Music Mad

by Rowan McAuley

‘I mean, look at us,’ Caleb continued. ‘Iris, your sax is for jazz, and Jess, you’ve got an African drum. As for me, I’ve got a twelve-stringed classical guitar. I don’t see what sort of music we could put together out of that.’

  Iris struggled. She felt like throwing up her hands and saying, I know! It’s hopeless! At the same time, though, she wanted to snap back at Caleb, Don’t be such a quitter! Of course we can do something.

  Except she couldn’t think what, so it wasn’t a very convincing thing to say.

  Jess seemed to be having similar thoughts. ‘You might be right, Caleb, but shouldn’t we at least try?’

  Caleb sighed. ‘Go on, then. We’ll try. It won’t be any good, of course, but we might as well do something to fill in the time …’

  Iris rolled her eyes.

  Jess saw her and smiled. She rolled her eyes, too, and then the two of them almost got the giggles.

  ‘Ahem!’ said Iris, bending over to fiddle with her sax case so Caleb wouldn’t see she was biting her lip to stop laughing.

  Jess concentrated seriously on nothing at all out the music room window.

  ‘Well, come on, you two,’ said Caleb, in what Iris’s mum would have called a wounded soldier voice. ‘It’s pointless, but let’s make a start.’

  It was too much. Iris and Jess burst out laughing, and once they started they couldn’t stop. Jess was holding her stomach in agony, and Iris had tears in her eyes.

  Caleb looked at them blankly. ‘Oh, terrific,’ he said, with a weary sigh. ‘Now on top of everything else, it turns out you’re both completely mental.’

  At lunchtime, Iris met up again with Annabelle, Siri and Freya as they stood in line for hamburgers.

  ‘We talked about every single piece of music we’d ever heard, and we still couldn’t find anything we could play together!’ she told them. ‘And I mean really nothing. I don’t know what we’ll tell Amber tomorrow.’

  ‘Oh, that’s such hard luck,’ said Annabelle kindly.

  ‘Yeah, well …’ said Iris. ‘Anyway, how did you guys go?’

  ‘Great!’ said Siri. ‘We’ve got Mel as our tutor, and she’s tops, and Mia fits in perfectly.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yeah, it’s so funny because we all play at the same grade and she’s even got the same type of violin as Annabelle. Plus her voice harmonises excellently with ours.’

  ‘Oh, good,’ said Iris, feeling a bit jealous.

  ‘Are Jess and Caleb nice?’ asked Annabelle.

  Iris looked over to where Jess was eating with some of the older girls. She spotted Caleb slouching at the back of the queue, obviously complaining about something to his friend, who was laughing.

  ‘Yeah,’ she sighed. ‘They’re nice.’

  So far, everyone on camp had been nice, one way or the other (Caleb was the other!), but being nice wasn’t going to be enough when they got on stage in three days.

  After lunch, half the kids went bushwalking while the others went rock-climbing. Iris was in the bushwalking group, along with the rest of her cabin and Mia. They were fast becoming a gang.

  ‘All right, you lot,’ said Libby, who was leading the walk. ‘Stay on the path and try not to fall too far behind. We’re headed for the top of that hill over there.’

  For a while, Iris was able to forget about the concert. She fell into step with the other girls and soon they were all puffing and laughing, tripping over the uneven track and telling music jokes.

  ‘Hey, Annabelle,’ said Mia. ‘How do you keep your violin from getting stolen?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Annabelle smiled.

  ‘Put it in a viola case.’

  ‘Oh, ha, ha, very funny, I’m sure,’ said Siri. ‘Well, tell me, Mia, which is smaller — a violin or a viola?’

  ‘A violin, of course,’ said Mia.

  ‘Ah, no. They’re actually the same size, only the violinist’s head is so much bigger.’

  ‘Oooh!’

  Iris laughed. The jokes were terrible, but bad jokes had always made her laugh, and Mia and Siri knew hundreds.

  At the top of the hill, they stood and looked over the valley. Iris could see the red cabin she was staying in. It looked like a matchbox.

  ‘We came a long way,’ she said to Annabelle.

