The First Note

Text 1: The Empty Chair, by Samuel Eze

An original novel extract.

The music itself was not the problem. Leila knew every shift of the hand, every change of bow and every place where the melody paused for breath. She had played it in her bedroom, in the school hall and once to twelve empty chairs while the caretaker stacked tables behind her.

Tonight, two thousand people waited beyond the curtain.

From backstage, Leila could hear them settling: coughs, whispers, closing programmes, the scrape of shoes. A thousand small noises knitted themselves into one impatient rustle. She tightened her fingers around the neck of the cello. The stage manager pointed towards the entrance.

The announcer's voice came through the speaker, calm and enormous. Then came her name.

Leila stepped into the light. Applause broke over her and pressed hot against her face. She crossed the stage carefully, although the chair in the centre appeared to move further away with every step. Beyond the white glare of the lamps, the audience had become a single dark shape, waiting.

She sat. The cello's spike found the wooden floor with a tiny click that seemed to travel to the highest balcony. Her left hand settled on the strings, but it looked like somebody else's hand. The conductor lifted his baton. Around her, the orchestra became perfectly still. The whole hall inhaled.

Leila raised her bow. For one impossible second, the first note seemed heavier than the instrument.

How does Samuel Eze use language and structure to show that Leila feels nervous and under pressure before her solo?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.