Write a story about someone learning how to play an instrument.

Posted in Nonfiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 75 stories

“Dan and the Feisty Flute” by Gabrielle Truax

Submitted to Contest #38

She heard a slight sob coming from the living room. She sat up and listened for an intense second. What was that? Her neighbor? Was she imagining things? She was sure that all this time alone in her own house was driving her crazy, making her imagination go wild. Then she heard it again. Yes, it was a sob. “Birdie?” This time she stopped scrolling on Instagram, got up, and walked into her living room. “Birdie?” Her cat was planted like a barnacle on the couch, staring at something across the living room. She glanced over to what her ca...

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“Pluck, Pluck, Plucking Away” by Rebecca Lewis

Submitted to Contest #38

My name is Melanie Sue Gladstone and I live in a friendly, stuck-in-time small town, sort of like Mayberry with a local barber shop and friendly city sheriff. The local newspaper is very popular and incredibly it manages to put out a weekly edition every Thursday. Full of local news and events, obituaries, high school sports and Aunt Doris' Recipes for rhubarb pie and S'mores. The cobblestone streets are lined with huge elm trees and every other front yard is meticulously manicured and boasts a white picket fence. My next door neighbor to th...

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“"The Fiddle" by Chris Edwards” by Chris Edwards

Submitted to Contest #38

The old fiddle had a brassy, sweet sound. That's the way its humancompanion was given to describing it. It had been, in all likelihood, fifteenyears, maybe more, since the bow had glided across its strings. Five years since the man who spent many days and nights perfecting that bowhand had drew a breath. His old buddies from his thirty-some-odd years of employment called him “Booger,” and some called him Red, before the hair went to grey. To me, he was my grandfather, but he was always present. He pretty much raised me, and his music w...

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“Transference” by Ellie Heron

Submitted to Contest #38

In an attempt to rectify what my parents had always considered their biggest failure in raising me, I had decided to learn to play music. Not knowing how to even tap out a tune on a piano, this was, of course, bound to be a monumental challenge. But it was one I was determined to face. My mother’s birthday was coming up, and after her many years since last playing the clarinet, I had decided to attempt to gift her with music for her birthday- to ease the ache in her soul caused by all three of her children’s apparent lack of musical skills ...

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“A TASTE OF MY OWN MEDICINE ” by Miriam V

Submitted to Contest #38

That was it, I had signed myself to a pool of embarrassment. How was I going to stand confidently infront of million pairs of piercing eyes, not to mention joining the keys correctly to the tune. For a moment i felt like I quiting the whole thing, that's what the timid side of me suggested. I sat quietly in my room, it was just me facing the piano. I had no one to mentor me nor a friend to support me. I gentle pressed each key, aiming to know the pitch of the keys. All I wanted was to become a part on the cool guys' band. I was com...

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“Music Lessons” by Patti McQuillen

Submitted to Contest #38

The flute or the clarinet? Sleek or blasting? Delicate sounds that trill or bold ones that fail me as I try to break out a few notes? Two choices, as opposite as can be.My aunt demonstrates both. Temptation begs me to take the flute. It's light and my tongue bucks the taste of a wood reed against it. Yet, I don't know about rolling the instrument against my lips with correctness.I'm not a patient person. Practicing is boring at times. I have little tolerance for a lack of instant success. Images of mastery flood my mind. I ask myself, 'If ot...

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“To A Wild Rose” by Sif Houdini

Submitted to Contest #38

How long is this going to last? Hayden was lying upside down on the black, worn-out couch in the living room, trying his best to ignore the screaming coming from his parent's bedroom and failing to focus on the chess match he was currently engaged in online. Yup. That's pretty much how everything was being taken care of these days. Wanted to get a new pair of jeans? Order it online. Craving some McDonald's? Get it online. Missing classes due to a goddamn global pandemic? Not to worry, your college already has them scheduled online. Just do y...

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“Tuba Notes” by Ashley Furlong

Submitted to Contest #38

A goddamn tuba. Of all the insufferable instruments MaryAnn’s tone-deaf children had picked, her youngest and least talented had chosen the loudest, most reverberating. Even worse, he showed no sign of losing interest. By now her former drummer and clarinetist would have given up, broken their respective sticks or reeds, and sworn off all music forever. But Henry—sweet, cherubic Henry, the child that had shown the most promise of never gravitating toward an instrument and sticking to an art the Mathis’s excelled in: accounting—came home from...

