Chapter 5

“I believe you’re right, Willow. It seems to be quite popular.”

“If the take-up of albums remains at half the views, that means that they’ve sold four hundred thousand.”

“My word. That’s almost enough for a gold record, or whatever they give out for a digital offering. These are local Coventry boys, you say?”

“I think so.”

“That will be nice. We haven’t had a good local band since The Specials. There have been some popular punk groups, but I don’t listen to that. I will have to tell the Head about this, but it isn’t linked to the school in any way. What you do in your own time is no responsibility of ours. We have had some promoters come and see us.”

“There were two at the dance last night. So was Bruce Miller from the Observer. He knows one, a Marcus Waddington, and is going to talk to him to find out his intentions.”

“When he saw us, it was about organising a recording session for the orchestra, to be issued by a low-cost classical label. The ones before just wanted to sign you all for a Deep Purple concert tour. One was particularly sleazy.”

“Rick is coming to see us, later on. If we can have the account number for the Roof Fund, we will give it to him, and you can expect to see some donations before next weekend.”

When the Roses went home, Wendy put on the kettle, and they sat in the kitchen. Ashley took a sip of his drink and looked at Willow.

“Did you hear Miss Russell say that there were promoters trying to sign you up at the beginning of the first term? The Head must have been forceful if they haven’t contacted you before. I like the idea of a classical CD, though, with my precious daughter listed in the orchestra. That’ll be one for the scrapbook.”

“Dad. With all the excitement, I forgot that the keyboard is still at the club. Can we go and get it, please?”

The two of them went in the car and collected the keyboard. Malcolm was setting up the front section for the Sunday evening.

“That was a tremendous show, last night. We were at almost capacity, and they weren’t shy about having a few drinks, either. I expect that there were several wives doing the drive home. A sing-along in two weeks, Willow?”

“Sure thing, Malcolm. We may have a few new songs for the first part by then. Got to mix things up or else it gets stale.”

“Nothing that you girls do is stale, Willow. If I were you, I’d find myself a manager.”

“We’ll pop back tomorrow evening to tidy up the stage area, so you can leave that to us.”

They took the keyboard and went home with it, taking it up to Willow’s room. She was listening to Carpenters songs and playing the keyboard set to piano when a car pulled up and the front doorbell rang. Wendy called up to tell her that Rick and Racheal were here. She went downstairs to be enveloped in hugs from Rick, Racheal, and Jacob. His hug was the best, and she kissed him on the cheek. They sat in the sitting room and Wendy raided the drinks cabinet, bringing out something a little stiffer than the earlier sherry. Jacob and Willow sat on a small sofa, close together and clutching glasses of cola, while the other sipped at their own drinks. Rick raised his glass.

“A toast to Willow Rose, who took an ordinary song and turned it into a hit. The rest of the band send their thanks. We were visited by Bruce Miller, this morning. Now that is one very cluey guy. He was a school with some of The Specials and gave us a lot of good advice. He asked me to hand this card on to you. It’s the contact for a manager who he says is a good guy. I have an interview with him tomorrow, but Willow may need him in a year or two. He’ll cost us fifteen percent, but what we earn prior to signing will be ours to keep.”

“With a hit single and album, I guess that you’ll be touring this summer.”

“I think so. That means that Racheal and I will need to get married before that, now that I will have something to offer her. I’ll go and see the Reverend next week, once we’ve sorted out a date.”

Wendy and Willow gave Racheal a hug. When they sat down again, Rick looked serious.

“I hope you don’t mind, Willow, but we’ll be getting an organist in the band, so we can play the hits. I realise that you won’t have the spare time to be hiking around the country in a coach.”

“That’s all right, Rick. It’s what I expected. Just make sure he has a good enough keyboard to recreate something close to the sound. Dad will give you the account numbers you’re after. Jacob and I have something to listen to upstairs. Mum gave me an idea for some new songs to play at the sing-along.”

She grabbed Jacob’s hand and pulled him out of the room, and upstairs. In her room, he looked around in wonder. She sat him on her bed and turned her laptop on. She had a list of Carpenters songs cued up, hit the play button and then went and sat beside him.

“There’s something I need to say, Jacob Epstein.”

“What have I done, Willow?”

“It’s what you haven’t done since the New Year party. It’s been a month, and you haven’t even tried to kiss me.”

“But there’s always been people around.”

“Do you see anyone else now?”

He grinned and put his arm around her. They kissed as Karen Carpenter sang that they’d only just begun.

They kissed and listened until Racheal called up that it was time to go. They embraced and kissed before leaving the room. Jacob smiled.