  ‘I know, but we’ll have to get back quickly now or we’ll miss out on the good biscuits at afternoon tea.’

  ‘Afternoon tea?’ yelled Siri, overhearing them. ‘Let’s go, guys!’

  Shrieking and whooping, they pelted back down the hill to the dinner hall.

  Free time that afternoon was glorious. Iris felt like she’d been on camp with her new friends forever. Some of the kids were playing French cricket with a garbage can as the wicket, but Iris sneaked off with Annabelle and the others to a secret spot by the river that the girls had discovered the year before.

  Just past the dinner hall, close enough to hear the dinner bell but far enough away to be quite on their own, they sat along the riverbank and told stories. They sat there and talked until the sun started to go down.

  ‘It’s getting chilly now,’ said Iris.

  ‘Yeah, and I’ve had six mozzie bites in the last five minutes,’ said Annabelle.

  ‘Me too,’ said Freya. ‘Let’s go back before anyone looks for us and finds our secret spot.’

  As they got up and brushed twigs and leaves off their numb bottoms, they heard the dinner bell ring. Siri yelped. Iris thought Siri must either be constantly hungry, or else she didn’t believe there would be enough food for all of them.

  ‘Run, guys! It’s dinner time!’

  They arrived at the hall in time to bags a table near the door. They all sat down, feeling pleased with themselves. And then Jess and Caleb walked in, looking around for Iris. Her heart sank. Just when she’d forgotten about the concert!

  Jess spotted her and walked over.

  ‘So, Iris, what are we going to tell Amber tomorrow?’

  ‘Urgh, I don’t know. It’s like we haven’t done our homework, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah, I know,’ said Caleb. ‘And we’ll probably get into a lot of trouble.’

  Iris and Jess rolled their eyes at each other.

  ‘This must have happened before though, right?’ asked Siri. ‘They must have emergency back-up music or something, surely.’

  ‘I hope so,’ said Iris. ‘I mean, I’m sure they do.’

  Caleb sighed sorrowfully. ‘We’ll soon find out, one way or the other.’

  Iris was so worried about her tutorial with Amber, she didn’t sleep well. She kept having awful dreams about the concert. She dreamt she’d forgotten the music, or she’d forgotten how to play her sax. In the worst dream of all, she was on stage in her undies, trying to sing opera!

  By morning, she was exhausted. She felt like she hadn’t slept at all. She hopped out of bed and got dressed while the other three slept.

  Maybe if I go for a walk I’ll suddenly get a brilliant idea for the concert, she thought.

  Nope.

  She walked around the camp until her sneakers were soaked through with dew, but she had no useful thoughts. She didn’t have a watch on but it felt late so she headed back to the dinner hall.

  At breakfast, she waved hello to Annabelle and the gang and then went over to Jess and Caleb. They were sitting together, and Jess was poking at her soggy cornflakes with a spoon.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Jess wailed when she saw Iris. ‘All I can think about is the fact that we have to tell Amber we don’t have anything to play.’

  ‘Me, too,’ said Iris. ‘I’ve been wracking my brains.’

  Caleb was wolfing down scrambled eggs and toast. For the first time since Iris had met him, he seemed almost cheerful.

  Typical, thought Iris. He’s probably happiest when things go wrong.

  At the front of the hall, Libby stood up and clapped her hands.

  ‘Breakfast will be over in ten minutes. That gives you five to finish eating and five to clear the table
s and bring your plates and bowls over to the kitchen. You then have two and a half minutes to brush your teeth and grab your instruments before tutorials. Your time starts — now!’

  Iris, Jess and Caleb looked at each other. Twelve and a half minutes until they had to face Amber.

  ‘So,’ said Amber. ‘What have you guys got to show me?’

  Iris scrunched her eyes shut. Hopefully she’d wake up any second now …

  ‘Nothing,’ said Caleb bluntly. ‘We’ve got nothing.’

  ‘Girls?’

  Iris and Jess shrugged.

  ‘It’s true,’ said Jess. ‘We talked and talked and really tried, but we can’t think of anything we can play together.’

  Iris waited for Amber to say something. To say she understood, perhaps. But Amber just folded her arms and waited.

