

Entering the band practice room, Johnny took a seat before the keyboard, smoothing his fingers across the keys before turning the instrument on. It had been a while since he played any form of a piano, so now he was itching to do so. Stretching his arms, he carefully pressed down on the keys, notes fleeting through the quiet air and filling the room with its melodious tune, Johnny quickly getting into the groove of the music he’s playing.