“I know most of the Carpenters songs. Richard was a good pianist and Karen played drums. We can do them on stage at the sing-along. Gina won’t take long to pick up the strings backing on the keyboard. She’s pretty friendly with Brent, so we can get him to play the drums for us.”

“That’s interesting, I wonder if Brent would be able to join us for the sing-along. Mum said that we sounded like the Carpenters last night, and we could do a segment of their slower songs.”

“Rach mentioned that similarity as well. This will mean that I can sing you love songs in full view and get away with it.”

“As long as you mean it when you say the words.”

“Oh! I will, my darling. I will.”

As Willow stood to watch the car leave, Wendy came to stand beside her.

“Good kisser, is he? You’d better go and repair your lipstick before your father sees you.”

“He said that when we sing love songs, he’ll mean every word.”

“And you’re trying to tell me that you won’t!”

Willow hugged her mother and dashed back upstairs to repair her make-up. They had a light meal and spent the evening watching the television. Willow went to bed, sitting where she had next to Jacob for a few minutes, before going to the bathroom and changing into her nightie. As she was drifting off, she thought to herself. ‘Yes, Mum, he is a very good kisser, and I think I’m in love, again!’

Monday morning was school. Willow was ready and in her school uniform before breakfast. Ashley gave them both a hug before he left for work.

“Finally! A normal day at last. Let’s hope that the week stays on an even keel. See you both tonight.”

Wendy drove the three children to school. On the way, Gina was brought up to speed on Rick’s success by Jacob, without letting on the amount of money that was being bandied about. Willow remained coy about how much her input had helped, saying that all she did was play an overdub on an existing track.

Willow was called to see the Head during lunch. She wasn’t away long and came back with a smile. Jacob and Gina were keen to find out what she had been told. She had been congratulated on the events of the weekend but didn’t say anything about that. She grinned.

“The dance band will be playing in the theatre on the evening of Friday week. They will be setting up tables and chairs, and we’ll be on the stage. The school canteen will be supplying food. It will have a limit of six hundred couples, and we start playing at seven to finish at ten-thirty. Dash around to the others and tell them. We will try to get a two-hour rehearsal on Thursday evening. This is what you get when you make the Head enjoy her evening out.”

The three went to other tables and advised the other band members of the plan. What she hadn’t told them was that the whole show was going to be filmed and recorded for a two-disc DVD. She went to Miss Russell and organised a rehearsal room for Thursday, after school.

On the way home, Willow asked Gina if she was keen on Brent. Gina was flustered but agreed that she liked him.

“Jacob and I are thinking about doing a segment of our show playing Carpenters songs. It was noted how much we sounded like them at times. I wondered if we could persuade Brent to join us at the club for our sing-along. That would give us me on piano, Jacob on guitar, you on the organ with other sounds, and Brent on drums. It would be idea if we wanted to make a recording as Summer Rose.”

“So, you want me to ask him if he’ll join us?”

“Actually, I thought that Jacob could talk to him at the orchestra practise tomorrow, that will allow us to find out if he’s keen on you.”

It was Wendy who commented that Willow was wicked.

That evening, Willow did her research on Carpenters songs, downloading the music and lyrics that she could. She also paid the pound for the Hikers digital album and listened to the other tracks. She decided that it was pretty good for a debut album and noted that the viewing numbers were now well over the million.

Tuesday morning was Willow’s turn playing the organ in chapel. At lunch, she had a message that the rehearsal room would be available, so went around all the band members to let them know that there was a practise on Thursday, after school. The orchestra session was with the combined one still, and they ran through the Albinez and a couple of other items. Mister Bamborough announced that they would be having one more combined session, then would go back to the junior and senior sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as usual in the second half of the term. He told them that the date for the next Cathedral event would be on the Friday and Saturday of the middle weekend in May, a week before the half-term holidays.

On the way home, they verified that Maisie would be picking them up late on Thursday. Nothing was said about Brent. On Wednesday lunch, he came over to their table and sat down.

“Jacob says that you would like me to play drums with you guys. How would that work?”

Willow took the lead.

“You know that we have the school dinner dance on Friday week. Well, we have our sing-along at the club the day after. We thought that, as the school will provide the drum kit here, if you bring your kit to the club next week, the four of us will be able to nail some new songs, as a quartet. We’re looking at a set of Carpenters pieces, and we could add them to the end of the dinner dance set as something different. They’ll be all smooth love songs to end the night, but easy enough to be played at the club while the audience eat.”

“That sounds good. So, all I’ll have to do is get my kit to the club on Wednesday or Thursday and pick it up in the holidays. What will the rest of the band do while we finish the evening?”