  ‘We really did try,’ said Iris. ‘But it’s not easy, you know. We’ve all got tricky instruments …’

  Amber raised an eyebrow. She didn’t look like she felt sorry for them. She looked disappointed. ‘Of course it’s not easy,’ she said. ‘I never thought it would be. I did think, though, that kids imaginative enough to play unusual instruments would be able to come up with at least one tune to play for the concert.’

  ‘We did our best,’ Caleb protested.

  ‘Did you? You really, truly tried your best, and you really think there’s nothing you can play?’

  Iris bit her lip. She thought that was right, but it sounded silly when Amber said it like that.

  Amber went on. ‘You couldn’t even play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?’

  Caleb laughed. ‘I guess we could do that, but we want to play something good, not some dumb baby tune.’

  Amber breathed out through her nose. It wasn’t exactly a snort, but it was very close. ‘So what you really mean is there is music you could play together, but you’d rather sit around like lumps and not play anything unless you think the other kids will be impressed. Is that it?’

  Iris blinked. Was Amber right?

  ‘Well, yeah!’ said Caleb. ‘Of course we want to play something cool. Of course we don’t want to look like losers in front of everyone!’

  Amber gaped at him. ‘Losers! What are you talking about? We’re here to make music — what’s that got to do with winning or losing? It’s not a competition!

  ‘And as you’ve brought up looking cool, Caleb, I have to say there’s nothing cool about feeling sorry for yourselves.’

  Iris gulped. Amber was right!

  Amber sighed. ‘Look, I know you probably think I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I do understand. When I was your age, everyone played flute. But what do you think I played?’

  Aha! Now Iris would find out!

  ‘Not the bagpipes, right?’

  ‘Definitely not the bagpipes, but you are pretty close.’

  ‘Trombone?’

  ‘Banjo?’

  ‘Ha! I wish!’ laughed Amber. ‘No, I had an accordion.’

  ‘Ooh!’ They all flinched in sympathy.

  ‘Yeah,’ Amber went on. ‘And you know what they say — what’s the difference between an accordion and an onion?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Nobody cries when you chop up an accordion.’

  Iris laughed.

  ‘Now,’ said Amber. ‘Let’s get to work. We’ve got a concert to play in three days and no time to waste!’

  It was amazing, Iris thought, how quickly things could turn around. At breakfast, she’d been feeling awful. Now it was morning tea, and she had never felt better. She hummed to herself in the queue for muffins and cordial.

  ‘What are you humming?’ asked a voice behind her.

  ‘Oh, Annabelle! We just had the best tutorial! I’m so relieved!’

  ‘So what are you going to play? You did end up with something, right?’

  ‘Mmm,’ Iris smiled. ‘We’re all set.’

  ‘Go on — tell. Is it something I’d know?’

  Iris laughed. ‘Oh, yeah, you’d know it, but I’m not telling. You’ll just have to wait and see.’

  ‘I bet it’s something cool, though?’

  Iris smiled mysteriously. Cool wasn’t quite the right word. In fact, it was quite likely that their performance was going to be the exact opposite of cool, but she wasn’t worried about that anymore. Like Amber said, being cool wasn’t everything.

  The point was, she was going to make music. She was going to take something as ordinary as her breath and turn it into a sound that made other people want to dance or clap or cry or dream …

  And that wasn’t cool. That, if you thought about it, was amazing.

  That afternoon, it was Iris and the gang’s turn to go rock-climbing.

  ‘No way!’ shrieked Siri. ‘What if I split a nail or get a blister? That would be a disaster for my playing!’

  Mia jabbed her in the ribs with her elbow. ‘Oh, don’t worry, Siri. You know, if worst comes to worst, I know how to make my violin sound like a viola.’

  ‘Really? And how’s that?’

  ‘I’ll just sit at the back and not play.’

  ‘Hey!’ squeaked Siri. ‘You think that’s funny do you?’ She chased Mia across the lawn.

  It was another bright clear day. Iris smiled to herself and thought of Kick and her mum and dad.

  I expected to miss them more, Iris thought. I thought I’d have a good time, but I also thought I’d be homesick. I never guessed I’d like camp as much as this.

