Lore:Convergence of Maestros, Volume 1

Convergence of   Maestros 
 ,   
First   of  

In Attendance: 
~   
~  , Professor of Percussion 
~  , Professor of Southern Strings 
~  , Professor of Small Winds 
~  , Master of Bells and Horns 
~  , Professor of Vocals 
~  , Professor of Northern Strings 
~  , Historian Royal 
~ Honorable  , Bard Royal of  , representing   
~ Adjunct  , Professor of   Music Theory 
~ Master Maestro Alumnus   
~ Assistant to the Headmaster and Scribe,   (Me)

 

Catrelle: Hear ye, honorable master bards! My thanks for your attendance. We call this meeting together to determine the proper care and—

 

Taenival: Care and imprisonment? Not on my life! You ruin an instrument's vitality by locking it in a box! 
Catrelle: Good Maestro Taenival! I'll quarter no outbursts at this meeting! Make your winds smaller for a time, sir! 
Taenival: You'll not change my mind on this subject. 
Catrelle: So noted. Please be at ease, Maestro.

 

Catrelle: As I was saying, we gather to discuss our intentions for these legendary, storied, and exquisite instruments before us. Those the college has collected over the course of centuries and maintained. Some of the bards outside this room, and indeed within, have used them extensively to teach with and compose upon. Due to complaints by others, also within and without ….

 

Catrelle: … there is concern that this could have undue negative impact upon the instruments. Most recently, we have had to perform extensive repair on the   when someone—

Hrofgen: That was not my fault, and I was NOT drunk, as it was implied!

Viatrix: I SAW you refilling your brandy flask right before the Tom was broken!

Hrofgen: I do not deny this, but I was not drunk. It slipped and fell when a student tripped over me. While I napped. On top of the drum.

Viatrix: Sloven—

Catrelle: Enough! We're not here to litigate your passions. We need solutions. Maestro Efnort has a prepared statement. Efnort?

 

Efnort: For the record, I've seen Hrofgen refill his brandy flask before delivering a wandering soliloquy on drums that stunned everyone in the room. I count this as no excuse for the damage to the Tom, and therefore advocate for the preservation of our artifacts.

 

Efnort: These instruments represent a legacy of musical history. The Bards College should want to preserve them for as long as possible, to show students, tourists, luthiers, and other crafters these masterworks and pieces of cultural history.

 

Thaezara: Efnort, you must admit that an instrument is like a lover. Is it not at its most beauteous when plucked, strummed, and played until singing joyously? Caged, they are left silent and lonesome, no?

 

Efnort: Thaezara, esteemed one. Though you make a passionate plea, I am more inclined to be delicate with such an instrument. Revered. It having given so much to Nirn already. Does it not deserve reverence? It simply cannot be played forever.

Thaezara: You should be so lucky to have an instrument in such fine condition that it begs to ring out its song!

 

Viatrix: However fine the condition of the instrument, Thaezara, it won't matter if every student at the college is pawing it and noodling every terrible sonnet they can imagine upon it.

Thaezara: How dare you—

 

Catrelle: Enough! Sit down, the both of you!

 

Catrelle: Stop being so dramatic!  's bards look to us to make mature decisions for the culture of bards as a whole. Act like you deserve the honor!

Twains-the-Night: If you truly mean all bards, then let me be the Argonian representative to express my dismay in your needs to preserve everything in a world where all things eventually return to Nirn. In our land, nothing survives time or the marsh. We make use of everything, and if something has no use, we commit it again to the swamp.

Hrofgen: Exactly! I think what the scaleback means, in regular words, is that we should make use of these great instruments while we have them. Eventually they will be stolen, or burned, or have something spilled on them, you know?

Twains: Scaleback?

Catrelle: Order!