Enharmonics

Once upon a time, a young musician sat at his desk heavily at work creating music. Not symphonies or pieces. No, this was the birth of music. He was creating the fundamentals. The young musician made the treble clef which is full of joy, the c-clef which demands recognition and the bass clef which is teeming with gloom. He also created the notes from whole to eighth. And each note has its own personality. The Eighths were small and annoying while the Halfs were large and relaxed. The notes bickered a lot, but they always made up with ties and slurs. Heroes sprang out from the pages. Fortissimo, the loud, and Vivace, the swift, were known far and wide for bringing excitement into the measures. Many other elements were created. Harmony and her twin sister Melody both took up the maternal roles of making sure that all the notes got along well and played nicely. The young musician felt that he had done enough. He was ready to finish his work and go to sleep . The final element of music that he created was the Enharmonic. The Enharmonic are notes that sound the same, but are written differently on paper. The result of this was that the other elements saw the Enharmonic as useless. The Enharmonic was laughed and jeered at with harmful stabs. “You have no purpose,” the Whole note rasped. Even Melody and Harmony joined in the lambasting, “You desultory nincompoop, you’re just a clone”.

Long before he was interested in music, the musician realized that each and everything has a purpose, no matter how small or insignificant it may be. When the musician woke up and saw the inhumane treatment of the Enharmonic, he frowned and said.

“My Creations, I love you each dearly, but I am hurt that you would verbally assault this young Enharmonic. My children, nothing in this world should be put down as ‘useless’. Saying that you do not have a purpose is the harshest and most groundless blow that anyone can give.”

All the notes and other elements realized what they had done. With Harmony and Melody leading the way, they sincerely apologized and made up. And that was when music became a thing of beauty.

© Copyright by Kurihi Chargualaf