  ‘Oi! Iris!’ yelled Siri. ‘Are you coming or not?’

  Iris blinked herself back into the world. The others were ahead of her, looking back and waiting.

  Annabelle smiled warmly. ‘She’s just daydreaming, Siri,’ she said. ‘You don’t have to be so bossy.’

  ‘Me? Bossy?’ Siri pretended to be shocked. ‘Iris, back me up. I’m not bossy, am I?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ laughed Iris, catching up. ‘You’re a shy little rose petal.’

  ‘See?’ Siri said to Annabelle, linking her arm through Iris’s. ‘Now, pull yourselves together, girls — it’s time for a chorus line.’

  One after the other, Annabelle, Freya and Mia linked their arms until all five girls were standing shoulder to shoulder.

  ‘On the count of three,’ said Siri. ‘A-one, a-two, a-one two three — ’

  Everywhere we go-oh

  People want to know-oh

  Who we are-ah

  And where we come from

  And if they don’t hear us

  We shout a little louder!

  And they high-kicked the rest of the way to the rock-climbing wall, yelling at the top of their voices. The song echoed across the valley.

  The rest of Camp Melody went by far too quickly. Time somehow sped up and plonked Iris down on the last day of camp.

  In between the other music classes, everyone had been practising madly for the concert. Each day, fewer people lazed around on the grass at free time, and more of them went back to the practice rooms. Iris, Jess and Caleb practised after dinner, too.

  At their final rehearsal, Amber was encouraging them to relax with their music and have fun. ‘Don’t be so stressy,’ she reminded them. ‘It’s not a contest. I’d rather you guys had a good time than get every single note absolutely perfect. I’d rather you played with some heart.’

  Iris knew what Amber meant, but it was hard not to stress when you were performing in front of so many people. As Caleb had said, of course they wanted it to sound good!

  But as they practised for the last time, Iris suddenly got it. If she got every single note right, then the music would be perfect. But what if she made every note sing out with feeling?

  If she could play like that, it would be better than perfect. It would be magical.

  She felt her fingers move over the keys more lightly and easily than ever, and without noticing it, she began to sway with her playing. She imagined her sax was singing about sitting by the river with Annabelle and the gang, and watching Siri fly off
the swing, and listening to Mia’s jokes …

  Before Iris knew it, Amber was on her feet and clapping wildly.

  ‘You guys are awesome!’ she cheered.

  ‘Wow! I can’t believe you’re the same three kids who thought you couldn’t make music together!’

  Iris looked at Jess and Caleb. They smiled at each other shyly.

  ‘Thanks, Amber,’ said Iris. ‘We couldn’t have done it without you.’

  ‘Are you crazy? I wouldn’t have missed this for anything. And Iris, I have to say, that was above and beyond anything I’ve heard you play so far.’

  Iris grinned. She couldn’t wait to get on stage.

  Gulp. Now that the time had come, Iris was feeling pretty nervous. She always felt nervous before a concert. She knew she always felt nervous, but somehow that never made it any better.

  The little red cabin was a mess. Annabelle, Siri, Freya and Mia were all giggling with their own nerves as they got their costumes ready. Annabelle had brought four identical white shirts for them to wear, and Freya was tying lengths of gold ribbon around each girl’s waist like a belt.

  Iris looked up from where she was doing her hair in the mirror. ‘You guys look great!’ she said. ‘Like a proper quartet, all matching.’

  Annabelle smiled back. ‘Your hair looks cool.’

  Iris had braided her hair into tiny plaits, and was threading coloured beads onto the ends. When she moved her head, she could hear the beads clinking together gently. She had put on her concert outfit already — a pink shirt and her favourite jeans.

  ‘Iris!’ called a voice. It was Jess, standing by the cabin door. ‘Are you ready?’

  Iris looked over and saw that Jess was wearing a long blue dress and a chunky beaded necklace. Behind her, Caleb was wearing all black — black jeans, black T-shirt and old black sneakers.

  She laughed. They looked just like their music! Nobody matched — they were all wearing different things in different colours, and yet somehow they sort of went together, too.

  ‘I’m ready! Just let me grab my sax.’