A group of non-violence movement
advocates made an arrangement with the administrative
director of the opera that all sounds related to crime and violence
have to be removed from all performances. They have the same opinion
about forbidding the use of violent spoken or written words, such as
a pistol or a bullet – even a word processing bullet point! They
demand librettos be changed to prevent any shooting from happening on
stage. They decide to represent all violent scenes as the Destiny-determined
events. From now on, a sound produced by a big thunder sheet will replace
shooting and will stand for divine intervention. Wilbur, the thunder
sheet player will be paid for contributing his skills to opera performances. Emil
the gong player is deeply distressed by this decision. He believes that
the sound of a gong is more appropriate than that produced by a thunder
sheet, because it is more heavenly. To alleviate his frustration, the opera
director
keeps Emil occupied playing gong at the beginning
and the end of each act. Emil believes that a sound
of a gong is supremely delightful. Recently, Gavin,another
gong player arrives with his own gong. According to him, his gong sounds
glorious. The opera conductor decides to incorporate both instruments.
He positions the gong players at the opposite sides of a scene and tells
them to produce a double sound effect by playing one after another in very
short intervals. He tells Gavin to stay by the
entrance door behind the curtain to remain invisible to the viewers. He
wants to make an illusion that it is one prolonged sound that fills all
the space inside a theater. After each of recurrent sounds of gongs there
is a period of silence. Maybe nothing bad was done at that time.