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“Learning the Piano With a Broken Pinky” by Raveena Mahal

Submitted to Contest #38

Wow, this quarantine is really sucking the life out of me. The first couple of weeks, it was kind of fun, but now that we are on week five of staying at home, I am going kind of crazy. There are only so many Tik Toks and YouTube videos that one can go through. Therefore, it is today, April 2, 2020, that I have decided to teach myself how to play piano. It will not be easy, but I am up for the challenge! Join me on this musical journey as I learn how to play this beautiful instrument. Now you may be wondering, why choose the piano out of all ...

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“The Possessed Instrument” by Ika Knight

Submitted to Contest #38

Ding dong. Luna Franz never failed to appreciate Amazon’s fast efforts, though today her package was a few days late. She smoothed out her shirt and rushed to the door, ready to give a good yelling. By the time she’d whipped the old door open, they were gone. Luna was left with a frown on her face and a large box placed on the foot of her porch. “Nana?” her granddaughter, Elizabeth, called. She came out shuffling from the garage, a small backpack and suitcase trailing behind her. “Lizzy!” Luna held her arms out so she cou...

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“The Promise of Music” by Cora O

Submitted to Contest #38

The door cracked open, allowing light to flood the despondent closet for the first time in a very long while. The beams of natural light revealed the dust particles hanging in the air. It must be spring, why else would he be in here shuffling boxes of Christmas decorations around and riffling through boxes of old clothes, he had long since meant to donate. Instead of actually cleaning as tradition states, Mark was trying on the old clothes to see if they still fit, modeling his greatest hits from the early 2000’s for nobody at all, and smack...

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“The Wizard” by Emma Clint

Submitted to Contest #38

The sickening crack of hundred-year-old ribs made Jo wince. She craned her neck to see over the broad shoulders of the man hunched over the broken fame. The table was illumined by a harsh light, the beam occasionally adjusted by the expert hands to show the work to best advantage. Jo gasped as she caught a glimpse of carnage on the table; she had never seen the inside of a violin before. The luthier heard the quick intake of breath in the otherwise quiet studio, and chuckled.“This is the worst part,” he said, gesturing to the exposed hollow ...

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“Da Capo” by Yomi J

Submitted to Contest #38

It had been a long, long time.Anne sat slumped on the piano bench, staring at the keys, her fists clenched tight in the fabric of her sweatpants. She could see her reflection in the polished surface of the piano's lid. To say she was an utter mess would be putting it lightly. She'd slept in her ponytail for two days, turning it into a knotted mat and making the top of her head look oddly lumpy. She'd worn the same stained T-shirt since Tuesday of last week. Her face was swollen and blotchy, her eyes glassy with tears, as if she were a child ...

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“Silence Broken ” by Daisy Bazeley

Submitted to Contest #38

I sat cross-legged on the battered pull out couch in our living room. Pillows and blankets lay strewn around me like bodies scattered in a battlefield, but I couldn't bring myself to expel the tiniest bit of energy to pick them up. The sound of traffic outside was dulled, and I could feel the afternoon sun filtering in through the window and trying to break in through my back, but it bought me no warmth.The house was quiet now. A delicate silence lay over everything like a thick smog that suffocated any sign of life it might find. I could he...

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“Bobby Learning to Play Banjo” by SHERWIN D'SOUZA

Submitted to Contest #38

Bobby Learning to Play BanjoChapter OneBobby its time to learn how to play your Banjo! exclaimed Billy, his grandfather. Bobby ran hurriedly down the street to his father from his friend’s home. His father has just come home from work and saw him playing basketball with his friend Boris. Bobby made the game winning dunk that he put through his legs first then jumped over his friend to win 11-10. How was day at school? Asked Billy. It went well. Today we covered the FOIL system and we got to use my favourite negative fractional exponents with...

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Write a story about someone learning how to play an instrument.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 75 stories

“Dan and the Feisty Flute” by Gabrielle Truax

“Pluck, Pluck, Plucking Away” by Rebecca Lewis

“"The Fiddle" by Chris Edwards” by Chris Edwards

“Transference” by Ellie Heron

“A TASTE OF MY OWN MEDICINE ” by Miriam V

“Music Lessons” by Patti McQuillen

“To A Wild Rose” by Sif Houdini

“Tuba Notes” by Ashley Furlong

“Learning the Piano With a Broken Pinky” by Raveena Mahal

“The Possessed Instrument” by Ika Knight

“The Promise of Music” by Cora O

“The Wizard” by Emma Clint

“Da Capo” by Yomi J

“Silence Broken ” by Daisy Bazeley

“Bobby Learning to Play Banjo” by SHERWIN D'SOUZA

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about someone who finds a magical portal in their home.

Write a story about someone who is working from home and constantly getting distracted by their pet.

Write a story about two neighbors talking from their yards, windows, balconies, etc.

Write a story about someone posting a video on social media that goes viral.

Contest #38

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

663

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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