“We’ll get the school to drop the house lights so that the setting is more intimate and let them all join their friends or relatives for the last half-hour or so. Jacob and I will do the singing, as it’s comments made about how we sounded like Karen and Richard last Saturday evening. I see it as slightly night club, which will be fun for the other students.”

Brent grinned.

“Has anyone told you that you’re wicked, Willow?”

Jacob and Gina replied. ‘Everyone’, in unison.

That evening, Willow was at the club working with the choir ladies. Contrary to her father’s sense of doom, she had two extra voices who didn’t attend the church. They carefully worked through the choral piece that they had started last week, with Willow happy that the new additions were good singers, who had been despairing of finding a singing group in the village.

At the end of the evening, she was helping Ashley tidy up the club.

“Dad. I have a question for you.”

“Ask away, kiddo.”

“We seem to be here a lot, these days. With the choir, the sing-alongs and the dances, it’s a bit of a problem lugging the Yamaha here every time it’s needed. What if we dropped it?”

“Let me guess. You want the club to have one of its own.”

“What a great idea, Dad! Clever you for thinking of that!”

“All right, I give in. What’s the plan?”

“I wonder if we brought the Yamaha here on loan. With the money that I’m likely to be earning this week, will you allow me to spend a little over three thousand on a new unit. I’ve looked online, and there’s a store in Birmingham that carries the Nord range. They have an eighty-eight key similar to the Yamaha, but with the ability to preload a large number of soundscapes that you can switch to in the middle of a song. It’s several grades higher than the Yamaha, and has grand piano, but also electric piano, as well as a setting that gives an authentic pipe organ.”

“I’ll take you to Birmingham on Saturday, but only if there has been more than ten thousand added to your account before that. Hold on, I’ll check the account on my phone.”

He pushed buttons and inputted a code, then sat down, looked closely at the screen, then showed it to Willow. What she saw was a balance in excess of thirty thousand.

“What was it before, Dad?”

“On Sunday, after you asked about it, the balance was just under five thousand. I’ll check this with your mother, but I think that she’ll be happy to visit Birmingham on Saturday. We’ll make a day of it. It’s Gina in church on Sunday, so you aren’t needed in the village.”

They strolled home, happy in the knowledge that great things were happening as they did other things. Willow was cosy in her bed, with Tiger and Shaun, and wondering about the set-up that she wanted. If she brought home the Nord and a two-tier stand, she would be able to set up her trusty Casio on the upper tier, giving her a complete second sound and would get her used to single hand playing on both sets of keys.

On Thursday morning, Wendy was happy to be going into Birmingham, and had started looking up various shops that she wanted to visit. When she dropped the three off, she said that she would see Willow when she got home.

“Your Mum’s looking happy this morning?”

“We’re planning a trip to Birmingham on Saturday, to visit some bigger shops. It’s going to be a day out, and she’s been making a list of new things she wants to look at.”

“What are you going to look at, Willow?”

“We’re visiting a music shop. Just to look and learn.”

That afternoon, the dance band got together in the rehearsal room. When they were all settled, Willow asked for hush.

“Friends. We will be playing next week to our fellow students, the teachers and a lot of parents and general public. I spoke to Miss Russell at lunchtime, and she told me that we were nearly sold out in the three days that the show has been up on the website. What we do, now, is to have a run-through of the newer pieces that we added at the club. I don’t have to remind you that an official school show needs to be perfect. Now, Gina, Jacob, and Brent have agreed to form a quartet. We plan to perfect a set of Carpenters songs that we will add at the end of the evening. This will allow you others to go down and join your friends or relatives. One thing that I didn’t tell you at the beginning of the week, is that we will be filmed and recorded for a two-disc DVD set to be sold later.”

Herb asked when the extra songs would be rehearsed.

“We will rehearse them when we can, next week, at the club. We won’t do them if we’re not happy with them.”

“Can we come along?”

“Certainly. The more the merrier. You can be our critics. Bring your girlfriends. My father will open up and there will be drinks and chips available. It will give us all a chance to talk about where we plan to take this into the future. We may be asked to do more dances in the theatre, and we all know how much better that will be for our grades. The more we play, the better we sound. So, we had better start playing.”

They had the two Yamahas, and an amp for Herb and the other guitarists. Jacob played the Martin to a microphone. They worked on the newer songs that they had added, adding some extra bits to make it all sound better. When they finished, they agreed to get back on the following Thursday, to be prepared for the Friday performance. Brent would be bringing his drum kit to the club on Monday evening, so they set that evening as the Carpenters’ night.

