avalanche

rasjid roberts. 30. middle school band director & private piano, violin, & guitar teacher. OR → → MI → → NY → → CA  used to write and play music.             don't anymore.

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

charlotte-cabrera:

Charlotte nodded, brushing Mia’s hair out of her face, handing the whining five year old her phone to keep her distracted. “Well, I’ve got her in singing lessons, and she’s done an acting workshop and a modeling workshop when we were on vacation this summer.” She commented, trying to keep herself humble. She didn’t want her daughter to be forced into dance because she was a dance teacher. She wanted Mia to choose for herself what her passion was, whether it be dance or soccer or piano or something completely different. “Next week works perfectly. I like to keep her on a set schedule, if possible.”

“Oh wow. You are putting her out there. That’s cool. Kinda like my mom but she couldn’t afford to me and all my siblings in everything so she just randomly guessed or moved us around. Thankfully she stuck me in piano first,” Rasjid laughed.

“Definitely. It’s late enough in the day to where it shouldn’t interfere with school when that starts, too,” he says with a nod.

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

wade-platinum:

Thanks for understanding and not being judgmental or assholeish about it. It makes me feel a little better.

Rasjid shakes his head. “Never. Dunno if I’m built to be either of those things. Even if I tried I’d probably fail and just end up making you muffins or something,” he laughed a little bit.

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

hiitshollyx:

“Redheads? Are you sure it’s just redheads?” Holly questioned with a laugh, keeping her gaze on him for several moments. “But that was definitely my plan.”

“It tends to be!” Rasjid teases--his ex had been a redhead, anyway.

He shakes his head, smiling. “Nooo. It’s too easy, honestly. You’ll get bored of getting me embarrassed really quickly. People like uh, to be challenged when it comes to that kinda stuff.”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

carmenfox:

“Your last job?” Carmen queries, brow cocking. She’s distracted by the mention of kids in school, wrinkling her nose. “God, kids are the worst when you’re a kid. It’s good you didn’t change it - Rasjid is a cool name. Better than like, Randall or some shit. I dunno.”

She cocks a brow. “Oh yeah? I come off as a wino, huh? How rude,” she retorts, before nodding at his question. “Carmen McRae. Usually I get people talkin’ about Carmen Miranda and wearing fruit baskets on my head. Me and my brothers are all named after people - Vinnie, my older brother, is named after Vincent Price because my dad’s a nerd, And Will is named after William Johnson - the painter.”

“Yeah... well, job is a harsh word. Uh. Career choice, maybe...” he hummed. He nodded at her words. “Yeah. Y’know, people lash out at stuff that’s different. My family was the only Middle Eastern one in town, and even then we were only half Persian. But the names were enough, I guess. People lash out at things that are different sometimes, especially kids, because sometimes you have mean energy and you wanna take it out in the simplest way you can. Easy targets and stuff. I don’t really feel bad about it though, it’s just kinda funny. And yeah... I went by the name Andy for two weeks and it just didn’t stick.”

He laughs a little. “I didn’t mean it like that. But like, when I think of wine, I think of passion and wisdom, for some reason. I dunno. It’s fitting,” he smiles, shaking his head, “That’s cool. She’s great. I’m glad I guessed right. Carmen Miranda was my third guess, though. I’ll be honest.”

He smiles. “I like that. I’m not named for anyone except, yeah. Allah. So.”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

carmenfox:

“It is - I dunno how low stress teaching kids will be, though,” she muses. “I know I’d probably lose my mind - but then again I don’t have much patience.” 

She nods along as Rasjid explains his name, one brow cocking a bit. “Damn. Those are big shoes to fill. My name doesn’t have a cool meaning like that - It’s from the Hebrew word karmel which means ‘God’s Vineyard’. So I guess I’m like, a holy drunk? The Latin side of things means ‘song’ or ‘poem’, and it’s also from the Roman Goddess of childbirth? I dunno. My mom just named me after a singer.”

“It’ll be a lot better than my last job, I’ll say that much,” he sighed softly, “And it hasn’t been so bad thus far.”

“My mom and dad told me I could change it if I wanted to because kids at school started making fun of me,” he said, “I’m glad I didn’t though. Don’t know if I’d do well as anyone other than Rasjid.”

He laughed at Carmen’s explanation of her own name. “God’s vineyard. I feel like it’s fitting,” he teases a little bit, “That’s nice though. But which one--Carmen McRae? Or Carmen Lundy? Or another Carmen... I can’t say I’m in the know about folks named Carmen, but they come to mind.”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

hiitshollyx:

“I’ll keep that in mind. A couple of casual lessons are definitely okay for now. Don’t think I can take too much,” she said with a nod of her head. “You won’t make me sweat? That’s a shame.”

“That’s fine with me,” he said, “I’m pretty flexible.

He laughed a little at her words, almost blushing and shaking his head. “Oh, gee. You redheads. Always like to get me embarrassed.”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

wade-platinum:

Eh. I don’t do music for others. I do it because I love it. I do it to improve myself as a musician.

Rasjid smiles, nods. “That’s cool. Well, then that’s good too. Nothin’ like a leson to refresh yourself,” he said, “You’re pretty great already but I of all people understand the want to improve more.” He nods.

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

charlotte-cabrera:

“She’s gonna be a triple threat someday.” Charlotte smiled, placing her hand on top of Mia’s head. She wanted her daughter to dip her toes into various activities before she decided what she was passionate about. “When’s her next lesson?”

