A young girl bounced up the stairs of a majestic mansion while holding onto a thin pamphlet. Printed on the cover of the pamphlet was a picture of a middle-aged woman as well as some bolded words above the photo. The child excitedly listened and immersed herself into the sweet and lingering music that was floating in the air like a thick layer of pleasant fog. As if guided by the musical tune, the young child arrived at the entrance of a slightly-opened door.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Come in!" A scratchy voice answered after the young girl rapped on the door.

The child pushed open the door to reveal an elderly woman sitting beside an aged but well-maintained piano. The song, the elderly woman was playing earlier, was a well-known piece that many piano experts knew by heart. It was Richard Strauss's Symphony in F minor.

"Great Gramms! What's that song called? It's sooo beautiful!" The young lady beamed as she dove into her great grandmother's arms.

The elderly lady shook with pleasant surprise and cheerfully combed her great granddaughter's brown locks. "My dear, this is Symphony in F minor by a well-known Musician named Richard Strauss. Do you know of him?"

"Oh! I learned about him in class last week! He's famous for his operas."

"Haha, that's right! Can you name a few? If you can name one, I'll play the piano segment of it for you. How about that?"

"I'd love it! Let me think for a bit...." The young lady scrunched up her adorable little face and thought long and hard. With a flash of delight, the young girl lit up her eyes and exclaimed. "The Knight of the Rose! I remember it because it sounded so romantic!"

"The Knight of the Rose? Der Rosenkavalier? Haha, alright! Come sit over there and listen to your Great Gramms play the Rosenkavalier Waltz."

"Ehm!"

The elderly woman, despite her wrinkled and gnarly appearance, spun to life as her fingers danced along the white and black keys. As the pianist continued to play, an image began to form from the surroundings. It was an image of two people, a gentleman and a lady, twirling along with the beat of the song.

The young girl gasped in surprise as she saw the animated depictions. She lightly clapped to the song and giggled with entertainment as she watched the tender and clumsy love shown between the couple. Soon, the song ended and the young child gave her dear great grandmother a big round of applause.

"How was it, my dear?" The elderly woman asked as she stood from her seat.

The child hopped over and hugged the old woman. "Great Gramms! You've broken through to Favola Note! Congratulations!"

"Haha, it's nothing special. Clara, you are the young genius here who's already at the Recitative Note. Now that's something to celebrate about."

The young girl giggled and stuck out her tongue coyly. The old woman patted the young child's head and remarked. "So, what brings you here? Surely it's not just to listen to my playing, right?"

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"Oh! I almost forgot! Who's this, Great Gramms?" The girl held up the pamphlet in askance.

"This is!" The elderly lady grabbed onto the pamphlet and gasped in astonishment. "Clara, w-where did you find this?"

"It was stuck between a photo album. Who's the lady in the picture?"

"That, my dear, is Clara Wieck Schumann. She's your ancestor and my Great Gramms. You were named after her."

"Great Gramms's Great Gramms?"

"That's right. Clara Schumann was one of the world's most powerful and most tragic Virtuosos of the Romantic Era. Unfortunately, she perished after failing to pass the last tribulation of Musical Notes. Have you learned about her in class?"

"I haven't."

"Ehm, Clara, can you tell me what music is and what are the Seven Notes of Music?"

"Music is a type of ability that everyone has, but only a select number can condense that music into a core known as Harmony. The Seven Notes of Music are the seven stages musical ability is divided into. The stages are Door, Recitative, Minstrel, Favola, Soul, Lament, and Time. They are often shortened to Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, and Ti."

"Very good, it seems you paid attention in class."

"Naturally! Clara is a smart girl!"

"Haha, you're right. Well done! Now, can you describe to me what each Note is about?”

"Okay! The Door Note refers to being at the gateway of Music. Every person in the world is blessed with a certain amount of Do. With enough Do, they can attend Academies to condense and increase their Harmony.

Recitative Note refers to the stage where young apprentices are able to remember the musical songs they had learned without the need of looking at the score. Those of the Re Note can even use music while speaking and doing normal-day activities. It is at this stage when the apprentices learn to use music songs to combat and defend, taking note of the musical significances within words.

The Minstrel Note is the stage where young apprentices can truly call themselves Musicians. At this stage, they are able to mix songs of different genres and even compose new ones. Once Musicians are able to create depictions of stories from their music, they will have broken through to the Favola Note...just like you Great Gramms!"

"Haha, exactly! What about the other Notes? I know that music has degenerated nowadays and most Musicians are only able to reach the Favola Note, but surely, you've been taught about the last three Notes. Did the teacher cover these topics?"

"Yes! Only briefly though. Do you know about them? Can you tell me?"

"Sure. Let's see here, the Soul Note is the stage after Favola. Legends say that in order to break through to Soul Note, one must undergo a tribulation of sorts. According to the legends, in order to break through to the Soul Note, one must be able to compose a song that describes his or her own life story.

By doing so, that person will have infused his or her own soul into the music, allowing his or her Harmony to take form. Now, some geniuses are able to easily create a story about their life, however, many others needed to create many stories before even attempting to make their own. Failure to break through could prove devastating to one's cultivation."

"Wow, that sounds tough. Do you know anyone who had broken through to the Soul Note?"

"Not personally. My Great Gramms had done it. In fact, she went beyond Soul Note."

"B-Beyond? To L-Lament and Time?"

"Yes! Now, let me describe Lament and Time. At the Lament Note, Musicians are able create musical pieces that contain great dissonance in their sounds while still keeping in song form. These dissonant songs are generally used to attack and have been proven very effective against Disease Demons."

"Disease Demons? Like the Cold Demon Jack had last week? Aren't they weak? We didn't even need music to defeat it."

"Haha, just like the Cold Demon your brother was able to defeat last week. However, we have science to thank for that. Back then, though, science was not powerful enough to do the job. Therefore, they had Lament Note Musicians handle the Disease Demons."

"Oh, I see."

"However, like Soul Note, the Lament Note required a tough trial to pass. A potential Musician must be able to compose a dissonant-style song in order to break through. Some can do this right off the bat, however, a typical Musician must experience some suffering and tragedy before being able to incorporate that pain into their songs. Like the tribulation for Soul Note, failure to break through into Lament Note can prove disastrous to a person's Harmony and hinder them greatly from breaking through with another attempt.

After the Lament Note, we have the final stage of Music - the Time Note. Little is known about how one reaches Time Note though. Even I have never heard of it from my parents. Anyways, for Musicians of the Time Note, they have the ability to quickly use their musical abilities without the need to sing or play their songs out loud. When they play their music, it would feel as if time itself had stopped. They are the pinnacle of Harmonization and have been compared to gods. Legends say that there were only around a hundred Musicians who had reached the Time Note. Some notable ones were the Nine Muses of Ancient Greece."

"Wow! That's amazing!"

“It sure is. However, the legends say that there is a Note above Time Note. That Note is known as Higher Do Note. Whereas the Time Note Musicians are compared to gods, the Higher Do Note Musicians are gods. Little information is known about this legendary stage and within the entire history of Music, no one has ever reached that stage."

"When I grow up, I'll reach Higher Do Note for sure!"

"Haha, that's a good aspiration to aim for. I'm sure you'll be able to. Now then, let me tell you the story of Clara Schumann, her rise to fame, and her tragic life."

The elderly woman sat on the bench next to her great granddaughter and began narrating the life of the Virtuoso Schumann as the young girl listened with enthusiasm.

"Clara Schumann was born as Clara Josephine Wieck in the ninth month and thirteenth day of year 1819 at Leipzig, Germany...."