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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character who was raised in a musical family.

Posted in General on Feb 4, 2020

Submissions are closed!

Sorry, we are no longer accepting submissions. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

✍️ 57 stories

“Poison Ivy - stage 1” by Mariyam Ghafar

You and I are like poison ivy. We irritate ourselves or others until they are swollen, then we leave them. We delegate our pains to be like bubbles. Like bubbles? Like bubbles who rise up in water in a pressurising pan, pushing others down, popping them out, then we rise or pop ourselves. Sink: pop. Rise too far above: pop. So keep your toes on the ground and float. You stay down then you will be delegated on, fly too high then you will fling your burdens to others. Poison ivy.Gentle though they seem to appear, pounce on you like a...

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“People and Dogs and a Harmonica in a Car” by Zilla Babbitt

Ricky. Me. Marlinspike. Toots. Charey. Coley.Okay. Then the dogs, Persimmon and Beans. The guitar and the harmonica. Luggage and camping junk. And car keys.Daddy slammed the door of the trunk and the car windows shook. Charey shrieked. Marlinspike hushed her, first quietly, then when Charey kept giggling, louder and louder, Daddy had to glare at Marlinspike for yelling, “Shut up Charlotte!”Rickey was buried in his comic...

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“Hard Lessons ” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

Back then in a family of five, Gerald was the black sheep. Which meant that he was the useless one who couldn't handle anything or make things go right. There was the pretty twenty-year-old daughter who could play the banjo so well; there was Jack who played the piano like a second skin and then there was mother and father who sang songs that reached the heart.Gerald was the one who couldn't play a thing. Father tried hard to make him just right, after all, theirs was a family of musicians. But not much could have been done. Gerald...

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“The Music Box” by Morgan Elbert

“Couldn’t we just hang out here?” Hugh pleaded. “No! We spend enough time here already!” Nella responded, gesturing around them.  They were sitting on a crumbling concrete stage in the amphitheater of a long abandoned park.  This is where the old circus used to set up when it was in town. Performers of all sorts would stand on this very stage and do their acts.&n...

8 likes 6 comments 6
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“Musical chairs” by Sam Kirk

The house at 4 Wheel Drive was always filled with music, dance, and laughter. Mr. Roberts was a music teacher who played the guitar, the piano, as well as the trumpet. He never met an instrument he was not able to tame. Mrs. Roberts was a professional wedding singer and a ballroom dancer. Together, they made a perfect duo, often entertaining their neighbors and friends with song and dance. From the outside, looking in, their lives seemed like a one, long musical. Even the most mundane of chores were accompanied with one of them at lea...

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“Li’l Chev” by John k Adams

“Adean never forgave you, you know, Chev.”“I know, Mama.” “What will you do if he doesn’t show?”“Carry on, as usual, I expect.”“He doesn’t think it’s fair, you expecting us to play for free.”“You can tell him I never had such expectations. He’s welcome even if he leaves his fiddle at home. Always has been.”“I know…”“Anyway, I thought Daddy said family shouldn’t expect family to pay.”“I think he was talking about the food, Chev.” They laughed together. “You might be right, Mama...

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“A struggle for survival ” by Ola Hotchpotch

The girl's voice, haunting and mellifluous, reverberated in the hall of the club restaurant where she was performing as a guest artist for a charity function. She strummed the guitar in her hand creating magic with its strings. The charity function was arranged by Mr. Lords the chairperson of the charity club. The audience mostly comprised of members of the club who were distinguished who and who. Luckia, as she was called, was a singer in a local five star hotel.She sang popular old numbers at the request of the guests and patrons...

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“The Adventures of Malachi Norton: In Which the Mind Atrophies” by Lee Kull

After a sincere bout of marital troubles, the nature of which I am loath to disclose, eventually resulting in a writ of divorcement and a settlement signing over the house and property to my wife, I found myself without accommodations. Through the graciousness of my good friend Malachi Norton, I once more found myself sharing room and board in our old lodgings at 122 High Street, St. John’s Wood.To-day, Malachi seemed to be in a mood which his friends would call taciturn, and others morose. He smoked incessantly, played snatches on...

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“The Talents of Alice” by Tim Law

“You are a waste and a disgrace to this family, Alice!”“Yes, a disappointment and a waste of talent!”Alice’s mum and dad would never understand. Their youngest daughter was not interested in the grand theatre, playing for a packed house at the Albert Hall. At fifteen Alice was far more interested in the flashing lights and base beats of a rave on the beaches of Ibiza.Like all dutiful daughters Alice had practiced her scales until they were faultless, mastered Mozart on violin and Beethoven on piano. Dux student of eve...

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“No Good Deed” by Allison Cellura

No Good Deed “Why don’t you introduce yourself, and tell us three interesting things about you,” my teacher suggests. This happens every time I begin at a new school, which is often.  "My name is Alanis Abbott. I have four siblings, and we are all named after musicians. We moved here beca...

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“She Deserves It” by Paige Weber

Erica Rale, a seventeen-year-old girl who was always been the best when it comes to playing the piano. Like any other parent, her mother was very proud of her daughter's achievements. Gold. Gold. Gold. That was all she had. She never received other awards than being the best than the best. Her school was so proud of her, for whenever she presents her academy to a musical competition she has no doubt to have her name on that first place. They all started to declare that h...

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“Dream of Music” by Trevor Jackson

 Close your eyes. Just like that. Good. You are surrounded by darkness. As far as you can see, enveloping everything you know, everything you have ever known. It’s the darkness. Do not fear, however, for the darkness holds you close, sticking to your arms, sending a kind energy through you. You are safe within the darkness, and you are completely satisfied.      In time, the darkness was disturbed. Gentle chimes come from above, and you look. Wispy orbs float down into the darkness, jumping one be...

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“The grand piano ” by Samantha Ribeiro

My family is much like yours we have our ups and downs, our good and bads but one thing that sets aside my family from everyone else's is there crazy unhealthy obsession with music. Music can you believe it? I bet you anything that for every genre of music out there I have a family member who has dedicated their life to it.Rock N' roll easy my brother Charles he claims to own an autographed album of every true rock n' roll artists out there. Opera? Aunt Lucille would have to take that category. She has dedicated her...

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“Musical Hearts” by Anna Komora

Cole wakes up when he hears the cry room in the other room. A loud and urgent wail coming from just down the dark hall. Beside him, his wife shifts and moves to sit up, but the man mutters something along the lines of ‘I’ve got her’ while gently placing a hand on her back. The tired new mother relaxes and sinks back into the bed with a sleepy smile, and thank you while her partner sits up and pulls a shirt on before making his way to the nursery. ...

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“Allegra Finds Her Song” by Lenore Butcher

           Growing up in a musical family was very difficult, but if you yourself weren’t musical at all, it was sheer torture.  In Allegra’s family it was particularly hard, because it wasn’t that her family could play music. Not at all. Her family members were music. It lived in their voices. From the meekest whisper to the boldest shout and the most raucous shriek – every vocal tone had melody and rhythm as intricate as any concerto every played.

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Contest #26

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This week's theme: Musical Genius

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Ended on 23:59 - Jan 31, 2020 EST

Won by Hannah Carter 🏆

Title: Lara

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