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| A post by Mary Fan |
STARSWEPT, or THE VIOLA AWARENESS BOOK
Viola [vee-oh-luh]: NOT A VIOLIN. A four-stringed
musical instrument of the violin family, slightly larger than the violin with
lower pitches. Related to the violin but decidedly NOT A VIOLIN.
Once upon a time, there was an alien planet where people
could just show each other their thoughts, so there was no need to get creative
or anything. But then they discovered this primitive little planet called Earth
where peoples’ ability to express themselves was hobbled by their inability to
be telepathic. So to compensate, these humans developed things like music and
dance and whatnot. Turned out, the aliens quite liked these things and began
hiring humans to perform on their planet. So the humans set up schools to train
kids specifically for these jobs. It was an awesome system.
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| Pictured: A viola. NOT A VIOLIN. Also, not the cover. Just a promo pic. |
Then some teen girl named Iris had to go mess it up. She was
a student at one of these school, studying viola. That’s VIOLA, not violin.
Now, the viola is an often-neglected instrument in the
string family. I suppose you could call it the red-headed stepchild, though
that would be hair-ist. It looks a lot like a violin… Actually, its shape is
pretty much exactly like a violin’s. But it is NOT A VIOLIN. It’s bigger, and
its pitches are deeper, and it plays an entirely different part in the
orchestra. Well, kind of. I mean, it’s a different section. If string
instruments were a choir, violas would be the tenors. Except not as glamorous.
You know who else isn’t glamorous? Iris. Much like her
instrument, people often forget she exists. Which is just as well, since for
most of her life, she wasn’t particularly interesting… goody two-shoes and all.
Until she decided to mess up the system. It’s not completely her fault though—she
was corrupted by an alien boy who came to Earth to spread his radical
propaganda to humans. Horrible stuff like how sometimes his people use
telepathy for mind control. But of course the aliens would never abuse their ability like that! What a troublemaker. And he turned Iris into a troublemaker too.
Anyway, not content to screw things up from Earth, Iris uses the power
of her viola to travel to the alien planet and really mess with the system. And she gets herself into quite a lot of trouble because of it. Tsk.
Well, at least by the end, people know who she is. And what
a viola is.
6 comments:
My daughter did a strings camp a few summers back and she chose the viola. When I asked her why that and not the violin (not because I have a problem with the viola, I just often ask her to explain her decisions) she said simply, "It's different and I like how it sounds." :) Unfortunately, she didn't stick with it (or any other instrument). I guess I'll have to pick up a copy of Starswept and live vicariously through Iris!
Nothing you can say can deter me from reading this.
Aw yay! And that's so cool about your daughter picking viola. Even if it didn't last haha. I was a violinist but always wanted to play viola... and then of course my sister (who's 8 years younger) gets a viola after I advised my parents that violists are rarer and therefore it's easier to get into youth orchestras. I've been threatening to steal that viola ever since ;-)
Glad my viola proselytizing hasn't put you off ;-)
Oh, I love the sound of this! My question -- does playing the viola badly sound like a cat dying? Because, to me, that's what playing the violin badly sounds like, which always put me off string instruments.
LOL! Probably... though the strings are lower so it won't be as squeaky?
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