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strekkingur · 4 years

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music hcs

Since music is such a huge part of my character, it’s about time I do this. (Also bc I’ve been stuck watching violin youtubers for the last few days.) A disclaimer: mun has no musical education whatsoever, everything you read here is based on years of research. I’ve held a violin exactly once in my life. :’D

For starters: Eiríkur is a classically trained violinist (and pianist).

He also plays the piano though in the modern day he prefers the violin by large. He’s more ambitious about bettering his skills on the violin while with the piano he’s kinda comfortable where he is.

In the modern day he mostly plays the piano for fun whereas, with the violin, he has a rigorous training schedule, around 2-3 hours every day, spliced into 30-60 minutes sessions throughout the day.

He also sings and has a nice, clear and melodic tenor voice but he can be a bit shy about performing in front of an audience. He does vocal training every other day as well. You can often hear him singing or humming something under his breath when he thinks no-one is around to hear.

He most likely started his music hobby with a harpsichord in the 1600s before moving to what we now know as pianos and started violin sometime during the 18th century. And I say 18th century because this is when his health became very poor. He could no longer do the active, outdoorsy things he had enjoyed before but he could practice music indoors, and the violin could even be brought to his bed when he was too weak to get up.

The original hc is that Norway taught him to play instruments (because back in the day the whole fandom had a crush on Alexander Rybak... myself included) but this depends on the hcs of the Norways I rp with. It’s just as likely that Eiríkur had human music tutors. I wouldn’t be surprised if he also took lessons from Austria at some point but this far I haven’t hc’d stuff like that with any Austria rp-er. (Also relating to this hc there’s the hc that Eiríkur quit playing the violin between 1814-1905... it simply became too painful after Nor left. He started the violin again when Norway gained independence and he thus knew Nor wasn’t coming back for him... it provides him with a connection to his estranged sibling.)

In the modern day he owns a grand piano and two violins... probably has an acoustic guitar somewhere, too. I would assume he has tried viola, cello and flute at some point as well but always comes back to the violin. All of his instruments and sheet music are stored in the music room, down the hall in the second story of his house.

His violins have names: Braga and Listalín! Although Eiríkur never really calls them by the names aloud, you might sometimes catch him referring to his violins with feminine pronouns (the word fiðla (violin) is feminine and in Icelandic, the word “it” (það) is only used for words that are neutral gender whereas masculine and feminine words use hann and hún respectively - same words you use for personal pronouns he and she yeah it gets confusing sometimes as a language learner).

Braga (the feminine form of the male name Bragi, the Old Norse god of poetry) is the older of the two violins, most like made in Tyrol in the 18th century. She is a semi-modern violin, crafted during the transitional period so she has some baroque features. She is Eiríkur’s most priced possession. Listalín (list = art, lín = flax/linen in Icelandic, the name can be understood as “woven art”) is a modern violin crafted in Saxony or Bohemia sometime in the 19th or 20th century. Listalín is the violin he usually travels with when he knows he’s going to stay away from home for more than a week. (He doesn’t like being separated from instruments and being without practice for long periods of time.)

Oh, but don’t talk to him about electric violins (or really any electric versions of classical instruments) unless you want to hear a rant. Wood is the only right way to go for him as far as string instruments are considered. Keyboards are fine though. Not his favourite instrument but he can understand that moving a grand or upright piano is a pain in the ass. So at least he’s not mad at the existence of electric keyboards.

Eiríkur has the perfect pitch. Basically, this gives him the annoying and quite enviable talent of hearing music and being able to play it near perfectly right after and correctly naming the note being played on an instrument or the pitch in everyday sounds on his first try. (He can also imitate random sounds like bird calls on his violin for fun and is scarily good at it.) It is not something he was born with but a result of spending centuries playing music... it would be rather strange if he hadn’t developed any slightly superhuman skills in it yet I think. (He also says it helps that most modern pop music only repeats the same four chords thorough the song so it’s not hard to memorise and copy it.)

Does he compose? Sometimes, I’d say. He likes improvisation (the perfect pitch makes that extra easy for him) but rarely writes any of his music down. And by the next time he plays it, he’s likely going to tweak some part of it. It depends a lot on his mood: sometimes he plays it faster, sometimes slower, sometimes he changes the whole key of the piece, sometimes he adds new bars that just popped in his head, or mixes and matches his own music with a few bars from existing pieces. What I’m trying to say is that it’s rarely the same twice.

Eiríkur likes classical and instrumental music but that isn’t to say he hates pop. He listens to a lot of pop music these days though his music taste can be a bit strange (I often refer to his favourite band as ‘space music’). He likes music that evokes emotions and also music where they do something new and interesting or use some cool trick or melody pattern. He’s a bit of a music hipster, he can try almost any genre but tends to somewhat dislike mainstream pop and rap (he doesn’t get rap at all). His favourite genres are experimental, indie, ambient, postrock, chamber pop, dream pop, shoegaze... you get the drift. Lofi and chillwave would be right up his alley as well. In case you were ever wondering what he listens to when he wears earphones 24/7.

Overall, music is one of the most important things to him in the world. He discovered it during the darkest times of his life and it helped keep his spirits up while he clawed his way back from nearly dying. Especially in modern day, when the past weighs heavily inside him and he often struggles to express himself, music can speak his emotions where words fail him. (I seriously wouldn’t put it past him to reply a question of “how are you?” by linking or showing a song to the asker.) Music is a comfort, it’s an escape, it’s peace and calm when his head and heart are in turmoil. It’s a connection to his estranged family (if we go with the Norway taught him hc), it’s something he loves and is extremely passionate about.

And the last one... I’ll put multiple small hcs here: Eiríkur has a highly visible (because his skin is so pale) violin hickey on the left side of his neck. He knows some Italian from musical terms. Oh, and he has yet to forgive Austria for burning a piano on Eurovision a few years back. Yes, it was a fake piano but all instruments should be treated with respect!

#many are difficult to see through (headcanons)#major headcanons #//also I'm extra sensitive about these hcs being stolen so like... don't do it #they've been stolen before which is why I've kinda hesitated writing them out again #like these are literally my oldest hcs and the very basis of my portrayal on Eiki

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