On Friday, it was the last lesson on Music for the Media. All the submissions were played to the class and discussed, anonymously. That allowed open speaking on every entry without anyone being picked out. Most were passable, a couple were a bit so-so, and a few were praised. Mister Jamieson was pleased with the overall level of competency and flair, then told them that the second half of the term was going to be about drumming and drum programming to provide backing by remote control. He then let them off early.

Willow, Gina and Jacob were waiting in the foyer for Wendy to arrive. Willow thought that she had better come clean with her friend.

“Gina, there’s something that I need to tell you.”

“That you and Jacob are more than friends? That’s been obvious since the beginning of term.”

“No, not that. Racheal brought Rick to the church when I played last month. He liked the sound of the organ. A week after that, I was in the church overdubbing some tracks that his band had recorded. They released the main track on the internet while we were playing the dinner dance; with a link to buy the album.”

“’Love and Marriage’. I know. Zara sent me an email to watch it. Are you telling me that the organ track was you in St. Marys?”

“It is. The thing is that the band is giving me a slice of the profits, as well as giving the Roof Fund some. Our trip, tomorrow, is to see about getting me another keyboard with greater features that will help me as we move on. We’re going to take the Yamaha to the club and leave it there on loan, so we won’t have to lug it around every weekend. Would you like to come along?”

“You bet! What were you thinking?”

“A Nord Piano 5. I’ve checked it out online and it looks good. We can wow them in the music store. How about you, Jacob? You could keep my father company while us girls try on dresses.”

When Wendy picked them up, she was sounded out in regard to a couple of extras for the visit to Birmingham. She was happy that Willow had invited her friends and was involving them with her activities. Gina was happy to get the details of the hymns that evening if it meant a day in the big city. Ashley and Wendy had agreed to fund the expenses from their own bank account and transfer the total the following week, so Willow will be able to pay for the extra meals.

That evening, Ashley rechecked the bank balance, finding that what they expected to spend in the morning had already been added to the bottom line.

The next day, it was a happy group going to Birmingham. Wendy had decided that she wanted to go to the Bullring shops after they had sorted Willow out. They were in the company car which had enough load space for a keyboard and stand. They arrived at the music store that Willow had told her father to go to. The teens dashed inside to have fun with the floor stock.

When a salesman approached Ashley, he was told that his daughter wanted to see a better keyboard. The man wasn’t too interested until Wendy mentioned that her daughter had been taken with the settings on the Coventry Cathedral organ when she had played it. That brought out a sense of professionalism in the man, so he went to the two girls and asked what they were looking at. Willow told him that they both had a Yamaha 88, and she wanted to try a Nord 5. He took them over to one and Willow played around with it, being shown the extra things that it could do.

“I have an older Casio CTX5000, which I want to mount as a second tier. Is that possible?”

“It is, Miss. There is an input for the second tier, which can have its output controlled by the main unit. I can do you a good deal with one that suits. Is there anything else that you’re thinking of?”

“Yes. I have a laptop, and I want a program to act as a mixer so that I can record separate tracks.”

“That’s not a problem. They don’t cost a lot, but you’ll need a bit of training.”

“We all go to the Blue Coat in Coventry and are in the music stream. We’ve done a course on the technology and will be doing a course on mixing next term. Can you do a really special deal for two of these programs?”

“Can you tell me how you are paying for these items. If it’s on time payment, I may be a bit held back with super specials.”

“Have you heard about Rick Sacks and the Hikers new video track?”

“Who hasn’t. It’s all over the internet.”

“I did the organ track for the single and two other tracks. What they’re paying me from the income will more than cover what we’re spending today. I expect that my father will settle up with his credit card and transfer from my account, seeing that I’m still a minor.”

A new Nord Piano 5 was loaded into the car, after an hour of Gina and Willow playing the Nord and other keyboards, while Jacob enjoyed playing a lot of different guitars. They had a two-tier frame and a new seat, as well as two boxes with the software and two mixing boxes with a number of standard cable inputs to a single USB plug output into the computer. Jacob had a box with an effects pedal. They had also been spoken to by the manager, snagged a further discount and a letter on company letterhead, and signed by him, offering Willow Rose or any member of the band Summer Rose, support and sponsorship when they start playing live.

From there, they went to the Bullring, where Jacob and Ashley looked at manly shops while the three tried on dresses at several shops. They met for a late lunch at an in-store restaurant, and then went back to Stoneleigh. Dropping Jacob off on the way, with his box of tricks. He was just happy to have tried the guitars and being with Willow the whole morning. Gina gave Willow a hug as she was dropped off with her new mixing box and software. Willow knew that she would make good use of it, and that the cost would be negligible, if and when they were in the charts.

Marianne Gregory © 2025