Rasjid smiles a little bit. “Triple, huh? What else you planning on getting her into?” he questioned. Mia was young but she was good for her age, so far as Rasjid had seen.

“Next week, same time works for me,” he replied with a smile, “Unless, uh, y’know. Somethin’ comes up. I’m pretty flexible.”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

eleanorfitzroy:

“Nothing wrong with it at all,” she said with a pleasant smile, fingers brushing gently against the ivory keys. “And I have more free time now than I normally would, so there’s no reason to not get some practice in. I’ve missed it a little, actually.”

Rasjid smiles. “That’s terrific,” he said, “Use every second you have to make something great.” He nods, laughing. “Yeah... one time I went to summer camp and they wouldn’t let me bring an instrument, and so I had to go for three weeks without playing music,” he shakes his head, “It wasn’t a good time for me. So, y’know. Missing it isn’t unusual.”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

leonailani:

“I know the feeling - she’s been keen on an instrument for a while, but of course she wants to play one I can’t teach her,” he says with a wry sort of smile. “Me’n her mum always said we’d never be those sorta parents - slave drivers, y’know?”

“Yeah! Dad took it from his old work when he left!” Anahera claims, and Leon winces. “You make it sound like a stole it. They’d replaced some of the gear so I gave it a new home,” he explains quickly. “They were just tossing it otherwise.” 

Rasjid snorts a little bit. “Well, in my experience, when I learned one I kinda wanted to learn ‘em all,” he said, “So I’m sure she’ll be grasping at the opportunity to learn more before you know it.”

Rasjid nods. “That’s good. My parents were the same way, and I think I turned out pretty okay,” he hummed.

Rasjid giggles at the back and forth between father and daughter. “Well, that’s cool. I hope it works out. If for some reason it doesn’t I can give you some brand recommendations and stuff.”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

hiitshollyx:

“You promise? How many of these lessons are we going to need? Just how intense are they going to get?” she questioned, a playful smirk crossing her features.

“Depends on how good you wanna get,” he says honestly, “But I don’t know if It’ll ever make you sweat or anything.” He laughs a little bit.

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

wade-platinum:

No shame. For you. Pretty ashamed of myself since I pride myself on all my musical abilities.

Rasjid smiles. “Nice thing about it is no one doubts you, y’know? People who like the music are always gonna like the music, they don’t hear you if you flunk a note or somethin’ sometimes. I used to mess up during my live sets all the times... like, forget the words even...” he laughs a little bit, “But if someone’s a fan they’ll always be a fan. But you wanting to be better for them is a nice way of paying it forward.”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

hiitshollyx:

“Thank you…” Holly said with a nod, a soft laugh escaping her. “Okay, got it, I think – explain it all to me another ten times and I think we’ll be good. Real good.”

“No problem! You’ll get really good at it, I promise. And all the music mumbo-jumbo starts to make sense pretty quickly,” he says, “It’s all about taking the first step and stuff.”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

wade-platinum:

Wow dude. I guess I am rustier than I thought. Thanks for this, man.

“Absolutely. It’s always good to refresh once in awhile, there’s no shame in it whatsoever. Just means you care,” Rasjid smiles.

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

sylvester-riggio:

“I have no clue what you just said but I’m on board, dude,“ he smiled. “I just want to play a really cool song so I can entertain some of the kids at the hospital during my breaks.“

“We’ll get to that once we get a few technique things out of the way,” Rasjid says with a smile, “That’s great though. It might, um, inspire the kids to pick up music too. Music heals and stuff, I think. Even if technically it doesn’t, y’know, it’s all about the right state of mind, right?”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

leonailani:

Leon sits across the room, browsing through a dog-eared novel he’d brought along. Usually he’d have left his daughter to it, but she had first lesson jitters - in the car she’d begged him to stay and watch. Leon wasn’t sure why - it took her only a few minutes to bust out of her shell. 

Leon watches over the top of his book as Rasjid speaks to Anahera, the curly-haired girl nodding as she thumped on the keys, brow bent with concentration, though she brightens as she’s praised. She jumps up off the bench, beaming wide enough to show off a missing baby tooth.

“Thanks!” She exclaims, and Leon smiles to himself, getting to his feet to make his way over. 

“See?” He says to his daughter, giving her shoulder a little squeeze. “Told you you’d do good.” His attention then turns to Rasjid, his own grin showing off a full set of teeth. 

“Thanks for this, man,” he says, letting Anahera go as she pads off to where she’d left her backpack. “You don’t know how excited she’s been for this.”

Rasjid smiles as Anahera beams up at her dad.

“No problem! It was a great lesson. Anahera will get the hang of it really really quickly,” Rasjid says with a smile down at the cute child, “And I’m glad to teach someone who wants to learn. Some of my students are kids whose parents just make them take lessons, and those aren’t half as fun.” He smiled again.

“Just make sure you practice. You don’t have to do it every day but I would recommend it. But try to get some in just a little bit. You guys have a keyboard at home?”

[rasjid-roberts-blog]

sylvester-riggio:

“Fuck yeah dude. So, when can I play Beethoven and shit?“

Rasjid snorts. “Takes a little more time for that,” he says with a smile, “I could probably teach you a really simplified version of Bagatelle in F but you’d have to practice to get the timing of that one right,” he said with a smile, “I don’t know if you’re ready for me to spring all five sections of Fur Elise on you.”