Appassionato
                 
The door heaves open then
closes itself, scritching across the worn floor, crashing.
The inner doors scrape against each other.
Opening and clunking into place, willing to stay.

A soft pattering of footsteps across the wood.
Gentle thumping of chairs being lifted, set.
Scraping, clanking of stands being lifted, set.
The hum of wheels being rolled, set.

More pattering of footsteps across the wood,
the cacophonous envelopment of sound.
Chatter, showing off, and last-minute noodling
Ceased,
with an elegant, soundless hand raised.

Makes way for a solitary pitch.
A sweet, low hum echoes in concentration
followed by mimicking repetition,
sustained, then arpeggiated.

Can you hear it?
The collision of waves so subtle
adjusting to settle the crashing waves
into waves that ebb and flow.
Repeat. Twice.

A collective breath,
a soundless gesture.
The room suddenly sparks to life
glittering agreement, consonance.

We persevere onwards.
Pausing the glorious cacophony of chaos
to correct, adjust, now reset.
Pencils gradually find their resting spot against the metal.

Waiting patiently for their time to join, rejoin.
To add their own piece of color,
their own voice, con tenerezza,
to this labor of love.

Sweet and loving to dark and foreboding.
Simple and pastoral to majestic and dramatic.

Stop.
Everything taken out, put away.
Everything experienced, not forgotten.
Everyone there, filed out.

Can you hear it?
A hall that gives way to so much timbre-
Music
Resonates silence.
Niente

About the Author
Natalie Stasiowski is a senior music education major at Florida Gulf Coast University. She was inspired to write this piece when required to write using only one of the senses for a Creative Writing class. Knowing music is something a lot of people have fallen in love with, Natalie felt the rehearsal process is one many people understand or can relate to in some way. This piece highlights the beginning, middle, and end of a rehearsal and concludes with “niente” without a period symbolizing the natural dying out of sound and the shift from one mood to the next. She hopes to convey the feeling of love and joy that is felt by every musician throughout the music-making process and to pass on that excitement to her students through teaching.