fandomhigh | Music Appreciation

If the teachers at the front of the class were looking a little disgruntled (and hungover) today, they could hardly be blamed for it. They were supposed to have been on their honeymoon.

"We weren't planning on having class today," Hannibal said a little grimly. "But we do have an excellent topic for music. Not to mention an awful lot of very good food."

Not all of their guests had been in the mood to eat yesterday.

//Today's topic is catharsis,// Jono added. And if he meant that the topic itself was songs about catharsis, or if they were actually engaging in a form of catharsis by picking this particular topic, that was really anybody's best guess. //Songs that people listen to when they need to vent.//

Possibly very angry ones. As one does.

//Songs like that can be anything from 'you've cheated on me and now I'll kill you,' to 'actually, I really just can't stand your face,' but many of them seem to have a common thread of anger in them.//

"Anger is a potent force," Hannibal said ~~like a good Sith~~. "It underlies a lot of the classic stories of revenge, heartbreak, and intrigue that inform the great operas. It also seems to lend itself very well to music that is simply loud."

There had been Metallica last night. Hannibal hadn't really minded.

//And sometimes loud is what you want when you're angry,// Jono agreed. //Like Metallica. A lot of Metallica.//

While drunk. Loud enough to scare the cats. Even the cat that was deaf. That was normal, right? At least in certain situations.

//So, today we're going to talk about catharsis,// he went on. //What sort of music you reach for when you're angry, whether you go for something that makes you angrier, or something to help soothe you. Or maybe the two aren't necessarily different at all.//

Hannibal waved at the computer and stereo system at the front of the class. "Play us your songs, and we'll play you some of ours. To start, I will state that I'm rather fond of 'Le veau d'or', from Faust. It is Mephistopheles' aria."

And he did tend to find being devilish very cathartic.

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Catharsis! And music that you listen to when you're feeling angry in particular.

Alluka had spent most of the lecture blinking.

"Are, are we supposed to listen to music when angry?"

She didn't really stay angry for very long. This was sort of out of her experience.

"Not at all," Hannibal assured her. "There are no rules about it. But many people find that it helps them."

"But why angry music?" she wondered. "Wouldn't happy music be better if they're sad?"

"Sometimes people like to listen to music that reflects what they're feeling - anger or sadness - rather than music that will try to force them to feel better," Hannibal answered. "Does that make sense?"

"I think," Tip said slowly, thinking through how to phrase it even as she spoke. "I mostly like the songs that are more -- snide. Than angry. Like Taylor Swift. She's kind of . . . upbeat bitter?"

There were a couple more scream-y songs on her phone, but since she knew she could actually lash out and hit people if she got angry enough, she usually kept to the snarky side of things.

Hannibal nodded. "So, you prefer something...defiant?...in the face of difficulty."

"Yeah," Tip said, liking the term. "Like she's just daring you to think she's crazy."

Funnily enough, Dante was more relaxed than he had been in weeks. He lounged back in his seat.

"Always been a big fan of aggrotech bands when I really get into it," he said, "Combichrist goes hard."

Yeah, his favorite band was a listen-to-while-angry band.

"I have no idea what aggrotech is, but it sounds very loud," Hannibal said. "Play some for us." He waved at the computer and sound system.

Luckily it wouldn't go loud enough to damage anybody's ears (sorry, Dante), but it still had decent volume.

Dante snorted. He got up, picked one of his favorite Combichrist tracks off of YouTube, and put it on.

It was... definitely loud. And aggressive. Like it was made to be violent to.

Hannibal listened to it closely; he frowned slightly but nodded his head along a bit.

"Definitely loud," he acknowledged when it was done, giving Dante a smirk. "But remarkably musical for all that. I should love to hear it re-scored for orchestra, although I imagine you prefer this version."

"Depends on how hard your orchestra can shred," Dante said merrily, flopping back in his seat.

Someone had to be in a good mood around here.

"There are some violinists that need new bows fairly often," Hannibal said. He chuckled. "I'm not certain how you'd determine if a brass player 'shreds'."

"I dunno," Dante mused. "Has anyone ever ended like, Beethoven or something by smashing a trumpet over the edge of the stage?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Hannibal said. "Most of them are far too expensive to risk. Still, they've been around for hundreds of years. I'm sure there's been some frustration in all that time."

"I play rather than listen," Lucille said. "And in my experience almost any music can be played in such a way as to express anger."

She had experience, after all.

"A very good point," Hannibal agreed. "Some instruments lend themselves to it better than others - for instance, piano rather than harpsichord, since the harpsichord's volume won't change based on the force of your playing."

"That is true," Lucille agreed. "But harmonics? That limits your choice of music though.

Music Appreciation | Monday, period 1

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